Global Service Advent: Ecuador Activities and Service Ideas

South and Central America week for the Global Service Advent is sponsored by Cotopaxi.

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Join us as we journey to the incredible country of Ecuador! During this virtual tour of Ecuador for kids, we’ll enjoy fun and inspiring Ecuador activities. This Ecuador virtual field trip is a perfect way to explore and also serve the world right from home during this holiday season!

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Don’t miss the global service opportunities, teaching moments, and giveaways with the Global Service Advent!

Get your FREE Printable Global Service Advent Coloring Calendar here!

Here’s the 2020 Global Service Advent schedule!

Here’s the Global Service Advent Printable Book List!

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Ecuador Activities for Kids and Service Ideas

Table of Contents

SERVE AROUND THE WORLD

Featured Organization Doing Good: UN Foundation Nothing But Nets x Cotopaxi

The UN Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign helps prevent and treat malaria and similar illnesses within indigenous communities in Ecuador. In 2020, Cotopaxi helped support the delivery of over 10,000 bed nets through the UN Foundation to work towards health and safety in rural communities. Nothing But Nets also supports diagnostics, treatment, and training of healthcare workers.

This is especially important because every 2 minutes, a child dies of malaria, which is a preventable and treatable illness. Insecticide-treated bed nets are cost-effective and work well to protect those at risk of contracting the disease.

How Families Can Help in Ecuador

Consider if there’s some way you can donate or fundraise at least $1 for the the UN Foundation’s campaign Nothing But Nets. Here are some ideas for either fundraising online or outdoors:
- Sell 4 cups of lemonade
- Sing a holiday song in a parking lot and collect donations
- Host a virtual Nothing But Nets fundraiser
- Teach a 10 minute kids class on Zoom (baking? LEGO building? Star Wars origami?)
Join the Safety Net to send $10/month to send 2 bed nets to families most in need
Contact Congress to fund the fight against malaria
Become an anti-malaria advocate
Simple service at home: Take a small gift or note to a neighbor

Supporting Individuals in Ecuador

Purchase a stunning blanket made by indigenous women in Ecuador
Or buy these gorgeous chicha bowls made by Quichua people from Saryaco in the Ecuadorian rainforest
Take an online Ecuadorian cooking class led by a woman in Quito

ECUADOR ACTIVITIES: LANGUAGE ARTS

Featured Ecuador Book

Tuki and Moka: A Tale of Two Tamarins by Judy Young (Author), Jim Madsen (Illustrator)

Picture Book Read Aloud

Tuki and Moka: A Tale of Two Tamarins Picture Book Discussion Questions

Other Ecuador Books for Kids

Ecuador Activity Books For Kids

Languages in Ecuador: Ecuador Activities for Language Arts

The official language in Ecuador (including the Galapagos Islands) is Spanish. Kichwa, also known as Quichua or Quechua, is also widely spoken, especially in the highlands.

ECUADOR SOCIAL STUDIES: ECUADOR VIRTUAL TOUR OF HISTORY & LANDMARKS

Ecuador History

Basic Facts

The capital of Ecuador is Quito.
The official name is República del Ecuador.
Lenín Moreno is the current President of Ecuador.
Ecuador is located on the northwest coast of South America.
Ecuador is located on the equator and borders Colombia, Peru, and the Pacific Ocean.
Spanish is one of the main languages of Ecuador and is spoken by 93% of the population, but Quichua, Shuar and eleven other indigineous languages are also considered official languages of Ecuador.
Since 2000, the official currency in Ecuador is the US Dollar after the collapse of the former currency, the sucre. It does not have its own currency.
Ecuador has many different climates at different altitudes: temperate in the Andes mountains, mild in the mountain valleys like where Quito is, subtropical in the lowlands and a tropical climate along the coast. Much of Ecuador is humid and warm climate. Some areas receive up to 80″ of rain!
92% of Ecuador is Christian, as even many native beliefs and ceremonies are incorporated into Christian celebrations. About 79% identify as Catholic and 13% as Protestant.
The biggest industries in Ecuador are petroleum, food processing, and textiles. Agriculture is very important.

Ecuador Fun Facts

Ecuador produces and exports more bananas than any other country in the world!
It is the only country on earth named after a geographical feature – the equator!
Due to its proximity to the equator, Mount Chimborazo is 1.5 miles higher than Mount Everest and is the closest you can get to the sun and still be on earth (Mount Everest is still the highest mountain in the world as measured from sea level – the earth is not a perfect sphere and is actually wider, or distended, around the equator).
Cotopaxi is one of the world’s highest, most active volcanoes.
Ecuador is close enough to the equator that sunrise and sunset happen at almost exactly the same time each day, 6am and 6pm respectively, no matter the season of the year.
About 40% of people in Ecuador lived in extreme poverty in 1999, but that figure dropped to 17.4% in the decade after dollarizing the currency and social spending in education and health.
Ecuador has the world’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site: the Galapagos Islands. The diversity of life on the island inspired Charles Darwin book: “on the origin of species.”
Over 25,000 plant species grow in Ecuador – that’s 10% of the plant species in the whole world, despite being only 0.19% of the world’s land area.
In 2008, Ecuador became the first country to officially recognize the rights of mother nature.

Map of Ecuador

Color in Ecuador on this map of South America!

Ecuador Flag Activity

Flag from HERE

HERE is a fun printable Ecuador flag coloring sheet!

Ecuador Virtual Tour to Featured Landmarks

Galapagos Islands

The Galapagos Islands are an archipelago (series of islands) off the coast of Ecuador. The islands are in the Pacific Ocean and are knwon around the world for their incredible wildlife. Many species exist only in this isolated province of of Ecuador. Charles Darwin visited at one point and developed his theory of evolution based on some species he saw there.

Featured Important Ecuadorian Person: Matilde Hidalgo (1889 to 1974)

Matilde Hidalgo Navarro de Procel was one of six children. After her dad died while she was still young, Matilde’s mom worked as a seamstress to support the family.

Even though girls finished their education by 6th grade, Matilde wanted to go to high school. The high school principal, after a month of deliberating and popular opinion recommending otherwise, allowed her to study there. She was not allowed to sit in the room with the boys sometimes and had to sit outside the door on the steps to listen instead. When she graduated, Matilde became the first woman to graduate from high school in Ecuador. But her education did not stop there. Matilde also became the first Ecuadorian woman to earn a bachelor’s degree and a doctorate degree in Medicine.

In 1924, when she was 35 years old, she announced that she was going to vote in the national election. When she did, and her local voting jurisdiction decided in her favor that her vote would count. By so doing, Matilde became the first woman in all of Latin America to vote. She later ran for public office – the council of Machala – and won, which is another first for women in Ecuador!

Backup Plan: Manuela Saenz: not as much known about her because it was so long ago, but appears to be Simon Bolivar’s faithful girlfriend for 8 years and once saved his life, so he called her the “Liberator’s Liberator.”

Source

ECUADOR ACTIVITIES: ARTS & CULTURE

Featured Ecuadorian Artist: Fanny Carrion de Fierro

Poet/Writer: Winner of 5 national poetry awards throughout her life, Fulbright Scholar Fanny Carrion de Fierro has given voice to the lived experience and worldview of Ecuadorians from diverse walks of life. Her book “La mazorca de oro y otros cuentos – The Golden Ear of Corn and Other Stories” (Printed in English and Spanish in the same copy) teaches the importance of living the values of your heritage, even despite opposition, through a series of stores based in two of Ecuador’s UNESCO World-Heritage Cities: Quito and Cuenca.

Selected Works: These Are Not Sweet Girls: Poetry by Latin American Women (1994) and Eye to Eye-Women: Their Words and Worlds (1997). De Fierro electronically published “Towards the Fifth Power”, on the importance of civil society participation to consolidate democracy in the fall 2006 elections.

Ecuador Craft & Culture Activity for Kids: Andean Condor Toilet Paper Roll Craft

Andean Condor Toilet Paper Roll Craft

The Andean condor is the national bird of Ecuador. You can create your own with a toilet paper roll and some basic supplies!

Here are the instructions.

DIY Rondador Musical Instrument

Other Ecuador Activities for Kids

Galapagos tortoise shells out of cardboard
Charles Darwin noticed after a visit to the Galapagos Islands that animals evolve. Chose an animal native to the Galapagos, and draw pictures of how it would evolve if the climate became colder, if it became warmer, and if it became drier.

ECUADOR ACTIVITIES: MUSIC & MOVEMENT

Ecuador Movement Activities

Sanjuanito Dance

This is a very traditional form of dance, typically from northern Ecuador.

Ecuadorian Music

The rondador, or a type of pan pipe, is the national instrument of Ecuador. See if you can spot it!

SCIENCE + MATH

Cooking activity, Ecuadorian animals

Ecuador Foods

Featured Ecuador Food: Ecuadorian Recipes for Kids: Locro de Papa

Locro de papa is an Ecuadorian potato and cheese soup. Soups are common at mealtimes, and this is a very traditional one that is simple to make and delicious to eat!

Here’s the recipe for locro de papa.

Animals in Ecuador

VIDEO + FURTHER LEARNING & DISCUSSION FOR ECUADOR VIRTUAL TOUR

Kid Videos About Ecuador

Ecuador with Kids Discussion Questions

Thanks for Taking a Virtual Visit to Ecuador With Us!

We’ve loved putting together this resource to virtually visit Ecuador. We’d love to hear if you do any of these activities for a homeschooling Ecuador unit, or if you visit in person!

We hope to inspire curiosity and connection through exploring and learning, and we hope this guide helps you and your families. Please share any activities you do with us over on our Instagram. And we’d be delighted if you passed this Ecuador for kids virtual tour and homeschooling resource along to others, as well!