Mystery country bags- let's play detective! Culture Activity for Spanish Class

I SAW THIS IDEA ON PINTEREST FOR CONTINENTS in a bag and decided to modify it for Spanish speaking countries. My first graders have been learning about the South American map and countries there which speak Spanish so the timing couldn't be better. I started by getting out 9 one gallon size ziploc bags and labeling each 1-9. Then, I set about filling them with items and pictures which would give clues as to which country it is. I had showed my first graders a slide show with famous landmarks, animals, nature and locations a few weeks ago and we have been working with a large map depicting a host of things for each country which gave them some familiarity with the countries. I would say at least 2-3 things for each country were recognizable to my kiddos before we started this activity.

So, into the bags went pictures of famous places such as Angel Falls and Machu Picchu, flags, money, animals such as llamas, toucans, Galapagos tortoises and crocodiles, foods that are grown in particular countries such as grapes, bananas, coffee, oranges, and more, and realia from a variety of countries that would fit in the bags, such as dolls and small trinkets representative of different places.

Bags for Colombia and Peru

Bag for Bolivia

Where necessary, I looked up pictures on Google Images to print out such as the flamingos in the picture above or Messi for the Argentina bag. Each bag has about 5-6 things in it. Lastly, I numbered a bunch of index cards to correspond to the bags. I formed partners in class so that two kiddos could work together. Each pair received an index card with three country names on it- they had to look through the bag and circle the country that they thought everything belonged to.

After the partners made guesses for their bag, I collected the index cards and redistributed the bags so each partner group could "investigate" another bag. Before the end of the activity (which took approximately 40 minutes split over two class periods) I put up the index cards with the guesses and we looked at the bags together as a class, and discussed what we saw in the bags and what the tell tale clues were. They absolutely loved it and learned a lot, at an age appropriate level!

Below is a list of what I put in each bag (every country got a flag)...some of what I chose was dependent upon what manipulatives I already had:
Venezuela: a bolivar, a picture of Angel Falls, a toy anteater, a toy iguana, a toy rainforest frog, a toy cow, a picture of arepas, and a plastic orange
Colombia: a plastic empanada, a banana, a bus (chiva) a picture of coffee, a small mola bag, a toy toucan, and some silk flowers
Ecuador: a toy Galapagos tortoise, a toy marine iguana, a picture of Cotopaxi (volcano) a banana, a pineapple, a lemon, a toy lava crab
Perú: a toy llama, a toy scarlet macaw, a small arpillera, a quena, a plastic potato, 50 intis
Bolivia: doll from Bolivia, a small wooden box from Bolivia depicting the highlands, a plastic potato, a toy rainforest frog, a picture of flamingos, a picture of Lake Titicaca and the reed boats
Paraguay: a toy lily pad (to represent the Pantanal), a toy crocodile, a plastic ear of corn, a picture of a sloth, a picture of chipa guasú, a picture of the Pantanal
Uruguay: a plastic steak, a toy cow, a picture of Montevideo, a plastic fish (for seafood), a skein of yarn, a toy whale
Argentina: a plastic steak, a toy cow, a toy penguin, a picture of gauchos, a toy horse, plastic grapes, a picture of Messi, a picture of Argentinosaurus
Chile: plastic grapes, a toy fur seal, a toy whale, a picture of Easter Island, a doll from Chile, a plastic apple, plastic grapes, and a toy mountain lion

Exploring countries with your students and want resources geared just for their age level? Be sure to check out our growing set of mini books with accompanying theme packs focused on each country in the Spanish speaking world. Visit our shop here.