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Discover More About Chile with these Activities and Games
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Time to read 7 min
Never Struggle Planning Activities Again
Easy to use activity booklets for your troop meeting.Never Struggle Planning Activities Again
Easy to use activity booklets for your troop meeting.|
Time to read 7 min
Want a fun way to explore a new country with your troop? Choosing a destination and diving into its people, geography, history, and culture is a fantastic way to learn.
Let's center your next event around Chile, a long, thin ribbon of land stretching down the southwestern coast of South America, known for its dramatic landscapes, from the world's driest desert to sparkling glaciers. I’ve gathered key facts about this Andean nation, along with a collection of games and activities to make your learning session truly unforgettable.
This content is ideal for printing and use as a display or for sharing directly with your group. The games and activities below will bring these facts to life!
Did you know? Chile is the longest and narrowest country in the world, measuring about 4,300 kilometers (2,670 miles) long but averaging only 177 kilometers (110 miles) wide! Also, parts of Chile's Atacama Desert have never seen recorded rainfall – some weather stations have never measured a single drop!
Geography of Chile:
Chile is located in South America, bordered by Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, and Argentina to the east, with the vast Pacific Ocean forming its entire western coastline.
The mighty Andes Mountains dominate Chile's eastern border, creating a natural wall. To the west lies the coastal range, with a central valley sandwiched in between – this valley is where most Chileans live and where much of their famous fruit and wine are produced.
The Atacama Desert in northern Chile is the driest non-polar desert on Earth, creating surreal, Mars-like landscapes and incredibly clear skies, perfect for stargazing. In contrast, the southern tip of Chile is a land of fjords, glaciers, and wind-swept pampas.
Chile is part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire," meaning it has numerous volcanoes (over 2,000, and around 500 are considered active!) and experiences frequent earthquakes.
Where are the people in Chile?
The capital, Santiago, is home to nearly half the country's population. It's a bustling modern city framed by snow-capped Andean peaks, combining contemporary architecture with colonial history.
Most Chileans are mestizo, having a mixture of European (mainly Spanish) and Indigenous ancestry. The largest Indigenous group is the Mapuche, whose culture and traditions remain influential.
Spanish is the official language, but Chilean Spanish has unique vocabulary, slang, and pronunciations that can sometimes be challenging even for speakers from other Spanish-speaking countries!
September 18th is Chile's most important national holiday, Fiestas Patrias, celebrating independence with a multi-day fiesta of parades, traditional dancing (Cueca), rodeos, and lots of food and music.
Nature and Conservation:
Chile boasts incredibly diverse ecosystems due to its length. You can find unique species like the pudú (the world's smallest deer), huemul (Andean deer, depicted on Chile's coat of arms), flamingoes in desert salt flats, and penguins along the coast, even up north!
Chile is known for its extensive national parks. Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia is world-renowned for its iconic granite peaks and stunning landscapes, attracting hikers and nature lovers globally.
The ancient and sacred Araucaria trees (Monkey Puzzle trees) with their distinctive umbrella-like shape are native to southern Chile and can live for thousands of years.
Language and Culture:
Chile is sometimes called a "land of poets," boasting two Nobel Prize winners for Literature: Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Neruda. Neruda's unique, art-filled homes are now popular museums.
Traditional Chilean folk music is lively and often involves guitars, accordions, and percussion. The Cueca is the national dance, representing a courtship between a rooster and a chicken, performed with waving handkerchiefs.
Artisans are skilled in crafts like weaving vibrant textiles, pottery (such as the distinctive pig-shaped clay pots from Pomaire), and working with copper, a major resource for the country.
Food and Traditions:
Food in Chile often features seafood thanks to its long coastline – think abalone, limpets, king crab, and diverse fish. Fresh fruits are also key, especially in the central valley.
Chileans love pan (bread), especially marraqueta and hallulla, eaten fresh at nearly every meal. La Once, or teatime, is a deeply rooted tradition, often serving as a light evening meal with bread, spreads, cheese, and sometimes pastries.
The empanada pino (filled with meat, onion, egg, olive, and sometimes raisins) is a beloved snack or meal component, particularly popular during national holidays.
Hot dogs are serious business! The Chilean completo is loaded with ingredients like tomatoes, mashed avocado (palta), sauerkraut (chucrut), and mayonnaise.
Bringing a culture to life is best done through activities! Try one of these fun ideas at your next gathering.
You may enjoy teaching your girls facts about Chile while playing a game of bingo. In this bingo game, there are 24 different Chile facts your girls will learn while playing. When you draw a fact listed on the bingo cards, you can also tell your girls a little bit about what each of them means. After one game, play again and have the girls tell you what each fact means. Use the fact list below to create your bingo cards!
Kite flying, especially during Fiestas Patrias in September, is a huge tradition in Chile.
What is it? Chileans fly large, colorful kites (volantines) often battling each other. While the traditional hilo curado (line coated with powdered glass) is dangerous and often banned, plain kite flying is still popular.
Activity: Have the girls decorate paper squares that can be attached to simple wooden dowel cross-frames to make their own colorful square kites. Use bright colors and patterns!
The Finishing Touch: Add a long, colorful paper tail! Safety Note: Use a regular string and ensure flying happens in open spaces away from power lines, and emphasize not chasing down fallen kites.
The Chilean flag features two equal horizontal bands: white at the top (representing the Andes snow) and red at the bottom (symbolizing the blood of the heroes who fought for independence). On the white band, there is a blue square (representing the sky and the ocean) in the upper-hoist side corner, containing a white five-pointed star (guide to progress and honor).
Activity: Have the girls create the flag using different materials. Maybe colored sand, torn paper collage, or fabric scraps. Discuss what each color and element represents.
Different regions in Chile have unique festival traditions, some involving intricate masks. In the north, particularly during the Fiesta de la Tirana, dancers wear elaborate masks, some with devil or animal features.
Activity: Provide mask bases or templates. Have girls decorate them using paints, markers, feathers, sequins, beads, or yarn. Encourage creativity inspired by animal shapes or vibrant colors.
The Finishing Touch: Attach a string or elastic so they can wear their creations! Optional: Put on some traditional festival music and let them dance!
If you are looking for worksheets to learn more about Chile, a Country Study Project is the perfect way to dive deeper into the country.
Let's taste some Chilean flavours! While not unique to Chile, these are enjoyed there.
Submarino: This is simple and fun. Give girls a mug of hot milk and a good quality square or two of dark or milk chocolate. They drop the chocolate into the milk and stir as it melts – a "submarine" dive!
Alfajores: These are sandwich cookies, typically two soft cookies filled with manjar (the Chilean word for dulce de leche) and sometimes rolled in shredded coconut or dipped in chocolate. You could buy pre-made ones or make a simplified version using plain vanilla or sugar cookies and dulce de leche.
Activity: Taste test! Which do they prefer? Try a Submarino first, then maybe sample pieces of alfajor.
The Challenge: Can they describe the taste and texture? Creamy? Sweet? Rich? Smooth?
Indigenous communities like the Mapuche are known for their beautiful, intricate weaving traditions with deep cultural meanings.
Activity: Instead of wool and looms, use colored paper strips to introduce the concept of weaving. Create paper "looms" by folding a large sheet of construction paper and cutting parallel slits not quite to the edge. Cut strips of contrasting colored paper.
The Technique: Demonstrate weaving the strips through the slits in an over-under pattern. They can experiment with alternating colors or creating simple checkerboard patterns. For a more advanced version, use narrower strips and try different weaving counts (e.g., over two, under one).
The Result: A colorful woven square that can represent a traditional Chilean textile pattern! Discuss how weaving takes patience and skill.
If this is still not enough Chile inspiration. Checkout my Chile Pinterest board, where I share all kinds of other great ideas people have shared online for China that you can incorporate into your event.
I enjoyed learning more about Chile, I hope you did too.
Here are few other around the world ideas I have shared in the past that may be great for your event as well if you are doing more than learning about one country.
Enjoy every minute being a leader and continue to inspire your girls!
