Discover More About Vietnam with these Activities and Games

One fun thing to do with your girls is to teach them about another country. Everything from the people of the country, the weather, culture, food, and more. 

You can center an entire meeting around teaching girls about Vietnam. I’ve included some general facts about the country, and highlighted a few games, activities, patch suggestions, and other resources to make your meeting fun and educational.

This is the content you can print and use to put together a poster, or share with your girls during a meeting. If you want easy-to-use games and activities to teach your girls these facts, be sure to keep reading.

Did you know? There are about 45 million motorbikes registered in Vietnam. Vietnamese people celebrate the new year twice. The New Year celebration is held on January 1st, but they also celebrate the Vietnamese Lunar New Year which is celebrated at the same dates as Chinese New Year. The Vietnamese Lunar New Year is called Tet. This is the main cultural festival in Vietnam.

Vietnam’s flag consists of a golden star with five points to represent farmers, workers, intellectuals, youth and soldiers. The red background pays tribute to the bloodshed during the wars.

The official name of Vietnam is the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Vietnam is listed among the 20 most beautiful countries to visit.

Geography of Vietnam: Vietnam is located on the Asian continent, more exactly in Southeast Asia. Vietnam is situated on the Indochinese peninsula and borders the countries Cambodia, China and Laos as well as the South China Sea. The longest border is shared with Laos. The county is shaped like the letter ‘s’ and due to the shape, Vietnam has different climatic zones. The temperatures are generally higher in the southern parts than in the country’s north. Vietnam has many forested regions and rolling hills. High mountain peaks can be found in the northern parts of the country.
 

Where are the people in Vietnam? There are over 92 million people living in Vietnam, with most Vietnamese people living in the countryside, mainly in the river delta regions of the north and south. Vietnam’s biggest city is Ho Chi Minh City in the country’s south. About 9 million people live in the city. Da Nang is the county’s second biggest city. Due to its location at the Central Coast, the sandy beaches and nearby international airport, this is one of the most popular holiday destinations in Vietnam.
 

Government in Vietnam: Vietnam is a socialist state governed by the Communist Party of Vietnam. A president, chosen by the National Assembly, is head of state and commander of the armed forces. An appointed prime minister runs the government. The country is divided into more than 64 provinces. They are further subdivided into several dozen urban districts and hundreds of rural districts. There are about 10,000 municipalities form the lowest level of local government in Vietnam. The highest government body at the federal, district, and local levels is an elected People’s Council, the actual work of which is carried out by a People’s Committee appointed by the Council.
 

Animals in Vietnam: Vietnam is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. There are over 840 bird species and more than 310 mammal species recorded in Vietnam, some of these can only be found in this country. The Saola, an antelope species, was only discovered quite recently and is considered one of the rarest large mammals in the world. The Red Shanked Douc is native to Vietnam as well and also is critically endangered. These monkeys are among the most colourful primate species. Doucs eat and sleep in trees. Many rare and unusual animals live in Vietnam, including giant catfish, Indochinese tigers, Saola antelopes, and Sumatran rhinos.
 

Economy in Vietnam: The currency in Vietnam is known as the dong, and is equal to 0.000043 of the United States Dollar. Vietnam is the largest exporter of cashew nuts and black pepper in the world, with one-third of the global production. The main agricultural products are rice, coffee, tea, pepper as well as soybeans, cashews, peanuts and rubber. The main trading partners of Vietnam are China, Japan, South Korea and the USA. Exports from Vietnam include clothes, shoes, electronics, seafood, crude oil and rice. The main imports include machinery and equipment and raw materials for their manufacturing industries. Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital city, is Vietnam’s major trading center.
 

Armed Forces in Vietnam: The People’s Armed Forces include the People’s Army of Vietnam, various paramilitary regional and provincial forces, the militia, and the reserves. The People’s Army encompasses not only the army, but also the People’s Navy Command (infantry and coast guard), the Air and Defense Force, and the Border Defense Command. In Vietnam, military service is required for young men. The up to two-year-long national service in the country’s army or navy is compulsory for all young Vietnamese men over 18 years, and voluntary for young women over 18 years.

The Vietnam war was fought between November 1st, 1955 and April 30th, 1975, and was fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The Vietnam war was started by the North Vietnam North Communist government, which sought the reunification of the two countries. The North Vietnamese and National Liberation Front won the Vietnam War.
 

Religion in Vietnam: As a communist country, Vietnam has no official religion. People are free to worship if they want to, and many follow what’s called the “Three Teachings” of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. The Vietnamese worship a number of cultural symbols, such as the Vietnamese dragon (mythical holy dragon), the lac (mythical holy bird), the turtle and the horse. Vietnam’s major religions are Buddhism and Catholicism, although the largest percentage of the population follows Vietnamese folk traditions or identifies as non-religious. Buddhism has, however, been a driving political force in Vietnamese history, and in 1963, monks led the resistance against the government of South Vietnam.
 

Education in Vietnam: The education system consists of kindergarten, primary, secondary, upper-secondary (also referred to as high school), and university level, with nationally administered exit and entrance examinations between each. Secondary school education is divided into lower secondary, which is four years (grades 6-9, ages 11 – 15), and higher secondary education, which is three years (grades 10-12, ages 15 -18) and neither of them are required. There is an entrance and leaving examination for both. Students also have to choose either the natural or social sciences track.
 

Food in Vietnam: Many dishes in Vietnam consist mainly of rice and vegetables as well as fish, seafood, chicken or beef. Rice products as well as soy sauce, fish sauce or shrimp sauce are the most common ingredients in Vietnamese dishes. Snake wine, which is made by steeping whole snakes in rice wine for their venom or essence, is commonly drunk for health, vitality and restorative purposes. Here are some typical Vietnamese dishes:

• Nem: Grilled pork meat skewers, which have been marinated in fish sauce. They are often served with spicy chilli sauce.
• Canh chua: sour soup with fish, tomatoes and vegetables as well as pineapple chunks
• Pho: traditional soup dish made with clear broth, spring onions and sprouts as well as sliced chicken or beef slices
   
• Recreation in Vietnam: The most popular sports in Vietnam include soccer, table tennis, volleyball, and martial arts. Sepak takraw (calameae ball or kick volleyball), is a traditional sport in Vietnam. The sport originated in the 15th-century in Malaysia, with its first mention being from an ancient text in Malacca. Players pass a ball by hitting it with the head and feet.

Cat and Mouse Game (Meo Duoi Chuot)

This game consists of more than seven members in one team. They stand in a circle, hold and raise their hands over their heads. Then, they will choose a person to play the cat and another to play the mouse. Both stand back to back in the middle of the circle.

How to play Cat and Mouse Game: When someone counts from 1 to 3, the mouse starts running and the cat must chase after it. The cat wins the game when the mouse is captured. At the beginning of the game, everyone in the circle also starts singing a song, usually a folk song. The children forming the circle also can make it more difficult for the mouse or cat to run through them. Then the mouse will act as the cat in turn. The game continues.

Dragon and Snake (Tro Rong Ran Len May)

The Dragon and Snake game is one of several famous Vietnamese traditional games that attract every child in the country. Whenever they have free-time, they often play it to have fun, which expresses a part of Vietnam tradition and customs.

There are two players in this game including a doctor and a long dragon with a tail. The long dragon includes more than 5 people. The doctor flies to attempt to catch the child who represents the dragon tail. The head of the dragon stretches his arms to prevent the doctor from finding his tail while the tail tries to hide and form a circle.

How to play Dragon and Snake: When the dragon visits the doctor’s house, they will sing a song to ask about the doctor, his son and the doctor would say he is looking for medicine. After some dialogues, the doctor would say “Pursue at will” and then the dragon must run as fast as possible with the body flies as the dragon into the sky. If the dragon succeeds in rolling into a circle before the doctor could chase, it will win. Alternatively, if the doctor catches the dragon tail, the entire group will lose.

Bamboo Jacks (Choi Chuyen)

This is another popular traditional game, especially among the girls. The game’s rule is simple, including tennis or any bouncing ball and 10 chopsticks (5 pairs).

How to play Bamboo Jacks: Starting with all of the chopsticks on the ground, throw the ball upward, pick up a chopstick with one hand and catch the ball with the same hand. Continue until you have picked up all the chopsticks on the ground. If a player’s hands are not swift or if her eyes are not sharp, or if she fails to coordinate the two, she will lose her turn. Then the turn will pass to the next girl.

Playing Bamboo jacks warms up the body and creates a lot of fun. During summer or autumn, this game is played everywhere from the shade of a village banyan tree to a deserted market stall.

If this is still not enough Vietnam inspiration. Checkout my Vietnam Pinterest board where I share all kinds of other great ideas people have shared online for Vietnam that you can incorporate into your event. 

I enjoyed learning more about Vietnam, I hope you did too.