Mancala Easter Style

Mancala is a game that I loved to play when I was little, and still love to play today.  I didn’t know the name of it however, until a few years ago.  My family always called it “The African Stone Game”.  I have yet to get a real Mancala board for my own family but I do think Nutty is old enough to learn how to play.  That’s where this Mancala Easter Style comes in!

I was playing with an empty egg carton and some jelly beans working on another project when suddenly I realized that the egg carton and jelly beans looked like a Mancala board!  I tripple double counted the holes in the egg carton and on a couple of Mancala boards I found on the internet, and yes, they did match!  Yahoo!  I can now teach Nutty how to play Mancala!

Here’s what you’ll need to teach your kids how to play:

• Egg carton
• Jelly beans (24 to be exact)
• Glue (optional)
• Paint (optional)

Ok, a few disclaimers before we begin:
1)  The following pictures are a reinactment soley for the purpose of this blog.  I didn’t even think about taking photos while I was teaching Nutty to play!
2)  I was going to get all fancy with my egg carton and have the girls paint it for the blog but then I thought, “let’s be real…this is what I did with my kids, so this is what I’m showing.”  That’s why the paint is optional.
3)  I can be a bit Type A at times (shocking, I know!) so when I know that all of the Mancala boards have end pits and my egg carton does not, I freak out.  I used the top of the egg carton to make end pits.  This is competely optional (and where the glue comes in).  Your children can simply put their jelly beans on the table, I however, needed to have end pits.

There are a few different versions on how to play Mancala out there.  You can play it which ever way you learned.  My version is just a fun way to play it at Easter time!  If you’ve never played it before, simply search the internet for “Mancala Rules” and you’ll find all different ways of playing.

The best part about Mancala Easter Style…you can eat the playing pieces when you’re done playing the game!  Do your kids play Mancala?