Learn about Burkina Faso for Kids

January 8, 2025 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in western Africa that was called the Republic of Upper Volta until 1984, when it was renamed by its president, Thomas Sankara, who came to power following a coup (and was himself killed during another coup in 1987).

Burkina Faso Basics

The country is bordered by Mail, Niger, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Ivory Coast, and covers 105,878 square miles, or 274,223 square kilometers.
The nation’s capital is Ouagadougou, which is very fun to say. It’s also the largest city. About 22.5 million people live in Burkina Faso
The Mossi is the largest ethnic group in the country, which originally settled in the area in the 11th and 13th centuries.
The government recognizes 60 indigenous languages, as well as the four official languages, Mooré, Bissa, Dyula and Fula. French and English are considered “working” languages primarily used for government and business.
Burkina Faso is a republic but it is run by a group of military leaders. The nation’s history has been marked by a series of coups and uprisings since its independence from France in 1960.
The word Burkina comes from the Mooré language and means upright, while Faso is a Dioula word that means fatherland or father’s house. The CIA translates the name as land of honest men. People from Burkina Faso are called Burkinabé, a Fula word that means men or women.
It ranked 65 out of 78 countries for food insecurity in 2013.
In 2017 a 33-megawatt solar plant opened near Ouagadougou, which at the time was the largest solar power facility in West Africa.

Burkina Faso National Symbols

The flag of Burkina Faso is red at the top and green at the bottom, with a gold five-pointed star in the center. The colors are the Pan African colors, which shows unity with other nations in Africa. Red also symbolizes revolution, while green stands for the natural riches of the country. The star is said to represent the guiding light of revolution. It was adopted after the 1983 coup.

The national anthem is “Ditanye” or “L’Hymne de la vicroire” (anthem of victory) also sometimes called “Une Seule Nuit” or “One Single Night.” It was written by president Sankara, who was also a jazz guitarist.

White stallions are the national animal, and the shea tree is the national tree. We’ll get to the national dish below, but it is riz gras, or fat rice.

Burkina Faso Activities for Kids

You can find some activities and more information for kids to learn about Burkina Faso on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Try riz gris (sort of like a Spanish rice) with this recipe from Polka Dot Passport. Learn more about Burkinabé food and the popular drink with the fun name zoom koom, at 196 Flavors.

Learn more about shea butter and different ways to use it from Treehugger. You can even make your own shea butter lotion with this easy recipe from Live Simply.

Check out the stunning Ouagadougou Cathedral and the Monuments des Martyrs, two of the main landmarks in the country.

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Learning about Gabon for Kids

Gabon is a country in central Africa on the Equator, which is bordered by Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon and the Republic of the Congo, as well as the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Guinea. Let’s learn more.

Gabon Facts

Gabon has an area of 100,000 square miles, or 270,000 square kilometers and is home to about 2.3 million people. The capital and largest city is Libreville. Almost 90 percent of the land of Gabon is forest, and the nation has huge biodiversity.

The original inhabitants of Gabon were Bambenga, and the Kingdom of Orungu was established there in the 1700s, and France colonized the area in the later 19th century. Gabon gained its independence in 1960.

The official language is French and about 95 percent of the population is part of the Bantu ethnic groups. The majority of people are Christian.

Gabon comes from the Portuguese word gabao, which means hooded cloak. Portuguese explorers in the 1470s used the term to refer to the Komo river estuary, which they said resembled a cloak. Eventually the name spread to cover the whole region.

Gabon is a presidential republic with a legislature, though there have been many disputed elections and, in 2023, a military coup.

Gabon National Symbols

The Gabon flag consists of three horizontal stripes, in green, yellow and blue. The flag was adopted in 1960.

The national anthem is “La Concorde,” and it was written and adopted in 1960 as well.

The coat of arms features a ship on a shield with the same colors as the flag, with three yellow circles in the green section. Above the crest is a large tree, and the crest is flanked by black panthers. The motto, which translated to English is “unity, work, justice,” is below the shield, among the roots of the tree. The slogan that translates to “we shall go forward together” hang around the tree.

I couldn’t find any official national animals or plants, but black panthers are considered a national symbol because of their use on the coat of arms.

Gabon Learning Activities

Did you know black panthers aren’t a distinct species? In Africa they are leopards, but in other areas black panthers are actually cheetahs, bobcats, lynx or other big cats. Learn more about the animals of Gabon at A to Z Animals.

Check out Monts de Cristal, or the Crystal Mountains, home to a large diversity of wildlife (including lots of butterflies) and a large national park. There’s lots of great pictures on that page.

Adventures in a Messy Life has a little Gabon unit study that includes links to some videos, a recipe for African beignets, and notebooking pages available for purchase that you can use for any country in Africa.

Check out this video with interesting facts about Gabon from The African Script.

Find more resources for teaching about Gabon at Teachers Pay Teachers.

Learn more about traditional foods in Gabon from Chef’s Pencil, and check out this recipe for what’s considered the national dish of Gabon, poulet Nyembwe, a chicken dish made with red palm oil (which is what the dish is named for).