Letter Writing: Philippines

This month I wrote about the Philippines, since Earl John sent me a sidewalk game! He sent this helpful diagram along with the instructions:

I also wrote about tarsiers because I had never heard of them before, thought they were cute, and they live in the Philippines. I found the photos and information at FactZoo.

Here's a picture of the letter I sent (note the new format…if you haven't seen the updates to the letter writing section of your account, go check it out!):

If you would like to share this letter with your sponsored child, here is what I wrote (I wrote this based on the old template restrictions and you may have to adjust the extra spacing a bit to get it to fit):

Dear Friend,

This month I would like to share a game from the Philippines! The Philippines is a country made up of over 7,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean! My friend, Earl John, is from the Philippines (you can see his photo below). He's 16 and he enjoys sports and competing in his Compassion project's Nutrition Days where he gets to cook! He also wants to be a sailor in the Filipino Navy when he graduates high school. Earl John sent me this Beanbag Relay game and I thought you would enjoy it.

To play, you need two teams with equal numbers of players and two beanbags. Draw a circle in a square as seen in the diagram below.
1. Put the center pin in the center of the circle. Place the team pins on the starting lines. Give a beanbag to each team leader.
2. One player (preferably the oldest) from each team stands with at least one foot inside the center square with a beanbag. The remaining players line up on their team circle.
3. When the whistle blows, the center player tosses the beanbag to the circle player on the right. This player tosses it back to the center player and then steps back out of the way. The center player tosses it to each circle player in turn. When the center player receives the bean bag from the last circle player on the left, she runs with the beanbag around her team pin and into the center for the pin.
Notes: The center player must keep one foot insider her team's center triangle until she has received the bag from the last circle player. The circle players must keep both feet behind the circle line at all times. A team is disqualified if its beanbag crosses into another team's area.

I also learned about the tarsier! I had never heard of this animal before. It lives in the Philippines, an also on some Indonesian islands! I attached a photo for you to see. They eat mostly insects but sometimes enjoy birds, crabs, snakes, and bats, but they will not eat plants. Tarsiers are nocturnal animals (which means they are awake at night). Tarsiers like to sing with a high-pitch voice and in some species the males and females perform duets together. The tarsier's flexible neck allows its head to swivel around 180 degrees to help it scan for prey or predator. This is necessary as their eyeballs do not rotate. The ears are usually moving around when the animal is awake. They can flatten and roll their ears back and unfurl them again. See those legs? The tarsier is an amazing jumper able to jump more than 40 times it's own body length. The hind legs can be twice the head and body length. In fact, their name comes from their powerful ankle bones - the tarsals. They like to jump and cling to trees.

I love you and am praying for you! May God bless you. Hannah

Feel free to copy this game to share with your sponsored kids!