Ananse Games

Description

Handwashing with Ananse is a three-chapter story and game experience centred on the popular Ghanaian folklore character Ananse. He often takes the form of a spider who likes to trick other people. In this game, Ananse has stolen all the knowledge about handwashing and hid it in his pockets. The children have to play through three scenarios where they trick Ananse to win the handwashing knowledge back from him. The three chapters in the facilitation guide are illustrated with Ghanaian artwork and focus on distinct pieces of knowledge: why it is important to wash hands with water and soap; how to do it correctly; and when to do it.

Learning objectives 

Learn why, how and when to wash your hands with water and soap.

Intended audience 

Children age 8-12

Playspace requirements 

Large open space

Extra information

This game has gotten an international award from the International Society for Neglected Tropical Diseases Festival, which highlights efforts in art, science, communication and entertainment that strive to address global challenges in tropical diseases.

The partners jointly evaluated the effectiveness of a game-based handwashing curriculum to generate learning and behavioural change. You can read more about the outcomes here.

Acknowledgements

Handwashing with Ananse is the product of a collaboration between Ghana Education Service, UNICEF Ghana, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, the Engagement Lab at Emerson College, Right to Play Ghana and Ghana Red Cross Society. 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.