During the month of March, in which everyone annually reports that either they or their students are going mad (NCAA pun, anyone?) we were able to debut 25 actual physical Mancala boards across three of our schools. The power of all play is healing (see brain science posts) but Mancala- a turn-based strategy game - also offers a lot of learning opportunities.

We created these resources to help introduce Mancala to students.

The Mancala boards are a gift from Risa Korris and Doug Polumbaum to New Visions for Public Schools’ fantastic and curious NYC public school students. Doug and Risa are excited to get the boards into the hands of students, giving them a unique opportunity to play with artifacts that are steeped in history. These artifacts happen to also be a key STEM and social emotional learning (SEL) resource - bringing together students for play, just as others have been brought together for Mancala play for centuries.

Mancala boards have been delivered to our school partners: Candace Trencher, on behalf of Bronx Latin, and are on the way to Mathias Holzman of The Young Women’s Leadership School - Brooklyn, Laura Vega of The Young Women’s Leadership School - Harlem, and Gabrielle Schlmn, of East West School of International Studies.

Mathias Holzman’s reception for the boards mirrors our gratitude and excitement at New Visions, as he shares that he has “created and run our popular Board Game Club after school activity for the last 7 years. I use board games to promote social interaction - even with current social distancing protocols - as well as a sneaky way to promote historical events we cover in class, because many of our games are simulations or emphasize themes found in history.  I would be honored to take the Mancala sets and promote them in my club. Even though I do not teach math, I can point out the mathematical connections found in the game, and of course, its historical links to ancient African kingdoms.” At New Visions, we can’t wait to see the impact of these games into classrooms, and the learning possibilities that emerge.