How can I use this resource?

Are you ready to unleash your creativity and learn about a unique art form from Africa? Sona sand drawings are amazing patterns that you can draw with a single, unbroken line in the sand or on paper. They are not only beautiful, but also meaningful and mathematical. In this resource, you will find out how to make different patterns of sona sand drawings step-by-step, following the clear instructions and pictures provided. You will also learn about the oral tradition of sona storytelling, which has been passed down from generation to generation. Drawing Sona promotes concentration and trains memory and hand-eye coordination. This resource will help you learn new skills and explore a rich and fascinating aspect of African culture and art. 

What does this resource contain?

This resource contains 12 sona sand drawings inspired by African storytelling to trace and draw. Each sona sand drawing represents a story, proverb, fable, game, or animal. You can follow the clear and easy step-by-step instructions with pictures to make them. From the infinite number of possibilities, we have chosen Sona that depict animals. As a substitute to the oral tradition from generation to generation, we have created sona worksheets that help children learn and practice sona in a fun way. The goal is to be able to draw sona from memory - just as the original storytellers did.

About Sona Sand Drawings

The Chokwe are an ethnic group from southern Central Africa, now Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia. The Chokwe are known for their geometric sand drawings, called Sona (Sona is the plural, Lusona is the singular). Sona are illustrations of ancient stories drawn in sand to aid storytelling and thus passed down from generation to generation. These sand drawings usually reference proverbs, fables, games or portray animals.
Within the Chokwe culture, boys learn the stories and their Sona from an early age. As they get older, the level of difficulty of the drawings also grows. Older men who know many stories, fables and riddles and who can draw especially complicated illustrations are called ‘akwa kuta sona’ (those who can draw).

A different kind of mathematics without formula

Upon closer inspection, a Lusona is not just a collection of points and lines, but real mathematics with highly complex systematic principles. One could say: Sona drawings are mathematics without formulas, but hardly any storyteller would even remotely be thinking of any mathematical formulas, algorithms or fractals. What we‘re dealing with here is a different kind of mathematics- namely, ethnomathematics. This is when we understand mathematical ideas without using classic mathematics.