Celebrating this fascinating country of "¡Pura vida!" (a traditional greeting there) is a treat for my third graders. Here are different areas of content to explore this part of Central America.
Traditional colorful paintings of ox carts from Sarchí which are the national symbols of Costa Rica. Have children construct these carts by using a shoe box and then adding the large wheels with paper fasteners and sticks protruding from the top front. Designs should go on before putting the cart together. (See authentic photos via the link at the bottom of the page.)
Costa Rica has beautiful, protected rainforests. Children LOVE learning about the unique animals there. See the link below as well as my Rainforest resource page and Rainforests "Practical Pointer" page.
Costa Rica has miles and miles of beautiful beaches, too. This makes a Costa Rican unit perfect for a just-before-school's-out-for-the-summer unit. In addition, this country has coasts on both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, is mountainous, and is a part of Central America in North America.
The word "Costa Rica" lends itself to a nice introduction of cognates and where the adjective usually appears in Spanish. The children then break out in pairs or small groups and create new adjective phrases with the correct word order with small white board and make an illustration to go along with their new descriptive phrase ( un gato blanco, una manzana grande, etc. ) I encourage them to get very silly, so we end up with un elefante pequeño and una vaca morada!
Here is a collection of photo puzzles from Costa Rica:
