Crafts About Indians for Home-Schooled Kids
Home-schooled kids can make craft projects that represent traditional crafts of American Indians and learn about Indian culture in the process. Making American Indian crafts will expose your child to the lifestyles, ancestral customs, spiritual customs and symbolism important to Indian tribes in historic times and today.
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Tepee
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Tepees are cone-shaped tents made from buffalo hide stretched on wooden frames. Indians moved frequently to search for new lands with better resources, so the portable tepee was the house of choice for many tribes. Make a tepee craft project by using four twigs, tied together with twist ties to make the frame of the tent and brown grocery bags cut into triangles and taped together to use as the hides. Kids can decorate their tents with crayons and craft paints by drawing Indian designs on the walls of the tepee.
Totem Pole
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Totem poles are created by Northwestern American and Canadian Indian tribes. They are carved from cedar trees with symbols that include raven, sea turtles, eagles, bears, wolves, frogs, owls and salmon. All of the symbols have spiritual meanings. Make a totem pole using a paper towel tube as the trunk of the tree and craft sticks covered in construction paper glued on to create animal wings. Kids can draw animal faces, either from reference or from their imaginations, down the front of the tube using crayons or acrylic paints.
Dream Catcher
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Dream catchers are traditionally made from a ring of wood wrapped in leather, with sinew string tied to create a web, and feathers hanging down. The Ojibwa (Chippewa) tribe created the talisman with a web-like design to catch nightmares and protect children. Kids can make a dream catcher by cutting out the round center of a paper plate; punching holes along the edge of the plate; and using cotton string to tie back and forth, creating a web in the center of the plate. They can add pony beads on the string for decoration, create Indian designs with crayons or acrylic paints and hang feathers on strings from the bottom of the dream catcher.
Corn Husk Dolls
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Corn husk dolls are created by Northeastern American Indians as a child's doll to play with and for use in sacred healing ceremonies. Make a corn husk doll with at least six to eight pieces of corn husk and cotton string. Tie four pieces of corn husk together at the widest part at the top and cut a rounded edge with scissors. Pull the corn husks over the tied top and then down and tie a string at the top to create the neck. With another piece of corn husk, create the arms of the doll. Slide them under the corn husks on the body and tie them on the body. Make a dress by draping corn husks around the shoulders and waist and tie strings onto the waist to secure it.
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- Photo Credit totem pole with blue sky image by Ashle Whittle from Fotolia.com
