Native Americans

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Paper bag Vest
Use a large brown grocery bag.j cut a hole for the head at the bottom portion of the bag and then cut a line up the middle and 2 arm holes. Once cut give the bags to the kids..have them crumple the bags over and over again...if done enough it will take on the feel of suede. Then let them decorate them with colors and feathers and what ever else you have on hand.

Native American Rainstick: use a Pringles can with lid. Cover with brown paper and let kids decorate. Add
rice. Use at circletime while listening to authentic Native American Music.

Indian Teepee's

Materials - Provider template for teepee, brown paper bag, 3 straws per child, crayons or paint to decorate teepees, glue or tape, and newspaper.

This is an oral language discussion done with the whole group. Have the children sit with you in a group and say, "Thanksgiving will be coming at the end of the month. We are going to do some fun things for Thanksgiving and will learn about the Pilgrims and the Indians who helped them. The Indians who helped the Pilgrims were very special people. They lived in America long before the Pilgrims came here to live. They wore different clothes then the
Pilgrims and lived in different kinds of homes. Some Indians lived in homes called Teepees. The shape of the teepee looked like the bottom of an ice cream cone."

Background Information about the Teepee
(Depending on the age of the children, you may want to use all or part of this information.)

The teepee was covered with buffalo hides. The teepee was very strong and could not blow over when the wind blew hard. Teepees were made by the Indian women. The Indian woman built the teepee and took it down when the Indians
moved to another camping spot. The men Indians never helped with the teepee. They were hunters and warriors. An Indian woman was very proud of her teepee. She decorated the outside of it with Indian symbols and bright colors. It
took two Indian women to put up a teepee. They worked very long and hard to build the teepee.

Just like your family, the Indians used "good teepee manners" when they visited another Indian family. If the teepee door was open, all were welcome to come in. If the teepee flap was closed, a visitor needed to say that they were at the door and wait to be invited in. Some teepees had a rattle hung outside the door, that was used just like a doorbell. If the teepee flap was tied down and it had two sticks crossed over it, the door was "locked." Everyone knew that the people who lived there had gone out or did not want to be disturbed.

The Indians loved to tell stories. When people would come for a visit, much of the time was spent telling stories around the campfire. People talked one at a time. No one interrupted the person who was speaking.

1) After you have finished talking about the teepees, ask the children the following questions to check for comprehension:
 * What was the name of the home that the Indian lived in? (teepee)
 * Who put up the teepee? (Indian women)
 * What shape did the teepee look like? (a cone)

2) Help the children to carefully open their paper bag into one piece. Soak the paper bad in water.When the bag is fully wet, have the children crush the bag into a tight ball, to wring out the water.

3) Have the children carefully smooth out the bag and let it dry on a piece of newspaper. (You may want to take a break time now, so as to give the bags a chance to dry thoroughly. When they are dried, the children will be decorating them.)

4) After the bags have dried, have the children make Indian symbols on the outside of their bag or use sponges to sponge paint the outside of the bag with bright colors.

5) Use the provider template for the teepee and lay it on top of the dried bags and cut around the shape of the template. (It's just a cone shape.)

6) Tape three straws, crisscrossed, to the inside part of the teepee shape and bend the teepee around to form a cone. Join the edges together with tape or glue. Stand it up.