A week on Native Americans

Happy Veteran's Day to all the fabulous Vets out there who have served or who are serving our country.  Thanks!  My Dad, sister and brother are all vets. 

This week we are starting our preparation for Thanksgiving, so we are learning about our Native Americans.  In circle time we talked briefly about how the Native Americans were many different tribes of people who lived in America (and beyond) before any European settlers arrived, and that they helped many of those first groups of settlers survive in the new land.

Tortilla Tipis - I was so excited when I found this idea.  So dang cute.  We talked about what tipis are made from (buffalo skins) and why the Native Americans would make houses like these (travel - following the buffalo herds) and how they would decorate their tipis.  We drew on our tortillas with markers (a bit tricky) and then I hot glued them around two popsicle sticks I had previously glued.

 

Tp Totem Poles - Throughout the day I've been showing the kiddos pictures of the Native American things we talked about.  So when I started describing a totem pole, they were excited to get a look.  We talked about how these poles told stories about their tribe.  We looked at the different faces on several different poles and then we made our own.

 

Dream Catchers - Our next bit of Native American culture was to make a dream catcher.  We talked about how these catchers were made and hung above their beds to catch bad dream and to let the good dreams through.  Today we painted our catchers and slathered them with glue and glitter.

Headbands - For our learning station today, the kiddos trimmed pre-cut feathers to get them ready to make headbands.  They were so excited about the feathers that they couldn't wait, so we made the headbands next!  Great cutting practice, snipping the feathers.