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Activities to Celebrate Native American Day

Native American outfit

Native American Day falls on the fourth Friday of every September, where people are encouraged to celebrate and learn about the culture and history of Native American tribes all over the country. 

EducationWorld has curated a list of crafts, games, lesson plans, and other resources to use when teaching about Native Americans in the classroom, whether it is on Native American Day or during Thanksgiving. The list was gathered from sources such as DLTK's Crafts for Kids, EduPlace, Apples4TheTeacher, TeachersFirst, and YouTube. Teachers can add these activities to their social studies lesson plans and encourage parents to view these sites as well.

  1. Dream Catcher: Provided by DLTK's Crafts for Kids, students will learn how to make their own dream catchers with netting bags, a plastic rim, wool, needle, plastic beads, and feathers. In this activity, students can easily make their own personal and customized dream catcher to hang over their bed. In this activity, educators can teach students about Native American culture while they work. 
  2. A Storytelling Festival: In this lesson provided by Eduplace, students will be introduced to the Native American methods of storytelling as they hear examples of legends or folktales that Native Americans shared with their tribes. Students can then be asked to divide into teams and research their own Native American legend or story, and present or perform it in front of the class. 
  3. Coffee Can Totem Pole: Provided by DLTK's Crafts for Kids, students can make their own totem poles with the help of coffee cans, paint, construction paper, crayons, scissors and glue. The site offers a template of eyes and other parts to put on the totem pole, but students can do research and see pictures of totem poles and make their own versions. 
  4. The Atá-a-kut Game: This game, according to source Apples4TheTeacher, was played among the basket making tribes of California. The theme of the play is to search for a particular reed, which should all be a foot long, among dozens of others. With a song and students pass the reeds down, and when the song stops, the students must guess which is the special reed that the last student is holding. For each wrong guess, the student drops the reed until the special reed is found. Students are encouraged to act like reeds in the wind and Native Americans as they search through the reeds for a particular prize. 
  5. Early Native American Weaving: Provided by TeachersFirst, students can learn about the history and experience the "Native American and Colonial American art of weaving." with some yarn, straw, thin wire, and masking tape, students can learn how to set up their own loom and weave their own belt. This is an activity that will teach about Native American culture and how tribes had to make their own bowls, baskets, and other tools for their survival. 
  6. "We Are Still Here": This video provided by EmmericaProduction on YouTube follows the story of three Native American teenagers as they tell the audience what it is like in the life of a young Native American:

 

Teachers may also visit the websites for the National Museum of the American Indian, the Institute For American Indian Studies, and the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center for more ideas. Share your own lesson suggestions in the comments below!

 

Article by Kassondra Granata, EducationWorld Contributor