Animated Lessons
Native American Resources
Native American Crafts - Eastern Woodland Crafts; Southwest Indian Crafts; Northwest Coastal Crafts; Inuit Crafts; Plains Crafts (Y, M, O, T)
Native American Crafts - Perfect for classroom, your scout troop or youth organization. (Y, M)
Native American Crafts - Try these free craft patterns and projects. Use many creative techniques and supplies to make a variety of crafts related to some Native American cultures. (Y, M, O, T)
Native American Crafts Unit - Children in the American colonies frequently learned how to make toys and other crafts from the Native American children who lived nearby. The activities below illustrate some of the crafts, techniques, and materials which Native and Colonial children might have used for their toys and crafts. None of these activities is inherently dangerous. All have been classroom tested over many years. However, TeachersFirst recommends that students interested in trying any of these acitivities at home get the permission of a parent before beginning. (Y, M, O, T)
Native American Site: Crafts - Many links to Native American craft websites. (Y, M, O, T)
The Goat in the Rug (Native American Tale) - A bilingual cyberguide designed to supplement the teaching of The Goat in the Rug or La Chiva en el Tapete . This grade 2/3 unit consists of 4 activities that link students to web sites to explore Navajo culture and the weaving process. Grades 2-3. (Y)
Smithsonian Native American History & Culture Resources - Would you like to know more about Native American histories and cultures? Are you looking to book a school tour of NMAI or planning a family outing to the museum? Or maybe you are looking for educational materials to use in your classroom. You've come to the right place. Here you will find information on educational activities at the museum as well as resources for teachers and students in the classroom. (Y, M, O, T)
Koshare Indian Museum - A unique and diverse organization, consisting of many parts. The museum is unusual in that it was built by a Boy Scout troop under the inspired leadership of our founder, James Francis "Buck" Burshears, and the original 1949 structure is a registered state historic site of the Colorado Historical Society, housing a collection of Native American art and artifacts considered to be among the finest in the world. (Y, M, O, T)
Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park - The Chaw'se Regional Indian Museum features a variety of exhibits and an outstanding collection of Sierra Nevada Indian artifacts. A Miwok village complete with a ceremonial roundhouse has been reconstructed in the middle of the small valley. As a regional Indian museum, the collection at Chaw'se includes Northern, Central and Southern Miwok, Maidu, Konkow, Monache, Nisenan, Tubatulabal, Washo, and Foothill Yokuts. Examples of basketry, feather regalia, jewelry, arrowpoints, and other tools are on display. (Y, M, O, T)
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area - The curriculum-based The Chumash: A Changing People, A Changing Land program takes place at the Satwiwa Native American Cultural Center and Satwiwa Natural Area. This third and fourth grade program takes place outdoors. Students learn how the Chumash depended upon the natural resources and lived in the Santa Monica Mountains for thousands of years. (Y, M, O, T)
Native American Crossword Puzzles - Southwest Native American Crossword Puzzle (6th grade & up) PDF* - 235K Native Cultures of the Southwest Word Search (2nd–5th grade) PDF* - 135K (Y, M, O, T)
Book titles to avoid - Native Americans - Despite the fine writing and exciting plots, many books about Indians foster continuations of classic blatant stereotypes. Recommended titles for reading as well as titles to avoid with explanations. (T)
Appropriate Methods When Teaching About Native American Peoples - Teacher talk from the Ableza Institute (T)
Songs of the Pueblo Indians - (Y, M)
American Indian Books - This page is our collection of links to good Native American books for sale online. (Y, M, O, T)
Native American Facts for Kids - Resources on American Indians for Children and Teachers (Y, M, O, T)
Gila River Indian Community - Cultural Resource Management Program (Y, M, O, T)
Museum of Northern Arizona - Land and Peoples of the Colorado Plateau (Y, M, O, T)
Hopi Cultural Center - Hopiland offers an opportunity to explore the colorful rock formations of mesas and buttes. The mesa, home of the Hopi villagers, were a means of protection from the marauding Navajo and Apache. Ruins of past villages are on several of the mesas and from the pictographs on Awatovi the famous Nampeyo pottery designs were developed. These ruins are currently offlimits due to illegal Pot Hunters. Other noted villages are Walpi, with its scenic high rise dwellings and beautiful sunset backgrounds, and Old Oraibi. (Y, M, O, T)
Navajo National Monument - Navajo National Monument preserves three intact cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloan people. A visitor center, museum, three short self-guided trails, two small campgrounds, and a picnic area provide service to travelers that make the trek to this remote hamlet. (Y, M, O, T)
Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site - Feel the old wooden floor give slightly beneath your footsteps and hear it squeak as you enter the oldest continuously operating trading post on the Navajo Nation. Let your eyes adjust to the dim lighting of the "bullpen" and you might catch the trader negotiating a deal with a Native American artist. Hubbell Trading Post offers you a chance to become a part of history. (Y, M, O, T)
Canyon de Chelly National Monument - Reflecting one of the longest continuously inhabited landscapes of North America, the cultural resources of Canyon de Chelly include distinctive architecture, artifacts, and rock imagery while exhibiting remarkable preservation integrity that provides outstanding opportunities for study and contemplation. Canyon de Chelly also sustains a living community of Navajo people, who are connected to a landscape of great historical and spiritual significance. Canyon de Chelly is unique among National Park service units, as it is comprised entirely of Navajo Tribal Trust Land that remains home to the canyon community. NPS works in partnership with the Navajo Nation to manage park resources and sustain the living Navajo community. (Y, M, O, T)
Homolovi Ruins State Park - Serves as a center of research for the late migration period of the Hopi from the 1200's to the late 1300's. While archaeologists study the sites and confer with the Hopi to unravel the history of Homolovi, Arizona State Parks provides the opportunity for visitors to visit the sites and use park facilities including a visitor center and museum, various trails and a campground. Several covered picnic tables are located throughout the park. Pullouts provide the opportunity to observe wildlife in this park of over 4,000 acres at an elevation of 4,900 feet. (Y, M, O, T)
Fort Verde State Historic Park - The best preserved example of an Indian Wars period fort in Arizona. Spanning from 1865 through 1890 Camp Lincoln, Camp Verde and finally Fort Verde were home to officers, doctors, families, enlisted men, and scouts. Fort Verde was the primary base for General George Crook’s U.S. Army scouts and soldiers. Today visitors can experience three historic house museums, Commanding Officer’s Quarters, Bachelors' Quarters and Doctor’s Quarters on Officer's row, all furnished in the 1880s period. (These buildings are all listed on the National and State Register of Historic Places due to their unique architectural and historic significance.) In the former Administration building there are interpretive exhibits with period artifacts on military life, Indian Scouts and Indian Wars history. (Y, M, O, T)
Iñupiat Heritage Center - Designed to serve as an inspirational facility to promote and protect Iñupiaq culture, history, and language through exhibits, classes, performances, and educational activities. (Y, M, O, T)
Horseshoe Bend - The Battle of Horseshoe Bend can be viewed as a multi-national struggle between the forces of the Creek, the Cherokee, and United States. (Y, M, O, T)
Trail of Tears National Historic Trail - Come on a journey to remember and commemorate the survival of the Cherokee people despite their forced removal from their homelands in the Southeastern United States in the 1840s. (Y, M, O, T)
National Museum of the American Indian Programs - The National Museum of the American Indian is the sixteenth museum of the Smithsonian Institution. It is the first national museum dedicated to the preservation, study, and exhibition of the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of Native Americans. Established by an act of Congress in 1989, the museum works in collaboration with the Native peoples of the Western Hemisphere to protect and foster their cultures by reaffirming traditions and beliefs, encouraging contemporary artistic expression, and empowering the Indian voice. (Y, M, O, T)
Story of the Blood Indians - by Rev. Canon S.H. Middleton (Y)
Native Languages of the Americas:List of Native American Indian Tribes - A small non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and promoting American Indian tribal languages, particularly through the use of Internet technology. Our website is not beautiful. Probably, it never will be. But this site has inner beauty, for it is, or will be, a compendium of online materials about more than a thousand Native American tribes of the Western Hemisphere and the indigenous languages they speak. (Y, M, O, T)
American Indian Tribes Grouped by Culture Areas - Alphabetical list of place and state names (where known), and culture areas (Y, M, O, T)
Alphabetical List of Federally Recognized Native American Tribes - This page not only lists all the federally recognized tribes of Native Americans, but also has links from those tribes for their official websites, stories and legends, books, photographs and artwork. (Y, M, O, T)
Lenape Indian Fact Sheet - Native American Facts For Kids was written for young people learning about the Lenni Lenapes for school or home-schooling reports. We encourage students and teachers to look through our main Lenape language and culture pages for more in-depth information about the tribe, but here are our answers to the questions we are most often asked by children, with Lenni Lenape pictures and links we believe are suitable for all ages. (Y, M, O, T)
Munsee Indian Fact Sheet - Native American Facts For Kids was written for young people learning about the Munsees for school or home-schooling reports. We encourage students and teachers to look through our main Munsee page for in-depth information about the tribe, but here are our answers to the questions we are most often asked by children, with Munsee pictures and links we believe are suitable for all ages. (Y, M, O, T)
Native American Day - Native American Studies Index (Y, M, O, T)
Native American Crafts for Kids - These crafts projects are for preschool, kindergarten and elementary school children. KinderCrafts use materials found around the house, like egg cartons, cardboard, paper, boxes, string, crayons, paint, glue, etc. See a page about color mixing to see how to combine paint to make all the colors of the rainbow. (Y)
First Nations Histories - Brief histories of the Indian Nations (M,O)
Native Tech - In-depth article describing the art and technology of Native Americans; includes instructional brochures (Y, M, O, T)
Native American Quest - This quest was developed to give students in third grade an opportunity to increase their knowledge about communities, through the study of Native American tribes residing on the plains and in the Southwest (Y)
Native American Activities - From LessonPlanspage.com activites for creating Native American Dioramas, homes and quilts. 3rd grade (Y)
Teaching with historic places - To celebrate American Indian Heritage and generate public appreciation for diverse cultures, Teaching with Historic Places has posted on the web the following lesson plans that consider important aspects of American Indian history. (T)
Exploring Native Americans across the curriculum - Blast stereotypes with across-the-curriculum activities for students of all ages. (Y, M, O, T)
Native American language resources - large collection of links about Native American languages (T)
Native Americans/First Nations lesson plans - excellent selection of lesson plans from an archaeology website (Y, M, O, T)
New Perspectives On the West - This lesson asks students to view westward expansion from the perspective of the Nez Perce and their leader Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt (Chief Joseph). (O)
Native Americans Today - Many people think that Native Americans are a vanished people—that they do not exist in the present day. Using this lesson plan, teachers can use photo essays to introduce students to Native children and their families, thereby countering the idea that Native people no longer exist. (Y,M)
Native American resources for kids and teachers - Facts about Native Americans from KiddyHouse (Y, M, O, T)
Native American lessons - worksheets and lessons from UK teachers (Y, M, O, T)