20 Notable Native American Crafts for Kids
Here are some Native American Crafts for Kids to learn about the culture respectfully – guided by a Native Person who shows us how to do it right!
Have you ever thought about the people who once lived where you are now living? In fact, if you live in North America, Canada, or Central America, it is almost certain that you are in the ancestral homeland of a once-vital and important Native American tribe.
Many of the names of cities, towns, rivers, and mountains around you may come from an original Indigenous tongue and this can be a great way to discover more about where you live and how you can make a meaningful connection to the Native people of your region.
Who are Native Americans?
Native Americans are the indigenous people who lived in the Americas before the arrival of Europeans. Their descendants are also referred to as Native Americans, or American Indians or Indigenous Americans.
One of the first things you’ll notice once you start learning about Native cultures is that they are so diverse. The Seminole Indians of Floride lived in swampy everglades. The Lenape of Pennsylvania lived in the forests and meadows of the Northeast. The Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota lived alongside the buffalo on the wide expansive Plains.
Other tribes across the country lived in deserts, mountains, by the great lakes, or even in the snowy and icy northern regions. Given those different conditions, you can expect that the items that were part of their daily life were quite different.
What is National Native American Day?
Native American Day is a holiday celebrated across the United States instead of Columbus Day. Within each of these states, Native American Day honors the cultural contributions of Native American communities to the respective state’s history, as well as to the overall country.
In California and Nevada, the holiday is celebrated on the fourth Friday of September, whereas in South Dakota and Wisconsin, it falls on the second Monday of October.
How to observe National Native American Day?
The best way to observe this special day is to learn about Native American people. Start by searching “Which Native American tribe lived near Salt Lake City?” Once you discover which tribe called your region home, you can Google phrases like “Is there a museum of Navajo culture?”
During the search, you will probably discover some great resources and develop a new respect for the tribe that lived in your area. To help you in your research, we’ve selected a variety of fun and easy Native American crafts for kids. Now you can explore a wide range of cultural traditions and do some hands-on crafting at the same time!
20 Notable Native American Crafts for Kids
1. Printable Native American Headband
The first on our list of Native American crafts for kids is certainly a headband with feathers! This one isn’t a real feather headband, but one that you can make with our printable download.
2. Mini Paper Teepee Craft
Earlier, the indigenous people of America lived in teepees or tipis, which were basically conical tents made of animal skins stretched over wooden poles. Now you can make a little replica using craft paper!
3. Indian Corn Fingerprint Art Project
Corn was an important part of the lives of the Native Americans. In fact, maize, beans and squash were together called ‘The Three Sisters’. They were considered the spiritual and physical sustainers of life, and had deep significance for many tribes. Learn more about the three crops as you make this fingerprint corn art.
4. Nature-Inspired Stick Bow and Arrow Craft
Many of the earlier Native Americans used bows and arrows to hunt, but they were also a representation of power and skill. Even making the bows and arrows was considered an important job. The arrows were quite long and also used as lances. Here’s a cute little bow and arrow craft you can make with natural elements.
5. Shawnee Birchbark Canoe Craft
Besides using bows and arrows to hunt, Native Americans also used canoes to fish, and they made their canoes chiefly with birchbark. If you’d like to try making your own canoe, Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus has the perfect addition to our list of Native American crafts for kids!
6. Native American Painted Buffalo Hides
Painted buffalo hides were an important part of Native American culture on the Great Plains of the United States. Buffalo hides were often worn for daily clothing but special ones were created and painted beautifully for special or ceremonial purposes. Sometimes, a buffalo hide with special images was worn for healing or for help with childbirth. Social and political leaders would have a unique and beautiful painted buffalo hide that they would wear. If you were to pick out images that mean the most to you, what do you paint on your buffalo hide? This craft from Meet the Masters at VSY allows you to create your own.
Weaving played a part in the creation of so much of the beautiful regalia and clothing associated with almost every Native American tribe. For that reason, young children learned this skill very early with simple projects that honed their skills. As they grew older, they might create belts, rugs, carrying bags or other clothing items. This post from The Educator’s Spin On It has wonderful examples of basic projects you can try that come from many diverse Native American tribes.
8. Petroglyphs Native American Art Lesson
Just as Native American crafts for kids help us communicate with another culture, the Native Americans used Petroglyphs to communicate with each other. They made pictures on rocks by cutting, carving and scraping away. The pictures acted as a way to leave messages for travelers and often featured humans, animals, objects, symbols or shapes. Check out Nurture Store to learn more about Petroglyphs and how they were used.
9. Simple Native American Wigwam Craft
Like teepees, wigwams were places where the Native Americans made their homes. However, unlike teepees, wigwams had a dome shape and were made with both bark and hides. There’s Just One Mommy shows us how to create a little wigwam that’s great to use in small world play.
10. Native American Spin Drum Craft for Kids
Marcie in Mommyland gives us a cute Spin Drum craft that can be easily made with things lying around the house. Kids can have fun trying to summon each other from another room!
11. Native American Totem Pole Writing Activity
We love that these Native American crafts for kids also work as educational exercises, like this one from The Viral Teacher. It features a printable totem pole on which you can write about what you’ve chosen on the pole.
12. Native American Cradleboard Craft
Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus introduces us to the cradleboards used by Native Americans to carry their babies with them. The cradleboards were either woven or made of wood, and then painted and decorated. In winter, the cradleboards were lined with fur, and they also tied dangling bead strings to entertain the baby, much like the modern crib mobile.
13. Paper Mache Native American Rattles
Rattles can be found in almost every Native American tribe. They can be heard in personal or ceremonial music as well as social and celebrational music. As you can imagine, each tribe made rattles out of objects that were readily available, like dried gourds. Some of the more unusual Native American rattles were made of items such as salt and pepper shakers and the toenails of deer. This craft from Art is Basic shows you how to make your own version of a Native American rattle out of papier-mache.
14. Native American Teepee Printables
Brilliant Little Ideas shows us how to create a little teepee village, with teepees that you can decorate any way you like. Simply download the printable, color and assemble for your own custom village!
15. Native American Beaded Necklace
Native Americans created jewelry not just for personal use, but also for ceremonies and for trade. It was an important aspect of personal identity that was also tied to the tribe’s identity. Check out this project from Baker Ross to learn how you can make your own beaded necklace.
16. DIY Native American Drum
Drums, rattles, and music played a huge part in the lives of all Native American tribes. Drums used might range from small hand drums to water drums to large frame drums. Aside from drums that one person would play, there were also group drums, such as pow-wow drums that brought many drummers together to play. Many of these drums were played by using a stick or a beater and this craft from Crafty Homeschool Mom gives you different ways you can create a beater for playing any drum of your choice.
17. Hopi Indian Kachina Doll Project
This doll from Erika Lancaster is one of our favorite Native American crafts for kids! Even if you didn’t know their name, you’d probably recognize a kachina doll from the Native American tribes of the Southwestern United States. A kachina is a depiction of an ancestral spirit and can be represented by an actual dancer or by a kachina doll. Some are pretty, some are scary, but they are meant to teach kids about important beliefs held by the tribe and passed on from generation to generation. Some of the icons represented by kachinas and kachina dolls are the singer, the buffalo, the badger, the ogre, the hunter, the rainbow, the eagle, and the sun. You can find kachina dancers and rites in the Hopi, Zuni, Hopi-Tewa, and most of the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico.
18. Easy Paper Roll Totem Pole Craft
We can’t have a list of Native American crafts for kids without talking about totem poles! Native Americans built large cylindrical structures with carvings on them that depicted a wide variety of events from tribe histories, mythology and more. Little Ladoo shows us how to build our own totem pole and paint it in bright colors.
19. Wampum Belt Weaving Activity
Ridgetop Farm and Garden shows us how to create a Wampum belt craft. Wampum is the name of a traditional shell bead used by the Native Americans. These beads were strung together and woven in specific ways to create patterns. These patterns told stories, recorded important events and also acted as gifts.
20. DIY Native American Arrowhead
The Native Americans made arrowheads and it was considered an important skill that was passed down through generations. Each tribe had their own style of making an arrowhead, and it was taught to kids form a young age. Check out Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool to learn how to make an arrowhead of your own. It’s interesting when these Native American crafts for kids help you connect with what kids were doing many years ago.
Kids’ Books about Native Americans by Native Americans
Can you imagine being in a room and having people talk about you, but not including you? That is how many Native American people feel when they are excluded from the very books and stories that tell their history or exploit their culture. One way to reverse this disrespectful trend is to look for books or websites that are about Native people written by Native people along with making Native American crafts for kids. In those books and websites, you’ll find a more authentic and respectful portrayal of what it means to be a member of a Native American tribe.
- We Are Grateful (Bilingual – English With Cherokee Vocabulary) by Traci Sorrel
- My Heart Fills With Happiness by Monique Gray Smith
- Lovebirds, The True Story of Raven and Eagle by Sondra Simone Segundo
- Sweetest Kulu by Celina Kalluk
- First Laugh–Welcome, Baby! by Rose Ann Tahe, Nancy Bo Flood, Jonathan Nelson
- An Anishinaabe Christmas by Wab Kinew
- Keepunumuk: Weeâchumun’s Thanksgiving Story by Danielle Greendeer, Anthony Perry, Alexis Bunten
- The Ribbon Skirt: A Graphic Novel by Cameron Mukwa
Additional Resources
- The National Museum of The American Indian
- 8 Native American Museums You Can Visit Online
- How To Find A Pow-Wow Near You
- Crazy Crow Native American Trading Post (Craft Supplies, Books and More)
- Killer Whale Eyes by Sondra Segundo
Meet Our Guest Blogger – Daria | World Music for Children
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