Things to Make - Teepees & Headbands

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, lately the girls have been asking a lot of questions about Native Americans, so I bought them a few books on the subject (click here for the post). One of our favorites has been More Than Moccasins: A Kid's Activity Guide to Traditional North American Indian Life (A Kid's Guide series), which is really a great craft book. F's taken to browsing through it in the afternoons and picking out various art/craft projects she wants to try (why do kids always manage to gravitate towards the most complex projects?). So far, we've managed to make teepees and headbands, both of which are incredibly easy (and fun).

To make teepees:
1. Use a bowl to trace a large circle
2. Cut the circle in half
3. Role the half-circle into a cone and tape the ends together (cut out a door or fold back the paper's flaps to make a door)
4. paint or color your teepee (we used 10 ct. 2 oz. Bottles - Assorted Color Washable Kid's Paint).

While crafting, we talked about how the Plains Indians used teepees as portable homes when they hunted buffalo. Our family eats a lot of buffalo (which we buy at farmer's markets through Cibola Farms), so the girls were excited to learn they had this in common with the indians. Though P kept asking why daddy didn't kill our buffalo himself. And of course, we also made paper dolls to live in the teepees, so this project lasted all afternoon. And P now knows not to put any of the villagers (or their homes) on the floor (see here for the back story).
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Not surprisingly, one of the first craft projects that F chose was to make a headband (F's already large headband collection continues to grow and grow).

To make headbands:
1. Cut out a long strip of paper (you may need to staple two together) and fit it to your child's head
2. Paint or color the headband, you can also cut out and add other ornaments to the headband (F wanted a feather).

Have a great Tuesday everyone!



In case you're wondering, yes, there is a New Kids On the Block watch on F's wrist. A neighbor gave it to her and it has become a prized piece of jewelry. As long as I don't have to go to the reunion concert, I'm cool with this.