Woodland Indians field trip

We took another Native American field trip to Minnetrista in Muncie.  They had a great program to teach the kids more about the Indians that lived in this area.  We started out learning about the 3 sisters - corn, beans and squash.  They would grow all 3 seeds together (actually 3 of each seed) in one hill.  One seed was for the people, one for the animals and one for the land.  The corn would support the beans and the squash would shade the ground to prevent weed growth.



Then we learned more about the Wigwams that they built.  We saw a shell (just sticks bound together with sinew, which is animal tendon.)  They the kids helped with binding the grasses together for the outer shell.



And here is a model of what the final house would look like:



Our guide taught the kids a Native game that the Indian children would play to learn the skills they needed for hunting.  They would roll a hoop and try to throw the stick to land inside the hoop.  The smaller children would use larger hoops that the older kids.





The kids got to make a clay pot to take home with them, learned more about spears the Indians used for fishing and other fishing equipment.  We also saw birch baskets and gourd bowls.  This is the fishing net they would've used.