Back to Unit 1Biography

U.S. stamp showing pioneers

Day in the Life


 California Standard 5.1.1 Describe how geography and climate influenced the way various nations lived and adjusted to the natural environment, including locations of villages, the distinct structures that they built, and how they obtained food, [MORE]    California Standard 5.1.2 Describe their varied customs and folklore traditions. 

Children of the Plains Indians learned adult skills by helping their parents. Girls learned to sew and cook. They joined in the women's job of preparing animal skins brought back from a hunt. Boys learned hunting and wrestling. These skills made boys good warriors when they grew older. Hunting was the main source of food for Plains Indians. Boys learned at a young age to use bows and arrows to hunt. Plains Indian children were named for events. These events often took place in the lives of their parents or grandparents. When children grew older, they could take a new name. Often, the new name celebrated an event in their own lives.

 

Case Study
A Job for Everyone

At an early age, young Plains Indian girls learned how to prepare animal hides. The buffalo hides spread on the ground after a hunt and girls helped their mothers to scrape the hides clean. This hard job needed many people. After they prepared the animal skins, mothers showed their daughters how to make clothes and moccasins. Girls also helped their mothers use the buffalo hides to build teepees. Only the women of the tribe built teepees.

 
 

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Living in a Teepee

Plains Indians followed the animals they hunted. Read how teepees let the Plains Indians move their homes whenever they wished. Teepees were warm in the winter and cool in the summer. In what ways are teepees like your modern home?


Importance of Storytelling

The Plains Indians told stories to their children to pass on their traditions. Storytelling taught children about their people's religion, history, and culture. Read the Dakota's legend of creation. Has storytelling helped you to learn more about your religion or country's history?

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Games

Choose a traditional Native American game to help you experience life with the Great Plains Indians.