Lesson Plan
Crayola

Crayola: Hides That Reveal (Lesson Plan)

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
A fun lesson plan for a class studying Native American culture. Students create their own tepees, or animal hides with designs and symbols representing their own personality. Also contains adaptations and resources. (To access this...
PPT
Other

Calgary Board Education: Our First Nations: Blackfoot

For Students 3rd - 8th
Educators will find this a useful research model for their students. Each slide addresses a different aspect of the Blackfoot tribe's daily life and culture.
Handout
Glenbow Museum

Glenbow Museum: Pictograph Robes of the Plains Indians

For Students 9th - 10th
Plains Indians often recorded their history in pictograph form on their tipis and buffalo skins. View the original artwork by He Dog (Percy Creighton)as he interpreted the history of the Blood Indians.
Interactive
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: What Can You Make From a Buffalo?

For Students 3rd - 6th
The northern Plains Indians used every part of the buffalo. In this interactive matching game, students will match objects made by Native Americans from the buffalo.
Primary
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian: National Museum of the American Indian: Battle of Little Bighorn

For Students 9th - 10th
The Battle of Little Bighorn made an immense impression on American society and culture. Americans became obsessed with this battle and created artworks, shows, postcards, and dime novels. View primary sources from this era to understand...
Article
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: Buffalo Tales: The Near Extermination of the American Bison

For Students 9th - 10th
This National Humanities Center site offers an article which examines the main techniques on how the Plains Indian tribes hunted the buffalo.
Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Neh: Edsit Ement: Life on the Great Plains

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A detailed lesson plan that explores "the concept of region and how culture and experience influence the perception of regions." Site provides many excellent websites for students and teachers to explore during their study of the Great...
Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: Comanche

For Students 9th - 10th
Wikipedia offers detailed information on the Native American group, the Comanche.
Activity
PBS

Pbs: Lewis and Clark: Yankton Sioux Indians

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about what the Yankton Sioux wanted from Lewis and Clark and why they were disappointed when they met the Corps of Discovery on its journey up the Missouri River. From PBS.
Website
Oklahoma State University

Chronicles of Oklahoma: The Kiowa's Defiance

For Students 9th - 10th
A detailed article describing how the Kiowa at first resisted the Americans, focusing on the efforts of their chief, Satanta in 1871.
Website
Oklahoma State University

Chronicles of Oklahoma: The Annual Sun Dance of the Kiowa Indians

For Students 9th - 10th
A very detailed description of the dance giving information about the purpose of the dance, the symbolism of the "Taime", how it is organized and much more.
Website
PBS

Pbs the West: Fight No More Forever (1874 1877)

For Students 9th - 10th
From the PBS critically acclaimed series, "The West" comes this introduction to the Indian Wars that were waged in the course of settling the frontier.
Handout
PBS

Pbs the West: The Everywhere Spirit

For Students 9th - 10th
This PBS site describes events between 1866 and 1868 in the Indian Wars. Including the Lakota attack on a wagon train bringing supplies to Ft. Kearny and Custer's attack on the Cheyennes on the Washita River.
Lesson Plan
Other

All About Shoes: Paths Across the Plains: Traditional Footwear From Great Plains

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Lesson plans for two different grade levels discussing the footwear of the Plains Indians and the information one can gather from common items to find out about a culture.
Website
Other

Trans Mississippi and International Exposition: The Arapaho Tribe

For Students 9th - 10th
Provides general information on the Arapaho tribe, the buffalo hunters of the Great Plains.
Website
Other

Blackfoot Nation

For Students 9th - 10th
An official site of the Blackfoot Nation in Montana. Gives a look into their history, culture, and government.
Website
Other

University of Arkansas: The Osage Indians

For Students 9th - 10th
A short but thorough look at the Osage Indians of Missouri. Discusses their way of life, clothing, traditions, and culture.
Website
Other

Ethnological Museum: Native Americans of the Plains

For Students 9th - 10th
Part of a larger exhibition about Native Americans, this page gives visitors an up-close look at the Hidatsa and the Mandan, Native Americans of the Plains. Viewable are a decorated a buffalo skin and color etchings of tribal chiefs...
Handout
University of Calgary

Native Civilizations

For Students 9th - 10th
Blackfoot, Cree and Sioux cultures inhabited the plains. They were nomadic people who followed the roaming buffalo herds, hunting as needed to supply the essentials of life.
Website
Oklahoma State University

Chronicles of Oklahoma: Custer's Hunting Horse [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
A biographical sketch of a Kiowa Native American named "Hunting Horse" who lived from 1846 to the 1950's and for a time served with General George Custer as a scout. The article gives cultural details on the life of the Kiowa.
Unit Plan
Other

Texas Beyond History: Uncovering Our Cultural Heritage

For Students 9th - 10th
This site explores the history and geography of Texas, from prehistoric peoples to the European and Anglo explorers to the modern day. Content is supplemented with a wealth of archeologic photographs and artwork. A teacher section full...
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Tracking the Buffalo

For Students 3rd - 8th
This explores the role of the buffalo in the lives of the American Indians of the northern plains.
Website
Oklahoma Historical Society

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture: Arapaho, Southern

For Students 9th - 10th
A short history of the Arapaho. It explains how they came to be split into their various divisions, the main ones being the Northern and the Southern Arapaho.
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of the American Indian: Song for the Horse Nation

For Students 9th - 10th
An exhibition about horses in Native American cultures takes a sweeping look at the ways in which Native peoples, past and present, regard horses and horsemanship. Learn how the horse transformed Native approaches to the hunt, warfare,...