Indian Teepee Craft For Elementary Students: Learn About Teepees While Completing a Fun Class Project

Indian Teepee Craft For Elementary Students: Learn About Teepees While Completing a Fun Class Project
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If you are looking for a fun way to teach Native American history in your classroom, complete this Indian teepee craft in class. Before you begin the craft, you may want to take a look at websites that contain information on the Plains Indians and the teepees they used to live in while on hunting excursions. We’ve included two references at the bottom of the article to get you started.

The Plains Indians primarily lived in teepees only during seasons of hunting. In the other seasons, they lived in huts or wigwams. The teepees they lived in were constructed using the skins of animals and logs. The one in the craft below is made out of a cereal box and sticks from a tree.

Step by Step Instructions

  1. Gather Materials: You will need a cereal box, scissors, glue (I used a hot glue gun), sticks and markers.

2. Cut out a triangle template from a note card or cardstock. I cut mine out of a 4 by 6 inch notecard.

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  1. Trace the triangle template 5 times.

As you can see from the picture you’ll need to trace the template of the triangle 5 times right next to one another onto the inside of the cereal box.

(The cereal box will need to be cut open prior to this so it becomes one large sheet of cardboard).

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  1. Decorate the teepee with markers, cut out, and bend.

While the teepee is still in the flat stage you will want to decorate it.

Then, cut it out along the lines, and then bend the teepee at each fold. When it’s done being bended it will look like the image to the right.

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  1. **Glue on the sticks.**It’s hard to see from this picture (click to enlarge), but we used a hot glue gun and glued on three short pieces of a stick onto the top of the teepee.

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  1. Glue the back flap.

Because you will have an opening in the back, take the 5th flap and glue it onto the 1st flap. It will form a cone shape.

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  1. Cut a door in the front and display your project!

We cut a half moon shaped door on the front.

We later displayed it on a piece of green paper (to look like grass underneath).

If you want to read more information on teepees, here are a couple of good websites.

Enchanted Learning.com at www.enchantedlearning.com This site has a great template for making a teepee craft. I used their template to make this craft.

Shelter Pub, at www.shelterpub.com, at https://www.shelterpub.com/ This site had some real life drawings of what would be on a teepee.