For our summer Camp Rainbow group, we wanted our kids to know that there were people living here long ago, and that those people had a culture and a way of life. Last week became Native Americans week. (Click HERE for more about Camp Rainbow.)
We trekked over to the University of Georgia campus. Near the Georgia Center there is a small stone monument...
I don't know if the five year-olds were impressed, but it fueled my imagination! Lumpkin Street runs from Downtown Athens to the Five Points area and has some interesting old buildings along it, but I didn't realize its history was far older.
The kiddos seemed to really like the craft projects. I found an older book at our local library that had quite a few handmade Native American games and other projects. The favorite seemed to be the Stick Game. Each kid decorated three flat sticks -- one with a dot pattern and two with a snake pattern. The opposite sides remain plain/blank.
Then they tossed their sticks in the air and there is a scoring system for the resulting patterns. (American Indian Games and Crafts by Charles L. Blood. NY: Franklin Watts, 1981.)
3 Plain Sides Up = 4 points
3 Marked Sides Up = 4 points
2 Snakes, 1 Plain = 6 points
1 Snake, 2 Plain = 6 points
1 Snake, 1 Plain, 1 Dots = 0 points
We also made some clay-colored play dough using cinnamon and other spices. I have a few pieces of Native American pottery shards that I collected on the Georgia coast, so I showed those to the kids. Then we had fun marking the pottery the way the Native Americans might have.
I showed them how to do simple coil pots as well. (Click HERE for a post that includes the play dough recipe.)
That are some great Native American sites in Georgia that are open to the public, but it ended up being too crazy of a week for a long field trip. Maybe later in the summer we'll go to Rock Eagle, Etowah Indian Mounds, Ocmulgee National Monument, the Chief Vann Historic Site, or the New Echota Historic Site.
This week for Camp Rainbow is "Wet and Wild" (water creatures and wetland habitats). We've got our library books and now we just need to schedule a few adventures with buddies...
Posts About Camp Rainbow:
Explanation of Camp Rainbow
Week One: Careers and Jobs -- Restaurant and Bank
Week One: Pizza Parlor
Week Two: Native Americans
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