Native American Shawl Inspired Craft {NAHM 2015}

Learning about Native American culture with young children can turn into an interesting adventure.

We are now in a month that honours Native American Heritage and even though we have no direct ties with this cultural background, we still give a great deal of attention passing onto generation how amazing Native American culture is in many ways.

So far my children have only encountered anything Native American through Pocahontas cartoons. There isn’t much there revealing the culture besides some clothing and closeness to nature.

Since my girls love drawing, coloring and dressing up, I decided to introduce them to Native American dance shawls and created a simple but fun craft for them that encouraged them to ask more questions about Native American culture.

Materials needed:

2 old sheets or pieces of plain cloth (we had some crib mattress covers which we used)
Scissors, if necessary
Fabric markers, stamps or paints
Fringe (optional, and for much older children – we didn’t use for this craft)
Cardboard

Process:

1. Lay the sheet over the cardboard – it is easier to draw and color!

2. Let the children decorate the fabric.

3. Tie the fabric around shoulders or body and using some Native American music let your spirit dance!

Optional:

1. Decorate the sides of the shawl with fringe. You can make it out of a yarn or a thicker crochet thread. Or get the ready-made. You would need a needle and thread to stitch them onto the fabric; or make holes and tie them.

2. Make headbands out of the fabric: simply cut a long chunk of fabric , decorate it and tie on the head.

I hope you enjoy this simple craft while learning about Native American Heritage!

Welcome to our second annual celebration of Native American Heritage Month! All month long we’ll be sharing posts about sharing these rich cultures with kids. Find our full schedule of posts below, and don’t forget to link up your own as well! We’ll also be having a big giveaway (details coming soon!) You can find even more ideas on our Native/Indigenous Cultures Pinterest board:

Follow Multicultural Kid Blogs’s board Native/Indigenous Cultures on Pinterest.

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