The Plains Indians

Native Americans on the Plains

Native People

There were many Indian Nations/ tribes with their own cultures in North America.  Each tribe has its own lifestyle that has to do with where its members live.  Plains Tribes hunted buffalo, farmed, and sometimes fished.  Not all plains tribes were the same.  

Multiple Choice

Which of the following would have been used by Plains Tribes in our area?

• hunting buffalo

• making pottery from clay

• ate wild cranberries

Nomadic Tribes

• lived in village groups but moved to hunt

• no permanent houses

• lived in tipis

• Lakoa Sioux

• Araphao 

• Cheyenne

Farming Tribes

• Lived in vilages

• earthlodges

• hunted and traded to get what they needed

• Ponca, Omaha, Pawnee, Otoe-Missouri

Multiple Choice

Why did nomadic tribes need tipis or moveable homes?

• to fit more people

• stay in one place

• easy to move

Earthlodge

• 20-40 people

• storage pits

• cool inside

• warmed by fire

• protection from storms or fires

Tipi

• portable

• women built

• 12 buffalos

• art on sides like a narrative

Multiple Choice

What material is used to make an earthlodge?

• Buffalo hide

• clay

• corn

• grass and dirt

Living with Earth

• deep respect for earth

• followed the seasons as way of life

• Spring and summer-planted, repaired, teaching, hunting

• Fall and Winter-gathering food, hunting, stories, 

Open Ended

Why were stories so important in winter?

hunting

• took tipis (women)

• hunted (men)

• watched from the middle (young boys)

• prepared supplies before/during/after (women)

• Children could help prepare supplies before a hunt. 

• Use of buffalo..pg 91

Open Ended

Name two things made from buffalo.