View/Download PDF
Cherokee Games and Crafts
Carole Camp
This lesson will help students understand how the games and crafts of the Cherokee were used to prepare the children for the roles they would assume as adults. Their roles as adults were very gender specific. Boys were taught games that would help them become hunters and girls were taught home making skills. Boys will play games and girls will make crafts that were similar to the ones Cherokee children did.
1. Picture of Native American lacrosse equipment and lacrosse player that has been glued to heavy weight paper (a file folder is ideal), and cut into 16 or 20 puzzle pieces (the number depending on the number of students you want in each group and the number of groups you will need). Each group will need one complete puzzle. This is Handout #1 (Go to ask.com and type in "lacrosse being played".
2. Clay that can be made into pottery bowls that will eventually harden.
3. Toothpicks.
4. Construction paper--9" x 12". One whole sheet for each girl and lots of strips cut into 1" or 1/2" widths.
5. Glue sticks.
6. Scissors.
7. Beads--cheap, lots of different colors, fishing line or line specially made for beading, and needles with eyes big enough to thread the line through.
8. Leather-like fabric cut into 4" x 6' pieces.
9. A small hula-hoop.
10. Two pieces of PVC pipe or dowel rods approximately 6' to 8' in length.
11. A ball about the size of a youth or junior basketball.
12. Optional--a child's bow and arrow set and a target of some kind, such as a bale of hay. PLEASE NOTE that this is an optional activity and the teacher needs to check with his/her school district's policy as to whether even a child's bow and arrow would be allowed.
13. A picture of lacrosse being played can be found by going to ask.com and typing in "pictures of lacrosse being played". Pictures of both present-day lacrosse and a lacrosse-like game played by the Cherokee can be found using this procedure. These pictures should be shown to the students.Another way to access a picture of Cherokee playing lacrosse is to go to Cherokee.com and look under games.
one 85 minute class period
3Y3
How did the games and crafts of the Cherokee help prepare children for the roles they would assume as adults?
Boys--what is your favorite outdoor game? Describe how it is played. Who taught you how to play it? What is the purpose of it? Does it in any way help prepare you for your role as an adult?
Girls--what is your favorite craft? Describe it. Who taught you this craft? What is the purpose of it? Does it in any way help prepare you for your role as an adult?
The teacher will give each student four or five teacher prepared puzzle pieces (based on the number of students that will be in each group). This will be a teacher drawn picture of native American lacrosse equipment and a man in the traditional dress preparing to play. Students will find their other group members based on the number that appears on the back of each puzzle piece. All members of the group will have the same number on the back of each of their puzzle pieces. After each member of the group finds his/her other group members, they will assemble the puzzle. All puzzle pieces will be used. After the puzzles are assembled let the groups show their puzzles. Ask if the equipment looks like that used by present-day lacrosse players. At this point, show the pictures of both modern day lacrosse being played and the one of it being played by Native Americans. Compare the similarities and the differences.
Explain that games played by boys and crafts made by girls helped prepare the Cherokee children for roles they would assume as adults. The roles were very gender specific. Boys hunted and provided meat for their families when they became men. Girls looked after the babies and children and made the clothes and decorated them and wove baskets and blankets, and made pottery cooking utensils as women.
This plan needs two adults to work successfully. Two classes could combine, or an assistant could be used, or a parent could help. It takes a lot of planning and setting up, but the students will really enjoy it and get a better feel for what Cherokee children did to prepare for adulthood.
Girls and boys should be separated into two different groups. One adult will go outside with the boys for games and the other adult will stay inside with the girls for crafts.
The boys will play several different games. All of these games were to help learn hunting skills which were a necessity for the tribes' survival. Often the men would join in these games with the boys in order to keep their own hunting skills sharp during the seasons when they did little or no actual hunting.
1) This game will use a ball and two lengths of PVC pipe or dowel rods. The ball should be about the size of a youth size basketball. Tell the boys that the Cherokee actually used a rock shaped somewhat like a wheel. The game is played by two boys, each with a length of pipe or dowel . The "throwing sticks" (pipe or rod) should be about six to eight feet in length. A third boy will roll the ball and the two boys with the "sticks" will try to throw the sticks in front of the ball, trapping it and stopping it. In order for the ball to be trapped, the sticks will have to be thrown together and land crossed in front of the ball.
2) This game will use one of the "sticks" and a small hula-hoop. One boy will roll the hula-hoop and the other boy will try to throw the stick through the hoop as it rolls without knocking it over.
3) This game is like a spear throwing contest. Two boys will throw their "stick" and see who can throw it the furtherest.
4) This is entirely optional and is based on whether a child's bow and arrow set can be used. THE TEACHER SHOULD CHECK WITH HIS/HER SCHOOL DISTRICT'S POLICY AS TO WHETHER EVEN A CHILD'S BOW AND ARROW CAN BE USED. No real hunting bows should be used. It is simply shooting the arrow into a bale of hay or a target, to see who can shoot with the most accuracy. Perhaps arrows with rubber tips would be allowed.
The girls will stay inside and be divided into groups. The size of each group will depend on the number of girls and the number of crafts available. They will have the opportunity to choose from several different crafts. Depending on the time to be spent, each girl should have the chance to try her hand at two or more crafts. These crafts were designed to help the girls learn skills they would need in order to fulfill their role as women in the tribe.
1)Pottery. Each girl in this group will be given a lump of clay to be shaped into a bowl. The bowl may be simply moulded or constructed by laying one clay-made "rope" on top of another. Encourage the girls to be creative. After the bowl shape is achieved, allow each girl to draw decorative designs into her bowl using a toothpick. If your school's art department has a kiln, it would be great to work with the art teacher on this so the bowls could actually be fired.
2)Mat weaving. Each girl will be given strips of construction paper. She can choose all the same color or use two colors or several different colors. She should also choose one sheet of 9x12 construction paper. This sheet should be folded in half length wise. It should then be cut in 1/2" - 1" wide strips from the folded side to the open side. DO NOT CUT ALL THE WAY TO THE OPEN SIDE. Stop cutting about 1" from the open side. Open the sheet out and lay it flat on the table. The single strips should then be woven through the strips on the sheet, one at a time. The first strip needs to be woven over one strip of the sheet and under the next, continuing all the way across the sheet. Now weave the next strip under the first strip of the sheet and over the next strip, continuing this opposite pattern all the way across the sheet. Alternate this over/under patten until the sheet is completely filled with the cross-woven strips. After the sheet is filled, glue the unattached ends of each strip to the solid "frame" of the original cut sheet. These mats may be colored decoratively, if desired.
3)Decorating with beads. Each girl will be given beads and a small piece of leather-like fabric. The piece should be about 4" x 6". It can later be folded and made into a pouch if the girl decides to make it outside of class. Each girl will also need fishing line or line made specially for beading and a needle with an eye large enough to thread the line through. It is suggested that each girl draw her design on a piece of paper before stringing the beads, but it is not absolutely necessary. Girls may rather string the beads at random. The design will not be as good, but as long as the girl is happy with it, that's all that matters. When a design and colors are decided on, the girls should sew the beads onto the fabric in the shape she desires. It should be a geometric design or a simple object such as a flower or the sun or a rainbow.
4)Jewelry making with beads and feathers (feathers are optional). Each girl should be given beads (and feathers) and fishing line or line specially made for beading. The girl will have to decide if she wants a bracelet or a necklace, then be given a piece of line long enough to fit around her wrist or neck and be able to be tied off. Again, a design drawn on paper before beginning is best, but not absolutely necessary. The jewelry should be very colorful with a discernible pattern in the color scheme. Feathers are difficult to attach to the line and require craft glue, but they make the jewelry more interesting.
Each of these crafts is something that a Cherokee woman might be expected to make. Pottery is necessary for cooking and eating, weaving is necessary for blankets, decorating clothing makes it individual and special, and jewelry might be used in ceremonies.
What was your favorite game/craft? Was it easier or more difficult than you thought it would be? Do you think it would take a lot of practice to become really skillful at the game/craft? Do you think Cherokee children enjoyed these activities that helped prepare them for their adult roles? How did these activities prepare the children for adult life?
A picture of lacrosse being played can be found by going to ask.com and typing in "pictures of lacrosse being played".
All craft materials should be available at Wal Mart or a similar store. Inexpensive materials may be used so as not to be cost prohibitive. Perhaps the PTO or room mothers or Partners in Education could help supply the materials needed for this lesson.
None