Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Native American Heritage Month Activities: Navajo Sandpainting

This month, I will be posting some activities related to two things that make November special:  Native American Heritage Month as well as Thanksgiving celebration.


Today's lesson plan idea:  discuss some different Native American tribes and the differences in their cultures.  Like many people, many tribes had their own distinctive forms of art.  For the Navajo, sandpainting was a sacred practice.  Find information about and examples of Navajo sandpainting (here is a website to get you started) and share it with the class.


Then, lead your class in a sandpainting activity, an adaptation of the sandpainting done by the Navajo.  


Here is a video that shows the process, which actually appears pretty simple:



A second video, found here, shows how the sandpainting can incorporate more traditional designs (scroll to the last few minutes).


Kinderart also has a written outline of the instructions. Enjoy!




-Veronica

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