Kansas Museum of History

Indian Homes in Kansas

First Grade

How did people live without Home Depot? Learn how Kansas Indians built their homes using only the natural resources found on the prairie. Students will explore the museum gallery and compare and contrast the construction techniques of a full-size Cheyenne tipi, a Wichita grass lodge, a model of a Pawnee earth lodge. At the end of the tour students will get to set up a tipi, go inside and "step into the past."

This tour fulfills grade specific standards and provides pre-and post-visit material to help teachers meet those standards.

Standards:

Grass lodge History: Benchmark 2, Indicator 4: The student compares types of shelter used by American Indians in Kansas over time (e.g. grass house, earth house, tipi, frame house)

Geography: Benchmark 5, Indicator 2: The student describes how the physical environment impacts humans (e.g. choices of clothing, housing, crops, recreation).

Reading: Benchmark 2, Indicator 4: The student uses knowledge of sentence structure to read fluently at instructional or independent reading levels.

Length of tour: approximately one hour and 15 minutes, with a maximum of one tour per hour.

Number of students in a group: for the best experience, we recommend approximately 20 students per tour

Registration: Submit an online tour request; group rates are available with a minimum two weeks advanced registration

For more information: contact 785-272-8681, ext. 414; education@kshs.org.