Dive Into Native American History With Your Kids (+12 Worksheet Bundles To Help Your Kid Learn More About Tribes and Regions)

Native American history is one of the most important topics for kids to learn. But how do you make such a long and critical part of our country’s history simple to understand?

This quick guide — and 12 accompanying worksheet bundles — will get you on the right track.

Firstly, who were the Native Americans?

Native Americans are the indigenous people who were in America when the country was “first” discovered in 1492, by Christopher Columbus.

Columbus met the Native Americans while exploring the Southern and Central coasts of America. They lived in defined tribes, built their own monuments, and originally hunted for food before learning how to grow crops.

To help you teach your kids the basics, our worksheet bundle on Native American history is a great place to start. It’s filled with tons of facts your children need to know, and will keep them engaged with fun activities like drawing tasks, matching games, and so much more.

Once your kids are up to speed, you should try and delve a little deeper into Native American history. This is key to helping them understand Native American culture beyond the basics.

Introducing the Native American Tribes

From coast to coast, there have been (and still are!) hundreds of Native American tribes. All of them had their own unique traditions and ways of life.

So, let’s go ahead and break some of these down — and don’t forget to check out our tribe worksheets throughout, for more fun activities your kids can get stuck into.

The Inuits

The Inuits lived in the subarctic region (in states like Alaska), and were able to survive the coldest conditions thanks to their long fur coats, and hearty diets of fish, whale, and seal meat.

Your kids might be more familiar with the term ‘Eskimo’, which is what the Inuits were once known as.

The Tribes of the Great Basin

The dry area of the Great Basin was once inhabited by the Washo, Ute, and Shoshone tribes who used to be known as the “Great Basin Indians”. This was because Christopher Columbus mistakenly believed that America was a part of India.

Members of these tribes lived in tipis and grass huts, and ate seeds and nuts, as well as small insects and larger animals like buffalo.

The Plains Tribes

Northern Plains (in states like Montana and Idaho) were dominated by the Blackfoot, Arapahoe, Cheyenne, Sioux, Comanche, and Crow tribes, who lived in tipis. They depended heavily on American Bison and followed them right through the seasons on horseback.

The Plains Tribes also had lots of ancient spiritual traditions, like the Ghost Dance Ritual, which they believed would reunite the living with the dead and protect their land from invasion.

The Northern Tribes

The Iroquois, Wappani, and Shawnee tribes lived in the Northeast Woodlands and lived in ‘wigwams’ — a dome-shaped hut held up by poles.

They hunted, fished, and grew crops like corn and beans. Some of these tribes were very peaceful, but there were some who were warmongers.

The Northwest plateau was where the Nez Perce, Salish, and the Tlingit lived. These tribes were experts in the art of basketry, and also used materials (such as tule, sagebrush, and willow bark) to make hats, bedding, and nets.

The Southern Tribes

In the Southeast, tribes such as the Cherokee, Seminole, and Chickasaw settled and became known for their farming abilities. While in the Southwest, brick-based homes were owned by the Apache and Navajo nations.

The Southern tribes were the tribes that interacted with the European settlers the most. Over time, they started to adopt their traditions. They also believed heavily in spirituality, and that not only humans, but animals, plants, and even rocks, had their own souls.

Native American history for kids — from general ways of life to gender roles

As you’ve just seen, most of the Native American tribes had a lot in common. So, to complete our rundown of facts about Native Americans for kids, let’s go ahead and summarize the Native American way of life.

Where and how Native Americans lived

All Native Americans originally lived off the land, and used to hunt and gather food and materials.

After they learned how to grow crops, they started building permanent villages as they no longer had to travel to hunt for animals.

Native Americans all created their own homes from natural resources — how cool is that? They would live in either tipis (made from buffalo hide), log homes, igloos, or mud huts.

Most Native Americans hunted animals

Before being able to plant crops, most Native Americans would hunt animals and use them for food (meat), clothes (fur), shelter (fur and bones), carriers (stomachs), and weapons (horns) — they didn’t let anything go to waste!

The typical Native American diet

Most Native Americans ate the same kind of food. It was really common for tribes to eat meats like elk, deer, buffalo, salmon, seal, pheasant, and turkey — not all that different to what we eat today!

When tribes settled and grew crops, things like corn, squash, potatoes, tomatoes, beans, peppers, chocolate (yes, really!), and nuts became more popular.

Native Americans were all very spiritual

As we mentioned before, Native Americans had a ton of spiritual traditions.

They believed in a special relationship with nature and worshipped the sun and rain, that they thought to be “supreme gods” who helped them grow their crops.

Native Americans on gender and family

All Native Americans had a very “traditional” view on gender. The men hunted and protected their families, while the women prepared food, made clothing, and cared for the children.

The family was a huge part of Native American culture, and they fought hard to preserve it.

How to teach kids about The Trail of Tears and other Native American tragedies

Unfortunately, there’s a more tragic side to Native American history — one that’s not as fun to learn, but that’s equally important to understand.

When the Europeans first landed in the Americas, they brought with them lots of new diseases, which meant many Native Americans became sick and died between the 16th and 19th centuries.

In 1830, after the Indian Removal Act, many tribes from the Southern United States were forced to leave their cherished homes behind to live in reservations. Now known as the Trail of Tears, they were made to walk over 1,000 miles in horrible conditions (a journey which many people didn’t survive).

The Native Americans also fell victim to mass brutality. In order to force them from their land, Europeans waged war on tribes. As population numbers were already down — due to sickness — and because the tribespeople had less developed weapons, they were eventually overpowered.

The Sand Creek Massacre in 1864 saw 675 cavalrymen attack and kill anywhere between 70-500 Native Americans, many of whom were women and children.

These tragic pieces of Native American history have left a huge mark on their culture, and it’s super important that our kids are aware of the hardships — as well as the highlights.

All caught up?

Sure, there’s a lot to cover when teaching Native American history for kids.

But armed with this guide — and the many, many worksheets we’ve covered — you should feel more ready to teach what is truly an important part of our country’s history.

And for other articles just like this, head over to our blog for more advice on becoming the best teacher you can possibly be.