How to Make an Adobe Indian House Project

Pueblos, commonly referred to as adobe houses, are Native American housing complexes native to the Southwest. These multi-story apartment complexes were sectioned into many units, with one family living in each unit. Extended families, known as clans, grouped together to inhabit the entire complex. This provided more hands to help create the bricks, which were often created out of an adobe paste mixed with straw. Mixing the paste and straw was hard labor. Create a small adobe Indian house project to learn more about these fascinating structures and their unusual construction.

Things You'll Need

  • Adobe soil (sand, clay, silt)
  • Water
  • Straw
  • Wooden poles
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Instructions

    • 1

      Create an adobe paste by mixing adobe soil and water into a paste. Good adobe soil is mostly sand, with a 40 percent or less clay and silt content. Mix a small amount of straw into the paste. Form the paste into small bricks. Allow the bricks to dry in the sun until the adobe is hard.

    • 2

      Stack the bricks in a square shape to form the walls of one unit.

    • 3

      Spread wet adobe over the outside and inside of the walls to create a smooth surface.

    • 4

      Create a floor from adobe bricks or a layer of wet adobe.

    • 5

      Place wooden poles upright along the inside walls to support the roof. Lay wooden beams and poles across the walls to create a ceiling. Cover the roof with wet adobe to create a hard roof.

    • 6

      Create multiple units side by side and vertically stacked to form a pueblo complex.

    • 7

      Add ladders and stairs made of sticks. This adds authenticity to the model and provides access to the upstairs units.

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