Many students may already be familiar with tipis (also spelled tepee or teepee). This inverted conical structure was somewhat simple to assemble from skins and poles, and easy to dismantle and carry to another location. Tipis usually have an opening at the top to allow smoke from a fire to escape. Check diagrams and tipi kits for details on how they are built. Visit a Native American historic or cultural exhibit that features this type of dwelling so the students can sit inside and feel the materials.
The Inuit peoples of Alaska use the word igloo for "shelter," but not all of them lived in such homes. Igloos are houses made from ice and snow blocks. The structure is dome shaped, built from the ground up in a circular or spiraling pattern. It's completely enclosed, and the frozen snow serves as insulation against freezing winds. If you can access a machine such as those used for making snow cones, the children can try their hand at shaping igloos.
Longhouses are like elongated wigwams -- wood framed houses with bark and grass exteriors. They can also be found built entirely of wood, similar to log cabins. A number of different tribes built them. Tribes in the Pacific Northwest frequently featured bright painted motifs, and totem poles near entrances. Longhouses were either gathering places for formal events, or were divided into multi-family units with separator walls. Use various materials to let students construct models, or let them paint totem beings.
Bricks of baked clay and straw are stacked to make walls for adobe dwellings, or pueblos. Similar to homes or apartment complexes, these buildings housed Pueblo Indian tribes. Today, adobe is still used in construction. Get the basic materials to make a few adobe bricks. Let students build their own models from other "bricks" they make from clay or building blocks.