The different tribes that made up the Sioux Indian population made their homes in teepees. Make miniature teepees with your students to help them learn more about how they were made and what makes them different from modern homes. Draw or trace a large cone shape onto a piece of paper. Reproduce the cone shape on heavy white paper so each student has one. Show students pictures of what Sioux teepees looked like. The Sioux Indian populations often painted stories on their teepees. Provide crayons or markers and ask students to decorate their teepees with things important to the Sioux Indians, such as buffalo and horses. Have students cut their teepees out and glue the edges together to form a cone shape. Show the students how to cut a flap to become the door.
Traditional clothing that the tribes within the Sioux Indian population wore included vests and moccasins made from buffalo hides. Recreate these types of dress using brown paper bags. Have students cut a slit in one side of a paper bag and small holes on the sides to become arm holes. Show students how to punch a series of holes around the edge of the vest. Provide yarn and instruct students to lace it through the holes to mimic how the Sioux Indians would sew the buffalo hides together. For moccasins, have your students cut two large squares from brown paper bags. Show your students how to fold the edges up around their feet to measure how large they should be. Punch holes around the edges, and have students lace the corners together so they form a moccasin shape. Indians.org, a website dedicated to providing information about various Indian populations, notes that Sioux Indian populations adorn their clothing with beads. Provide a variety of colored beads for your students to glue to their vests and moccasins.
When Sioux warriors battled an enemy, they moved closer and closer until they can reach out and touch their opponent or perform some other act of bravery. The Sioux called this "counting coup." The Sioux Indian populations were hunters, and buffalo was one of their primary food source. Young Sioux boys played a game, which they also called "counting coup," by sneaking toward the drying racks where Sioux women would have meat drying. The boys moved closer to the meat and tried to take a piece without being noticed. Play a similar game by laying small pieces of brown paper on a rack used to dry paintings. Turn your back and allow the class to try to sneak a piece of the paper, which models drying meat. Every once in a while, turn around and "catch" the students taking the meat.
Prepare a meal to educate your students about the traditional cuisine of the Sioux. Wild rice, buffalo jerky and Indian fry bread tacos stuffed with beans and tomatoes are common foods among the Sioux Indian populations. Soup is another staple. Assign each student to bring an ingredient, and use the ingredients to prepare a communal soup, which Sioux Indians kept simmering all day. Corn, beans, squash, turnips and other seasonal vegetables were all commonly used, along with meat such as fish or beef, in a pot of Sioux soup. Serve the soup to the students, and discuss how it differs from the soup they make with their families at home.