for grades: Pre-k | K | 1
Tools, Toys, and Tales of the Native Americans
Offered at: Wildlife Education Campus or In-school
Description: What was it like to be a child in a Native American village centuries ago? Do you think their life was very different from ours today? In this program, children will travel back in time as they imagine walking across a winter landscape to a longhouse. As we visit each hearth in the longhouse, we will explore the way Native Americans of the Hudson Valley and Upstate New York used items from nature as tools and as toys 400 years ago. Genuine artifacts will enrich the hands-on experience. Students will try their hand at a game of skill and learn the lessons that games would teach the Lenape and Haudenosaunee children. Our adventure concludes with the story of “When the Turtle Flew South”, a traditional tale passed along through the generations to teach a lesson of patience.
Learning Objectives: Students will gain an understanding of Lenape and Haudensoaunee culture in New York through artifacts and stories. Students will learn about Native American social and family life, the use of toys and storytelling as teaching tools, tool making, clothing construction, and food preparation.
NYS Core Curriculum Standards:
Pre-K- Physical Science, Life Sciences, Earth and Space Sciences: P-PS2-1, P-LS1-1, & P-ESS1-1
K- Forces and Interactions: Pushes and Pulls, Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems: Animals, Plants, and their Environment, Weather and Climate: K-PS2-1, K-LS1-1, K-ESS3-1, & K-ESS3-2
1st- Waves: Light and Sound, Structure, Function, and Information Processing, Space Systems: patterns and cycles: 1-PS4-2, 1-LS1-1, & 1-ESS1-1
as a field trip
Program Length: 90 minutes
45-minute presentations/activities
30 minute guided hike
10-15 minutes in the Hall of Animals
Gift shop available upon request
Picnic area available upon request
Program Cost:
$250 for up to 25 students
Staff is free
Location: Wildlife Education Campus
(25 Boulevard, Cornwall-on-Hudson NY, 12520)
in the classroom
Program Length: 45 minutes
Program Cost:
$275 plus mileage cost, for the first program
$250 for each additional program on the same day