John F. Kennedy Center
The Kennedy Center: Lesson: Navajo Weaving
Intergrating dance into your social studies lesson on the Navajo culture will give your learners a glimpse into another way of life. They will use their knowledge of loom weaving, Native Americans, and creative dance to express these...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of African Art: Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art
Explore the crafts that the African American culture exported from native African lands, basketry and cultivation of rice. With the lessons provided in the downloadable document, students will weave together history, geography, social...
PBS
Pbs Teachers: The Strength of Native American Music (Lesson Plan)
A lesson plan about analyzing and discussing the relationship between Native American music, culture, and history in which students learn how music can be a tool for cultural survival. Requires access to an episode from "American Roots...
Other
Native American Crafts Unit
Teach your students how to make some crafts that Native American children might have used for their toys.
Crayola
Crayola: Hides That Reveal (Lesson Plan)
A fun lesson plan for a class studying Native American culture. Students create their own tepees, or animal hides with designs and symbols representing their own personality. Also contains adaptations and resources. (To access this...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Common Visions, Common Voices
This lesson plan gives students a chance to explore the art and literature of Indians, Africans, Mayans, and Native Americans. Provides plenty of links to photo examples, and lesson extension ideas.
Scholastic
Scholastic: Explorers: Native American Cultures
Using on-the-scene field reports, photographs, and interviews, visitors join archaeological teams to learn about modern-day Native American fishers of salmon on the Skagit River in Washington, about 2,000-year-old Native American rock...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Native American Heritage Collection
Take a look at Indigenous art, history, and culture as told through the historians, artists, students, and scientists in this featured resource collection. This Collection includes: Video (29), Lesson Plan (2), Media Gallery (5),...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: America in Class: Early Visual Representations of the New World
A lesson plan that examines how Native Americans were portrayed by artists in the sixteenth century, whose aim was to convey their appearance to a European audience, and thereby encourage investment in future New World explorations. By...
Arizona State University
A.r.t.s : Navajo Pottery: Beautiful Objects
This informative website contains pages discussing the history of Navajo pottery. Provides photos and explanations of various pottery techniques. Teachers can use these lessons to show learners how to create and fire their own pottery!
The Newberry Library
Newberry Library: Art of Conflict: Portraying American Indians, 1850 to 1900
Lesson uses digitized primary source material to examine the portrayal of American Indians in art between 1850 and 1900. Classroom activities and questions for discussion included.
Other
Ringling Museum of Art: Circuses and Wild West Shows
This interactive educational resource lends a brief look into the American Circus, Wild West shows, and early Native Americans through the use of images provided by photographer, Frederick W. Glasier. Includes a quiz, activities, and...
Kinder Art
Kinder Art: Norval Morrisseau (Lesson Plan)
A wonderful educational art site from KinderArt that includes creating a work of art in a style similar to that of Morrisseau. Includes a short biography, art vocabulary, and information on Ojibwa culture.
The Newberry Library
Newberry Library: Art and Exploration in the American West and Mexico
Lesson on the 19th Century representation through art and maps of indigenous population and territory of the American West and Mexico. Primary source documents and questions for discussion are included.
Other
Arkansas Archaeological Survey: Rock Art in Arkansas
Prehistoric Native Americans produced most of the rock art found in Arkansas. 'Rock art' refers to images created on immovable natural rock surfaces where there are bedrock outcrops. This site presents a wealth of cultural and historical...
California State University
Lesson Plan: Pictograph Stone Carving
This lesson plan provides a fun art lesson about stone carving.
Other
Dick Blick Art Materials: Multicultural Lesson Plans
Twelve teacher-tested lesson plans to integrate art from around the world into your classroom. Each activity comes with a list of materials you'll need, easy-to-follow explanations, and examples.
California State University
Navaho Rug
A simple, but dynamic introductory weaving instructional activity that focuses on the art of the Navaho Native Americans. The instructional activity is well thought-out and includes references to children's literature to read as an...
California State University
Csu: Arts Education K 6 Music Lessons
Several wonderful lesson plans for teachers seeking to incorporate music into the curriculum.
Yale University
Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: The Influence of Mesoamerica on Mexican Art
A unit on Mexican art, Frida Kahlo, Native Civilizations in Mesoamerica, and Mayan culture. The site includes lesson plans, bibliographies, and much more.
Yale University
Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: Mosaic America: Civil Rights Movement
A lesson unit designed to outline the civil rights movement as seen through the eyes of African Americans, Chicanos, and Native Americans.
California State University
Basket Making
This fibers project goes cross-curricular to focus on Native American coil baskets. Techniques could be challenging. However, when completed, your students will feel so rewarded with a beautiful handmade craft.
Library of Congress
Loc: Teachers: America at the Centennial
A lesson plan requiring student to analyze primary documents from the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876. Learners interpret what these historical artifacts say "about the lives and values of Americans in 1876" among other things.
Yale University
Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: Understanding the Ancient Americas
A collection of lesson plans with background information on ancient civilizations in the Americas. Includes topics such as Aztec and Mayan mythology, Hispanic influence, religious practices, artwork, and artifacts. The materials were...