American Indian Costumes

Photo taken Thanksgiving Day 2009

We love costumes! Alexander helped me choose the fabric, cut out, and sew both the boys' costume. They recently wore them to the museum for the Natiive American art exhibit, and they received quite a few compliments on them. (Unfortunately my camera was out of batteries and wouldn't even take one picture. Sigh.)

I posted these on my craft blog awhile ago, but I realized I had never posted it here. You can go there for more details and the pattern information.

Indian Family

We had a lot of fun making these. They make great toys, too.


Alexander poses with all the little people


Here's our painting "studio" set up


Don't you wish you were a member of this tribe?


Alexander painted: Lincoln, Peter, Owen, and Grandpa Rick, the chief.


I painted the Indian versions of our family (with the names we made up before): Fun Horse (Father/Daniel), Good Tree (Mother/me), Playing Teepee (Son 1/Alexander), Grunting Buffalo (Son 2/Lincoln). They don't look anything like us, but the kids' costumes are similar to the ones we're making for the real kids. Lincoln's costume actually has a shirt in real life, but I didn't want Fun Horse to be the only half naked one.

Teepee

10/6/09

Native American Names (and an update)

Yes, we're still back in the Wild, Wild West while everyone has moved on to a different theme. I just wanted to do things slow and thoroughly. I hate to miss out on any of this wonderful theme that Amanda, Sadie and I wrote together. Our time in the old west has been amazing. Besides, Alexander is still loving it. So is Lincoln! His favorite things right now are buffalo and horses.

So now we're delving into the American Indian component. We have several library books we've been reading, and we recently bought some costume "suede" and started sewing our Native American garb. Alexander helps me with the sewing. He's really good at taking the pins out of the fabric when I need him to. You'll see pictures of those costumes when we finish them.

Yesterday morning we made up some Indian names for each of us. I should say Alexander made them up, with a little guidance from me. I mostly just told him when his suggestions didn't seem to fit. He came up with the ideas on his own. Needless to say, we've been calling each other by these names ever since (at Alexander's--I mean Playing Teepee's--request).

Each of these names represent something about the person. Alexander loves to play. Then he needed an Indian word to make it sound Native American-ish. We built a mini teepee a few days ago with sticks from our backyard and muslin fabric. Alexander has been playing with it, putting a little Schleich Sioux chief in it like Omri does with Little Bear in The Indian in the Cupboard, which we've been reading. So that's why he chose "Teepee" for the second part of his name.

Lincoln's name makes me laugh. I don't know if the "Grunting" has additional meaning, or if Alexander chose that just because that's the sound bison make. The "Buffalo" part of the name is a no-brainer for Lincoln. Did I mention that he loves the beasts?

I'm glad I got the adjective "Good" in my name, though it doesn't compare to Dadda's "Fun." The "Tree" and "Horse" parts were just nature, outdoorsy things that Alexander picked (I didn't let him pick "Monkey" since there probably weren't many of those around in the old west). I'll post more pictures soon!

Indian Fry Bread

With the school year coming to a quick close I'm panicked trying to squeeze in 2 more components. We will do what we can. We have started Turquoise and Tomahawks- the Indian section. Today we made Indian Fry bread.

I almost wanted to just skip making this but I'm glad I didn't! It was a great tactile experience for them. I'm sure they will remember it!

The finished product!

Dense but delish!