Looking for an engaging Indigenous dwellings lesson? This printable bundle introduces students to tipis, longhouses and plank houses through cultural learning, art, reflection and hands-on activities.
Students explore how different Indigenous Nations created homes suited to their lands, climates, available materials and community structures. They then create a paper tipi model, complete directed drawings of longhouses and plank houses, answer reflection questions and compare the different structures.
Indigenous Tipi Lesson and Craft
Students learn about tipis in a culturally respectful way before creating a paper tipi model.
This resource includes:
♡ Tipi lesson and cultural context
♡ Information about how and why tipis were constructed
♡ Paper tipi craft
♡ Student reflection activity
♡ Printable craft template
Longhouse and Plank House Lesson
The five-page lesson introduces students to longhouses and plank houses while emphasizing that different structures belong to different Indigenous Nations and regions.
This resource includes:
♡ Five-page longhouse and plank-house lesson
♡ Longhouse directed drawing activity
♡ Plank-house directed drawing activity
♡ Original Indigenous artwork
♡ Student reflection questions
♡ Comparison Venn diagram
Compare Indigenous Homes
Students compare the materials, designs, purposes and regional connections of tipis, longhouses and plank houses.
Tipis are strongly associated with Indigenous Peoples of the Plains. Different forms of longhouses are connected to several Indigenous Nations, including the Haudenosaunee and some West Coast Nations. Cedar plank houses are particularly connected to First Nations of the Northwest Coast.
These homes should not be presented as belonging to all Indigenous Peoples or only existing in the past. Many continue to hold cultural, ceremonial and community significance today.
Perfect For
♡ Indigenous education
♡ Canadian social studies
♡ Indigenous homes and dwellings lessons
♡ Tipi lessons and crafts
♡ Longhouse activities
♡ Plank-house lessons
♡ Indigenous architecture
♡ History and culture units
♡ Art and social studies integration
♡ National Indigenous History Month
This Indigenous dwellings lesson helps students move beyond the idea that all Indigenous Peoples lived in the same type of home while exploring the relationships among land, environment, community and design.
Related Resource
Continue exploring how Indigenous homes reflect land, climate and community with my Inuit Igloo Craft and Lesson.
