Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Wampum Designs For Kids

We have been learning about Native Americans this year and these past two weeks we have been learning about our local Native American Nation...the Iroquois Nation.
I wanted to add some artwork into our studies so I decided to have the kids make wampum "belts".
Wampum were made from seashells.   They were typically made from the quahog (purple beads)  and the whelk (cream/white beads) shells. Wampum were used between tribes to send messages or to tell stories. (We mistakenly thought it was used for money...it was not)
First I printed out graph paper for the kids to make some practice designs. 
I used graph paper with 3 lines per inch.

After picking their favorite design, I had them string pony beads onto white chenille stems. We used the traditional colors, white, purple and black.
The grid we used was 12 squares by 6 squares.  This was a good size for the finished product.
I then cut an 8 inch square piece of matte board.  I cut 6 slits in the edges of the board to bend the  6 chenille stems into place. This secured them nicely.
Kimberly's final product.
Luke's final product.
I found this great idea at Create Art With Me!

1 comment:

Juli E. said...

I always thought Wampum was money too! Thanks for teaching me something new today!