Maidu Indian Intro

This month we are learning about the Maidu Indians with our co-op.  

Today we attempted basket weaving with pine needles and raffia.  The below picture is of my trial run before all the kids came over to learn.  It was a fun project but a little too much for the younger children... at least in a large group setting.  Haven and Hope both have the beginnings of one made and we will continue to work on them over the week.

Last week we had our actual introduction to the Maidu people!

The children learned about their culture, the games they played, the roles of the men and women and how babies weren't named until age 2 or 3.

They also learned about the homes they lived in, the tools they used and the things they used as money.  

The children were able to act out legends that the Indians told each other and try on mock skins to see what kinds of clothes they wore.

They also learned about local foods that the Indians ate and were even able to sample some!

This is hope holding a cooked cricket which we ground up and sampled.  Yum... hehe.  Actually it didn't taste bad. 

Here is Haven tasting some roots and berries. 

And all the while Harmony ran around joining in when she felt like it and play when she didn't.  

The kids had a blast learning and experiencing a bit of the Maidu culture.