“Jeff did awesome!! Tell him thank you again for coming and bringing all of his cool stuff. The kids were oohing and aahing over everything, especially the wampum, and they LOVED making their own wampum strings. They learned a lot, and what he was talking about fit so well into what they are covering right now in the classroom. It was as if he and the teachers had planned it all out beforehand. He is great at explaining things in a way that kids can understand!!
Erin Shoudy, Librarian, Glencliff Elementary School
wampum belt program October 28, 2015
School Programs
Join the Militia: (interactive, hands on materials, audience participation)
Learn what it took to learn how to be a soldier at the time of the American Revolution, civilian occupations, militia regulations, dressing a soldier, basic marching, Committee of Safety exercise, arresting a Loyalist teacher.
Wampum Belt Making (interactive, hands-on materials, audience participation)
The Iroquois confederacy foundation story, the Peacemaker, the importance of wampum and how it was made, early trade with Europeans, making strings of wampum, belt symbolism & patterns and their meanings, belt making demonstration & teaching audience to help add strings to a “Two Row” belt in progress. Children will make a sting of wampum that can be used as a bracelet or necklace.
Tip to Tail: (interactive, hands on materials, audience participation)
The Native use of all parts of animals for tools, weapons, decoration, clothing and household items; importance of animals to native culture, parts of deer, beaver, turtle, making tin cone jinglers (see below). A fur and animal part extravaganza!
The Tin Cone Jingler: (interactive, hands on materials, audience participation)
The tin cone and deer hair jingler was a popular native decorative item that adorned pouches, clothing and accouterments. A blend of European trade and traditional native decorative arts, it is a small, easy to make, yet ideal, object that helps explain colonial trade and how it affected both native and colonial dress. Children will have an opportunity to make one they can take home with them.
Timothy Murphy: (interactive, hands on materials, audience participation)
Famous scout and frontiersman of the American Revolution, his life, military exploits, dressing a (volunteer) frontier soldier, lesson about learning to read (Tim never learned to read)
For further information, to book a school program, ask about rates and all other inquiries, please go HERE