Activities & Days Out / 10 September, 2019 / Nanny Anita

Native American Headdress

On our latest cookie adventure we headed out to Blenheim Palace for a walk around the lake.  As always happens, the little ones found things that they want to take with them, and soon my bag was filled with flowers, sticks, grass, a random pieces of fish bone that we happened to come across and lots and lots of feathers.  Well, it would have been such a shame to waste everything that we had found, we just had to put it to good use.  Unfortunately the flowers and grass didn’t really survive the day out so that left the feathers.  The first thing that came to mind was making our own Native American Headdress.

You will need:

• Feathers
• Paper
• Paint
• Paintbrush
• Tape
• Pens/Pencils

Cut a length of paper that will fit around the circumference of the head.

Decorate the paper.

When it is dry turn it over and stick the feathers on, then tape the 2 ends together to make it into a crown.

Before we made our headdress I showed EC some examples I had found online, YC decided that she didn’t want to take part in this activity and decided to make herself a telescope instead.

When I do crafts or activities that are focused on something from another culture I like to discuss its meaning and significance of it.  So after we had made the headdress we talked about how the Native Americans were given the feathers when they had done something the tribe thought as being brave.  The first feather is thought to have been given when he was seen to be an adult member of the tribe.  When he had enough feathers his closest friends, only men were involved in making it, would make them into a headdress.  The most prized feathers were the ones from the Golden Eagle as they saw the eagle as a messenger of God.  EC was fascinated when he learned this fact and wanted to know what brave deeds he could do to earn some feathers.

This craft may help in the development of:

• Creativity
• Fine motor skills – through painting, holding pens and cutting
• Understanding of other cultures
• Curiosity