Picture by Brent

Who were the Plains Indians?

Plains Indians lived in the Great Plains in the Midwest.

Most Plains Indians lived in tepees. Three or four poles would make up a frame for the tepee. The Indians would stretch animal skins over these poles so it was kind of like a tent. They were sometimes decorated with bright colors. It took eight to twenty skins for one tepee. They would leave a hole in the top of the tepee so smoke could get out.

They liked tepees because they moved around a lot, and tepees were easy to take down and put back up.

Sometimes they would grow corn and other crops.

Some of the Plains Indians tribes were the Sioux, Cheyenne, Crow, Blackfeet, Comanche, and the Pawnee.

They used skins to make their clothes. They used buffalo skin, grizzly bear skin, and deerskin. They wore moccasins on their feet. Moccasins were shoes made of animal skin.

These Indians were hunters.

The Plains Indians usually lived in camps, which they could take down and move to another place if they were hunting a herd of animals for food.

Like the Woodlands Indians, they made their camps in half-circles. This protected them from wild animals and other things.

They usually had big fires in the center of their camps. These fires would be made in a big circle of stones. People would gather and have meetings around the fires. They used smaller fires near the tepees for their cooking.

The Plains Indians hunted a lot of buffalo. They even had special ceremonies to try to get the buffalo to come to them. Once they killed a buffalo, they used every part of it. They used its hides for clothes and shelter. They used the horns for spoons. They made tools and toys out of the bones. They ate the meat, and used the stomachs for cooking pots.

Think about it:  Imagine that you are a Native American who lived a long time ago on the plains. You are hunting buffalo. What do you do if you can't find any? How will you feed your family and your tribe? What if other tribes are hunting buffalo, too?

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