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American Indian Homes in Kansas

Guided tour — Kansas Museum of History, Topeka

Grades —First

Wichita Grass LodgeHow did people build their homes long ago without a Home Depot or lumberyard? Students will learn how Kansas Indians built shelters using only the natural resources found on the prairie. They will explore the museum gallery comparing and contrasting the construction techniques of a full-size Cheyenne tipi, a Wichita grass lodge and a model of a Pawnee earth lodge. At the end of the tour students will get to set up a tipi, go inside and "step into the past."

This tour addresses grade specific history and reading standards and provides pre- and post-visit materials to help teachers meet those standards. Included within these materials is Read Kansas! "American Indian Homes in Kansas" lesson. Teachers might also be interested in either of these educational resource trunks -  Indian Homes in Kansas or Uses of the Buffalo.

Kansas Standards for History, Government and Social Studies:

Standard #5: Relationships among people, places, ideas, and environments are dynamic.

  • 5.1 The student will recognize and evaluate dynamic relationships that impact lives in communities, states, and nations.

Kansas College and Career Ready Standards

  • SL.1.3: The student will ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to gather additional information or clarify something that is not understood.

Download PDF with tour information

See admission fees.

Length of tour: approximately 75 minutes, with a maximum of one tour per hour.

Number of students in a group: for the best experience, we recommend approximately 20 students per tour.

Registration and scheduling: register online, or contact Education at 785-272-8681, ext. 415; email kshs.education@ks.gov.  Tours must be scheduled at least two weeks in advance.