Native American Horses


We had a REALLY busy week! Besides our regular literacy and math activities, we also did some pretty intense projects for our Native American unit and ended the week with a Thanksgiving Friendship Feast. I thought I would write about the horses  first and then share the other activities in another post.

I read "The Mud Pony" by Caron Lee Cohen. In this story, a young Native American boy wants a pony more than anything. He finally forms one from the mud he found next to the riverbank. The pony comes to life and helps the boy grow into a strong chief. At the end of the story, the pony returns to Mother Earth as the mud in which it was created.

I gave my kinders a large piece of Crayola Modeling compound and showed them how to mold a horse from it. Did they need help from me? Of course! As I helped each child, they read books in their book boxes. When their horses were molded, they stuck lollipop sticks into the compound to make legs. (I broke the sticks in half. Each child needed 2 lollipop sticks.) We let the ponies dry overnight.


The next day, the children took acrylic paint - yes, I gave them acrylic paint - and painted their horses. We had looked at pictures of horses the day before so they were pretty set on how they wanted their horses to look. They let their horses dry overnight.
The next day, they glued google eyes, a mane, and a tail on their horse using tacky glue. Voila! Horse complete!



More to come! Peace and blessings, Cindy



No comments

Post a Comment