Just for Kids

In addition to the staple food pemmican, camas roots and "biscuit root" were other reliable and favorite food sources

Both are small flowering plants that grow in the mountains and hills; when the plants were mature, the Indians would dig up the roots and collect them. The roots can be cooked fresh (sort of like a potato dumpling in your stew) or they can be dried and peeled and ground into flour.

A grinding stone was used for this. Some grinding stones were small enough to travel with the people when they moved. They were flat, with a kind of hollowed-out section in the middle. A smaller smooth rounded stone was held in the hands and rolled or pounded over dried roots and other materials to pulverize them on the grinding stone.

In the Southwest, the Spanish word for grinding stone is metate, pronounced "Meh-TAH-tay."

Some grinding stones were giant-sized rocks with a hollow smooth concave part on the top. They were way too big to move them, but were located in certain spots the Indians knew about and could be used while traveling.

Camas is a beautiful small lily-like flower that grows in damp places across the Pacific Northwest.

There are white camas and blue camas; the white ones are called "death camas" and are very poisonous. The blue ones are edible.

The blue blossoms must be observed at the time they bloom to avoid selecting the deadly white or green-flowering camas.

The bulbs are ripe for eating after the flowers are gone, and once they're gone, it is nearly impossible to tell the plants apart. Some of the very wise old women in the tribe were known for being able to tell the plants apart after they'd bloomed.

The camas bulbs were harvested at the seed pod stage. They were peeled and eaten fresh, or dried in the sun for year-round use.

Often they were "barbecued" by cooking them buried in a pit for about a day. Certain kinds of firewood and seasonings might be used to flavor the camas. For example, the bulbs could be placed on hot flat stones in a pit and then covered with skunk cabbage leaves followed by fresh pine needles. A fire was built on top, and it was kept going for a couple of days. The camas bulbs were blackened, and they could be eaten like that or baked with salmon.

Camas is high in Vitamin C and is a very good source of iron.

The biscuit root is a pretty little wildflower that grows on dry, rocky hillsides and flats across Nez Perce country. The root is dug up after the seeds are formed, so it's easier to peel.

It could be cooked fresh as a vegetable, or dried whole, and was often ground into flour after being peeled and dried in the sun. The flour was used to make breads and biscuits. Indians would form the dough into a little biscuit shape and drop it into the hot ashes at the edge of a campfire, where it would cook into an "ash cake." You just blow off the ashes and eat it! The dough can also be wrapped around the end of a green stick and toasted in the fire (kind of like toasting marshmallows). Toasted biscuit root dough with wild currant jam is a real treat!

If the biscuit root is dried and chopped up, little pieces of it can also be stirred into soups or stews to thicken them like potatoes.

The dried whole roots were also eaten as snacks. Like camas, the biscuit root is high in Vitamin C and iron.

The Shoshone Indians lived in an area where the weather was harsh, and food was not as plentiful as in other areas. One of the foods they depended on was greens like clover. They steamed it by laying wet clover between rows or stacks of hot stones. It was tasty and nutritious. Some clovers, such as tall red clover, are very sweet and honey-flavored; others have a citrus-like flavor.

You can try gathering some if you know a place where clover grows and it hasn't been treated with pesticides or herbicides. Better yet, if you don't have clover, you can buy fresh spinach or other greens at the store and steam that. Beet tops, collards, mustard greens, or turnip greens are also good.

Wash the leaves well and put a handful in a small pot on the stove. Add ¼ cup of water. Cover with a lid and simmer for 2-3 minutes.

For really tasty greens, add a teaspoon of vinegar, a chopped fresh tomato, a tablespoon of honey, and a dash of oregano. A piece of cooked crumbled bacon is also really good.

• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
• ¾ cup water

Wash your hands well before you start. Mix the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, then add the oil and water and mix it in with a large spoon. Dust your hands with flour to keep them from getting sticky, and mix the dough with your hands till it's stretchy, but not sticky. Don't use a lot of flour or the dough will get heavy. When it's smooth, pull off a clump of the dough about the size of a plum and roll it into a ball with your hands.

Squeeze the dough ball gently between your hands until it's flat. Then gently pull the dough to stretch it out until it's thin. This takes a bit of practice.

If you can't get yours stretched thin, lay it on a surface dusted with flour and roll it flat with a rolling pin.

Punch a hole through the center with your thumb. This hole will help the bread cook evenly.

Ask an adult to help you fry the bread in a few inches of hot oil, preferably canola oil or peanut oil. When one side turns a light brown color, turn it over with two forks or a long metal spatula, and cook the other side.

Be very careful around hot oil! An adult must help.

Put the hot bread on a plate covered with a paper towel to drain and cool.

Sprinkle the bread with powdered sugar and drizzle it with honey for a sweet treat. To make a meal, spoon hot chili, beans, or stew onto the bread.

This recipe makes 8 to 10 pieces. Another way to make the bread is to use homemade bread dough or store-bought frozen bread dough.

Fry bread is a very popular Indian food today. It is made and sold throughout the country. It's a traditional food of the Navajo people, but many other tribes enjoy it too. Some of the grandmothers are famous for the way they make the most delicious fry bread.

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The Nez Perce and other tribes picked and ate many kinds of wild berries such as strawberries, blueberries, wild grapes, huckleberries, serviceberries, currants, cranberries, and many more.

Researchers have found there were 36 different kinds of fruit that Indians dried to eat in the winter. They knew what the plants looked like, where they grew, and when they got ripe every year.

Berries were carried home in baskets and eaten fresh, but they were also dried and saved for winter.

You can make a dried fruit snack using fresh or frozen berries. You will need 2 cups of ripe fruit (berries, cherries, plums, apricots, peaches, apples, or a mixture of these).

Wash the fruit and let it drain on a clean towel. Wash your hands well, then carefully cut the fruit into small chunks. Leave the peels on -- they are chewy and nutritious.

Put the fruit into a blender or food processor and blend on high for 15 seconds. Cover a large flat cookie sheet with plastic wrap or wax paper, then pour the fruit mixture onto it. Let it dry in a warm place for a day or so.

To eat the fruit leather, peel the fruit off the plastic wrap. You can also roll it up in the plastic wrap and keep it in a covered container (like a cookie jar or refrigerator box) if you want to store it.

Thirsty children usually drank icy cold water from mountain streams or rivers. They also had special drinks now and then. For example, honey or maple syrup was mixed with water to make a punch, and leaves were used to flavor other drinks. The dried leaves of snowberry, wintergreen, spruce and twigs of raspberry, chokecherry, and wild cherry were dropped into boiling water to make teas. Many kinds of flowers were dried and used to make teas. Wild mint leaves were used to flavor teas and punch.

You can make a tea like the Indian children enjoyed. You can buy fresh mint leaves at the store, and you'll need some fresh berries or other fruit. Put a couple tablespoons of fruit in a cup, add a mint leaf or two and a spoonful of honey, then pour in hot water till the cup is not quite full. Let it rest a minute or two, then stir very gently and sip your tea!

SWEET NOTE: Maple syrup or honey was also used to sweeten medicines made from bitter plants, so the children would eat or drink them -- just like some medicine today!

Try it out and tell us what you think!

Each year, usually in March, Indians would go to collect sap from maple trees and make sugar and maple syrup. Indians discovered long ago that maple trees have a sweet sap that can be drained from the tree and boiled to make syrup and sugar. They used an adze (like an ax) to make a cut in the maple tree's bark. A short stick was pushed into the opening and the sap ran down the stick and into a bucket (usually a bark pan or wooden bowl) below.

Mothers would make candy for their children by folding little cones of thin birch bark and filling them with sugar. They also made molded candies. First, they would carve the shapes of animals, moons, and stars into wooden molds. Then they pressed soft sugar into the molds. When the sugar hardened, they wrapped it in thin pieces of birch bark.

Try the recipe below. This recipe makes about 30 candies.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/3 cup maple syrup (or maple-flavored pancake syrup)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pound powdered sugar

Utensils:

Large mixing bowl
Large wooden spoon
Cookie sheet (covered with aluminum foil or parchment or wax paper)
Plastic candy molds, if you have some

Directions:

1. Wash your hands well and get all your ingredients and utensils together.
2. Put the first three ingredients in the bowl and mix with the spoon.
3. Mix in the sugar. When it gets difficult to stir, use your hands to mix it until it is smooth. Add more sugar if the dough sticks to your hands.
4. Roll 1-inch balls and set them out on the cookie sheet till they get firm.

If you want to make molded candies, press the mixture into the plastic candy molds. If you don't have candy molds you could try using small lids or bottle tops; butter them first so the candy won't stick. When the candy firms up, pop it out of the forms and let the candy harden on a cookie sheet. These are a fondant-type candy, which means that they won't get really hard.

You can dip the balls in melted chocolate if you want, or roll them in coconut, chopped nuts, or dry cereal.

History

The Stick Game has been around before the coming of Christopher Columbus. Documented accounts of Stick Game in the State of Washington go as far back as the early 1800s, where coastal tribes would pack up their canoes full of pelts and other valuables and travel inland to trade with other tribes. History tells us that these tribes did not only trade and barter their wares with the inland tribes, but also they would play Stick Game and bet their pelts and other valuables. In some instances the coastal tribes would lose everything and other times they would return with not only one boat full of goods, but also two or three boats full of valuables that they hand won by playing Stick Game.

Equipment

• Two sets of bone-The set is comprised of two bones that are clear and two bones with a wrap around the center of the bone.
• Sticks-These comprise of 11 Sticks with one stick being the "kick stick" and two other sets of five that have a different design, which total 10. It should be noted that the kick stick has both designs of the five stick on it, that total ten.
• Drums-Most players use these today. In the old days, opposing teams would drum on a lodge pole placed in front of them.
• Singing-The team that wins the kick stick and sings songs that are handed down from generation to generation and differ from tribe to tribe when they are hiding the bones.
• Pointing-This is very simple. You point with your index finger left or right, depending upon where you think the clear bone is. If you point to where the striped bone is, you lose a stick.

Object of the Game

The object of the Stick Game is to obtain all eleven sticks by preventing the other team from guessing where the clear bone is. The team that obtains all eleven sticks is considered the winner.

Who can play?

Anyone can play the Stick Game.

How to play?

1. Teams- The game starts by having two team set up opposite of each other.
2. Pointers/Captains- A Captain is designated on both sides, his/her role is to be the lead pointer who will play the other Captain for the kick stick to determine whose Stick Game set they will use and to determine which team hides first. Once it is determined who hides first, that Captain has to lead his/her team in the singing.
3. Kick Stick- One Captain will hide the bones in his/her hands (or one of his/her team member's hands) while the other Captain tries to guess which hand the opposing Captain has the clear bone in. If the Captain points to the clear bone, he/she has made the right guess. In the instance that he points to the striped bone he has missed and has to hand over a stick.
4. Winning- The game concludes when either team has all eleven sticks in their possession.

You can make a toy tipi, or an entire encampment!

Here are the materials you will need:

• Bowl or plate
• Scissors
• Construction paper
• Tape or glue
• Markers, crayons, or paint

Draw a large circle on the paper by tracing around the rim of a bowl or plate. Cut the circle out and then cut it in half.

Decorate half the circle with your designs.

Animal symbols were often used on tipis. Stars and moons and feathers make good designs, too, along with geometric shapes -- triangles are traditional with the Nez Perce.

Roll the paper into a cone shape and tape or glue the ends together.

Cut a slit in the front and fold back the door flaps

You can make clay or paper people to live inside.

New tipis were usually white, but they darkened gradually at the top from smoke. You can use brown crayon to darken the top part of your tipi.

Make several to create a whole spring camp!

What kind of furniture was inside a tipi? Unlike most of our furniture today, the Indians used only lightweight things that could be carried from camp to camp.

Chairs and other furniture items were often made from sticks or bent wood laced up with rawhide or covered with hides or pelts. Some were very beautifully decorated. Beds were often made from soft tree boughs that were piled up thick and soft and then covered with hides or buffalo robes.

You can make a toy travois -- you'll need a stuffed toy dog (or a real one!), two long dowel rods (twice as long as the dog), some leather bootlaces (or heavy string or twine), some cardboard, and a hole punch. If you do this with a real dog, get an adult to help you.

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Tie the dowel rods together with the bootlaces, making an "X" shape as shown. 

Cut the cardboard (you can use one side of a cardboard box) to fit between the poles, then punch four holes in the cardboard and tie it to the rods. 

Use bootlaces or a belt or small-diameter soft rope to tie the travois in position across the dog's chest as shown. 

You can put a little doll or other items on the travois for your dog to pull.

Here are the materials you'll need:

• Cardboard from a cereal box
• Paper towel tube
• Construction paper
• Scissors
• Masking tape or duct tape
• Pencil
• Glue

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Cut out a shape for your spear point from the cardboard (see shapes below), then cut two slits across from each other at the end of the tube.

Slide the wide end of the cardboard point between the slits, and wrap tape around it to hold it in place.

Draw a large feather on the construction paper and cut it out.

Cut it into two pieces, right down the center.

Apply glue to the cut edges of the feather and glue the feather halves across from each other at the end of the tube.

Indians in different areas made spear points in different shapes. Use one of these, or make up your own.

You can decorate your toy spear with colored markers, real feathers or fake feathers, and real or fake pieces of fur. You can get some pretty cool feathers and fur stuff and other decorations at a flyfishing store, and a knitting store will have different kinds of yarn for decorations.

ou can make your own toy drum from an oatmeal box, a coffee can, or plastic milk jugs. Here's what you'll need:

• Round oatmeal box with lid, or a clean coffee can with snap-on plastic lid
• Sticks or dowel rods
• Scissors
• Colored markers
• Paper or fabric scraps
• Glue

Cover the box or can with colored construction paper and decorate it with markers -- or glue on some cut-out decorations from paper or fabric scraps.

You can also make a drum from three plastic milk jugs. See below. First, cut away the top of one jug and the bottoms from two others. Punch holes in the bottom pieces about one inch apart. Lace heavy string or yarn through the holes to attach the two sections to the top and bottom of the drum. Decorate with permanent markers.

To make drumsticks, wad up a scrap of cloth for padding over one end of the stick or dowel. Next, wrap another piece of cloth over it and tie it securely with yarn or string. You can decorate these with feathers, paper cut-outs, beads, shells, or pieces of fur or yarn.

You can try some finger painting or you can experiment with spatter painting and the use of sticks or natural pens and brushes.

Here are some of the materials you will need:

• Tempera paints (or watercolors or acrylics)
• Drawing paper or newsprint
• Drinking straw
• Sticks or twigs collected outdoors
• Old shirt or apron
• Newspapers

Put on the shirt or apron to protect your clothing. Protect your tabletop or work area from paint splatters with old newspaper or an old sheet (donated from a friendly adult) or a drop cloth. This project is great for outdoors in the summertime -- you can use the ground or a picnic table for a work surface.

Squirt a few very small blobs of paint onto the paper. Then blow air through the straw to splatter the paint. Push the wet paint around on the paper by blowing air on it. Don't suck the wet paint up into the straw.

Experiment with sticks and twigs by dipping them into the paint and then drawing the colors across the paper like you are using a pen or a paintbrush. Make a variety of lines on the paper with a few different twigs to see the difference. Some of them might be pens worth keeping!

You can also take sponges (or large tan erasers from an arts store) and cut them into shapes and use them to "print" the paper with colored paints.

You can use different colors to see what effects you can create.

When your painting is dry, use it as gift wrap or fold it to make note cards. You can also try drawing over it with ink or markers or glueing on bits of torn papers.

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You can make yourself a parfleche bag with these materials: 

• Brown paper grocery sack
• 4 pieces of yarn, each 6 inches long
• Scissors
• Crayons or markers
• Hole punch

Cut the paper into a rectangle; you can make it any size you like. 

Fold it in thirds lengthwise and crosswise, and then open it back up. 

Trim off the corners as shown and decorate with crayons or markers. 

Many of the Plains Indians used geometric shapes, such as triangles, diamonds, and lines -- and triangles are traditional with the Nez Perce. 

Fold it along the creases. 

Punch two holes on each end, thread the yarn through the holes, and tie it closed.  

You can make toy "beads" from macaroni, clay, paper, or cut-up drinking straws.

It's also fun to make beads from clay or homemade clay dough. Here's a recipe that dries hard without baking.

• 1 cup flour
• ½ cup salt
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 cup water
• Food coloring

Mix everything together in a large saucepan. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon over medium heat.

It will thicken slowly and then become a big dough ball. Spoon the dough out onto a floured surface, wait for it to cool a bit, and then knead it till it's smooth.

Shape the dough into beads. You can use a nail, a straw, a pencil, chopsticks, or toothpicks to stick holes through the beads so you can string them later.

After you have them shaped and put holes in them, let the beads dry at room temperature until they are hard. You can decorate them later with acrylic paints or permanent markers if you want to.

• Macaroni
• Embroidery thread or yarn
• Water
• Small bowl
• Food coloring
• Large nail
• Aluminum foil

Fill the bowl halfway with water. If you want colored shells, add a few drops of food coloring to the water to tint it. Drop in a handful of uncooked macaroni shells and let them soak in the water till they soften enough to poke a nail through. Poke a hole in each shell and lay the wet shells out on aluminum foil to dry. Make sure the shells don't touch each other, or they will be stuck together.

When the shells are completely dry, string them on the thread or yarn. You can put pieces of tube-shaped macaroni between the shells as spacers.

You might want to use other things with your shells, such as pieces of cut-up drinking straws, Styrofoam packing pellets (string them with a threaded darning needle), circles cut out from felt, leather or fake fur, buttons, or plastic bottle caps (poke holes in them with a nail).

Headbands were worn by many different tribes. Make yours as individual as you are by decorating with geometric or floral designs.

Hair note: In some tribes the men grew very long hair. A Crow chief named Long Hair had hair that measured 10 feet and 7 inches long. 

He wrapped it around a piece of wood that he carried under his arm. Some tribes even tried to make their hair appear longer by gluing on extra hair, like the "hair extensions" of today.

Here are the materials you will need to make a headband:

• Heavy paper (colored paper, tagboard, or strips of wallpaper)
• Construction paper in various colors
• Markers or crayons
• Scissors
• Stapler or heavy tape

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First cut a strip of heavy paper about 2 inches wide and long enough to go around your head -- plus a couple more inches for overlap. 

Then decorate the headband with your own design. Using wallpaper is fun -- you might get some free sample/size pieces from a home decorating store. 

After your headband is decorated, cut out some feathers from the construction paper and staple them to the headband. 

Staple or tape the ends of the band together to fit your head.

It takes several days and a lot of work to make a buckskin vest, but you can make your own craft vest from the following materials:

• Large brown paper bag
• Scissors
• Paints or colored markers
• Hole punch
• Yarn
• Stapler and tape
• Markers or crayons

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 Cut the front and neck opening from the bag. Cut out two circles at the sides for arm openings. Pull up the shoulders and staple them securely for extra reinforcement.

You may need to trim off some of the bottom of the bag if it is too long. 

Decorate the bag with a geometric or floral design; you can also cut a fringe along the bottom edge. Fringes sometimes are decorated with beads or teeth or shells. 

Fringe not only looks cool, it also has a function -- in the rain the fringe will "draw down" the moisture to the edges of the buckskin. Fringe gets longer as it ages. 

To add a tie at the neck, reinforce both of the front neck edges with tape, and then punch two holes in it and thread a piece of yarn through.