Eighth grade students, in their study of U.S. history, found out how long it takes to make a Sioux-style tipi. The original idea came from the magazine School Arts. Also helpful in the actual pitching of the tipi was The Indian Tipi: Its History, Construction, and Use(second edition), by Reginald and Gladys Laubin(University of Oklahoma Press. Norman, OK.) The ideas there were adapted to fit in with our program for at-risk students at L.A. Ainger Middle School.
Students started by preparing the 100 paper grocery bags and sewing them together. This, of course, meant a quick sewing lesson.
Section by section, the bags were assembled until finally they were a large enough unit to make a semi-circle. Cutting directions were then followed from the Pitching the Tipi section of The Indian Tipi book.
In the tradition of using materials that were found locally in nature, we used dead bamboo for our tipi poles. Students cut the small branches off the bamboo poles. A notch was cut in one pole to assist in the erecting of the final tipi.
The skin was painted with designs typical to our area. In our case (Florida), the students chose a scorpion, a lizard, and the sun. After painting, both sides of the skin were coated with a water-based sealer. This added strength to the paper bags and would provide for at least a little protection.
Students learned through many instances of trial and error that it was easier to attach the skin to a pole in order to erect the finished tipi. A hole was put through the skin and rope was used to attach the skin and pole at the notch that was cut in one pole (earlier step). This was done at both the top and bottom. Students then learned that it was easier to accordion-fold the halves of the skin so that they could easily walk the skin around the tipi form.
Finally the tipi was erected. All in all, students worked on this project for a total of about a month. Obviously, the Native Americans had to plan ahead! Students found that the base had to be the same each time they erected the tipi. The base was an equilateral triangle (in our case, three meter sticks for each leg of the triangle). They also understood that pitching the tipi and taking it down were much easier with the help of many people working together.
