Native American Games for Kids
For Kids
Native Americans used games to teach their children safety, strength, agility, and sportsmanship. The games were fun but they had purpose.
Play at home or at school: The game of Sep, the Toe Toss game, the Hand Game, the Snow Snake game and other games listed below are real Native American games that you can play at home or at school. They were very popular games in olden times and are still fun and challenging today.
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Picari, A Zuni and Pueblo Math Game - lesson plan, instructions
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Play the Paiute Hand Game, lesson plan, video, instructions for class use
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The Plum Stone Game (Cree) - lesson plan, instructions for class use
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The Laughing Game: Nootka (Northwest Coast) No equipment needed. Any number may play. Play: Players sit opposite each other in two rows and try to make the other side laugh. The first time someone laughs, the other side wins.
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Bear Race: (Northwest Coastal) No equipment needed. Northwest Coast Play. Outside, hallway, or classroom if room allows: "Players line up behind starting line. At a signal they begin to run imitating a bear’s shuffling gait – place left hand and right foot forward at the same time, then right hand and left foot forward. The first over the finish line wins; or the one with the best imitation of a bear may win. Older Children can return to the starting line to make the race longer and more challenging. Lesson: Observe ways of nature around you (in this care, the bear’s movements). It also teaches that speed is not always as important as correct play." MORE: A list of other Native American games you can play in your classroom, with instructions, make your own game setup or have your kid do it
These are Native American free to play, online interactive games! Have fun!
When Rivers Were Trails - Challenging and Fun - A point and click adventure game
A Cheyenne Odyssey - The year is 1866. You are Little Fox. Can you help your tribe survive life on the Plains? (You can play this offline and there is a teacher's guide if needed)
Hoop and Darts game, interactive
Dr. Dirt's Time Travel Machine - Life Long Ago - Flintnappers, interactive
World of the Caddo, interactive
Solve an Ancient Mystery, Plains Native Americans, interactive
Adventures into the Past, interactive
Guess the Word before the Turtle Hides in His Shell, Interactive
Match the Dwellings to the First American Group, interactive
Weave a Virtual Wampum Belt, interactive
Whose Feature Is It? interactive
The Shell Game (Native Americans used actual shells or nuts, but it is the same game only this one uses cups)
Native American Stories for
Kids, online
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Native Americans for Kids
Native Americans in US, Canada, and the Far North
Early people of North America (during the ice age 40,000 years ago)
Northeast Woodland Tribes and Nations - The Northeast Woodlands include all five great lakes as well as the Finger Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River. Come explore the 3 sisters, longhouses, village life, the League of Nations, sacred trees, snowsnake games, wampum, the arrowmaker, dream catchers, night messages, the game of sep and more. Special Sections: Iroquois Nation, Ojibwa/Chippewa, The Lenape Indians. Read two myths: Wise Owl and The Invisible Warrior.
Southeast Woodland Tribes and Nations - The Indians of the Southeast were considered members of the Woodland Indians. The people believed in many deities, and prayed in song and dance for guidance. Explore the darkening land, battle techniques, clans and marriage, law and order, and more. Travel the Trail of Tears. Meet the Muscogee (Creek), Chickasaw, Choctaw, Mississippians, Seminole Indians and Cherokee Indians.
Plains Indians - What was life like in what is now the Great Plains region of the United States? Some tribes wandered the plains in search of foods. Others settled down and grew crops. They spoke different languages. Why was the buffalo so important? What different did horses make? What was coup counting? Who was Clever Coyote? Meet the Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Comanche, Pawnee, and Sioux Nation.
Southwest Indians - Pueblo is not the name of a tribe. It is a Spanish word for village. The Pueblo People are the decedents of the Anasazi People. The Navajo and the Apache arrived in the southwest in the 1300s. They both raided the peaceful Pueblo tribes for food and other goods. Who were the Devil Dancers? Why are blue stones important? What is a wickiup? Who was Child of Water?
Pacific Coastal Northwest Indians - What made some of the Pacific Northwest Indian tribes "rich" in ancient times? Why were woven mats so important? How did totem poles get started? What was life like in the longhouse? What were money blankets and coppers? How did the fur trade work? How did Raven Steal Crow's Potlatch?
Inland Plateau People - About 10,000 years ago, different tribes of Indians settled in the Northwest Inland Plateau region of the United States and Canada, located between two huge mountain ranges - the Rockies and the Cascades. The Plateau stretches from BC British Columbia all the way down to nearly Texas. Each village was independent, and each had a democratic system of government. They were deeply religious and believed spirits could be found everything - in both living and non-living things. Meet the Nez Perce
California Indians - The Far West was a land of great diversity. Death Valley and Mount Whitney are the highest and lowest points in the United States. They are within sight of each other. Tribes living in what would become California were as different as their landscape.
Native Americans of the Far North: What trick did the Kutchin people use to catch their enemies? How did these early people stop ghosts from entering their homes? Why was the shaman so powerful? What is a finger mask? Play games! See and hear an old Inuit myth! Enter the mystical world of the people who lived in the far north in olden times. Algonquian/Cree, Athapascan/Kutchin, Central Canada, Inuit, The Shaman
Comparison Chart (Europeans & Indians)