Fun Facts
Tools of Native Americans:
A Kid's Guide to the History & Culture of the First Americans

When the first people came to America between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago, beavers were the size of modern-day grizzly bears.

Native Americans in the Great Lakes area strapped torches to their canoes, as they’d discovered fish were attracted to light.

The Iroquois lived in 150 foot “longhouses” that held 30 to 60 people. Imagine a one-story building half the length of your house that contains all your aunts, uncles, and friends—all the time.

The Olmecs of Mesoamerica (Mexico and South America) carved eighteen-ton heads out of stone. Peasants had to carry the stones from as far as 60 miles away to the sculptors.

The Maya hung beads between their babies’ eyes to make them cross-eyed. The Maya also strapped boards to their babies’ heads to make them long and slanted.

During the salmon run in the Northwest, tribes caught so much fish that women had to boil them in dug-out canoes. They brought the water to boil by placing rocks in it from a nearby fire.

The way Native Americans from various tribes in the Northwest demonstrated their high social status was by holding a potlatch (a multiple day feast) during which the host gave away about 10,000 blankets.

The entrance of an igloo always faced south to prevent the fierce north wind from coming in.

In 1800, there were about sixty million buffalo roaming throughout the Great Plains region. By 1870—after white hunters had come to the area with their guns—there were about thirteen million buffalo left. And by 1900, there was less than a thousand.