This week we visited Ernie Miller Nature Center for their Build a Tipi program. This is a very popular program at the nature center, and we were excited to get hands on with the tipi supplies.
The program started with a talk led by one of the park officers about native peoples, houses, and tools that they used. The kids had a chance to see some of the weapons and tools used, asked questions and participated in casual quizzing from the park officer. After the indoor session, we headed out into the park to build our tipi.
Once outside, the kids took turns working as teams to put up each of the poles that support the tipi. It was exciting to see how quickly the poles could be put into place. The parents even helped out with the last pole with has the canvas cover attached! Once the final pole was installed, the canvas of the tipi was wrapped around the poles, and the park officer secured it into place. The kids then went into the tipi for additional discussion about native peoples and life in a tipi.
We were lucky to have nice weather after all the rain earlier in the week. It was also nice to meet the officer who led the class – he did a good job of interacting with the kids and answering their questions. We look forward to future visits to the nature center.
