The Mitchell Museum Announces Spring Break Family Activities for Chicago and Evanston School Districts

Families can stop by The Mitchell
Museum of The American Indian during Spring Break and enjoy Native American
inspired crafts that students can make and take home.  The special all day D.I.Y crafts  are free with regular admission, and will take
place April 8 through 11 and April 15 through 18; coinciding with Spring Break
for both Evanston and Chicago district children.

The Mitchell Museum provides
everything students will need to make simple versions of traditional Native
American artifacts including paper moccasins, canoes, Plains shields and more.   Each
craft includes background information about the importance of the artifact to
Native American ways of life.

Visitors can view similar artifacts
in the exhibits which cover a variety of themes including clothing and regalia,
traditional transportation, use of natural resources, and the impact of the
tourist trade. 

Moccasins are found in every tribe
across the United States and Canada. Although each tribe has a name for “shoe”
in their own language, the word “moccasin” is widely accepted and acknowledged.  Each tribe and each geographic region has
their own style of moccasin.  Students
can fold their own moccasin out of paper, decorating the tops and bottoms of
the shoes in a Native American style, taking inspiration from moccasins on
display.

Transportation also differed
according to region which is reflected in the styles of canoes.  From the Eastern Woodlands birch bark canoe
to the Northwest Coast carved cedar dugout canoe to the Arctic kayaks, each
reflected the natural resources in the region and the needs of tribes.  Students can select from these three styles
of canoes. They will learn the ways each was constructed, their use in each
region, and compare them to the Mitchell Museum’s over 40 year old birch bark
canoe.

Shields made by tribes on the Plains
don’t always symbolize war, although war was a reality.  Some shields provided spiritual protection
and healing to their owner.  Lighter and
thinner than their combative counterparts, the shield patterns often reflected
the inner spiritual strengths of the owner. The Mitchell Museum’s permanent
exhibit showcases a Plains shield that students can take inspiration from to
design their own shield that reflects their personality.

The Mitchell Museum is one of only a
handful of museums in the country that focuses exclusively on the art, history
and culture of American Indian and First Nation peoples throughout the United
States and Canada.  In 2012, The Mitchell
Museum was named “Best Museum of The North Shore: Up and Comer” by Make it Better magazine, won the
Superior award by the Illinois Association of Museums and was named a national
finalist by the American Association of State and Local History award program.

For more information about The
Mitchell Museum of The American Indian, visit www.mitchellmuseum.org or call 847-475-1030. The museum is open Tuesday-Wednesday
10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday- Saturday 10 a.m. to 5
p.m. and Sunday noon to 4 p.m.  Admission
is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors, students and children and Free for Mitchell
Museum members and Tribal members.