As children grow and develop they become increasingly aware of, and interested in the outside world. They are taught geography, history, and languages at school once they are old enough, but, even before that, you as a parent can stimulate their minds by introducing topics at home in a way that allows them to learn as they play.
Learning history can be made much more fun for young children if they have models and figures to touch and play around with. This brings the whole subject to life for them in a way that written words on a page may fail to do.
A subject such as the American Indians lends itself to this ploy very well. It is a good subject for not just American children but others too, because the broader examination of the subject deals with the displacement of native peoples from their original homelands and the problems that it creates.
The American Indians were thought to have come originally from Asia, perhaps when the great continents were still joined together by land across what is now the Bering Strait. The native Indians of America comprise many different tribes with evocative names like Apache, Commanche, Hopi, Iroquois, Cherokee, and Mohawk. The term "Red Indians" came from one tribe called the Beothuks, who had a habit of painting their faces and bodies with red ochre, but was a term applied to native Indians in general by the "white men" who came from Europe to settle in America. These days the term is frowned upon as being slightly racist
When Europeans discovered America and settled there in large numbers it was inevitable that competition with the native peoples for land, food, and other natural resources would lead to conflict, and so it proved. Many native Indians were forced to give up their hunting grounds, for they were more hunters than farmers There are many stories about the "Wild West" and how the immigrant white peoples took over the land of the natives, and these kind of events have been repeated in different parts of the world at different times – the Spanish Conquistadors in South America, The Dutch, Portuguese and French in Africa, and others.
Unfortunately, in America, before the various different peoples managed to co-exist peacefully, the numbers of native Indians were greatly reduced, mainly by conflict, epidemic diseases from Europe, and slavery. There are, however, over three million native Americans still in existence in Canada and the US
The young of our generation may not consider these issues seriously, but it's good if they at least have some knowledge of different peoples of the world and where they have come from. Toy manufacturers like Schleich produce lifelike models of the American Indians, which can be a good way of sparking their interest in the subject. With Schleich , for instance, their range of American Indians comprises figures of Indians such as the Chief on horseback, archers kneeling and astride a horse, and an Indian brave in a canoe.
If you should wish to introduce your children to the subject of the American Indians consider using models such as from Schleich to spark your kids' imaginations and further their curiosities.
