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Make a "Birch Bark" Canoe Activity

To be used with: Keepers of the Fire; the American Indians of Dowagiac, Michigan, a school program of the Museum at Southwestern Michigan College. This activity from Learning about Michigan Indians, A Study Unit for Early Elementary Grades, by Jean McCabe, River Road Publications, Inc., 1981.

Introduction:

Students learn that Michigan Native Americans used the bark of birch trees to make canoes.  Students fashion a canoe from paper. This activity addresses state of Michigan Social Studies curriculum standard 2.2.
Materials Needed:
  • Activity Introduction
  • Canoe Shape Master
  • Sheet 8 1/2” X 11” cardstock for master copy
  • Brown craft paper or paper grocery bags, one 8 ½” 11” piece per student
  • Scissors for students
  • Glue, glue dots or double-sided tape
  • White crayons, stripped of paper and broken into 2” pieces
  • 4 or more pieces split firewood, any type of tree that has shallowly furrowed bark
    (birch bark will not work.)
  • An example of birch bark to show (optional)
  • 3 5/8” long wooden craft spoons, 2 per student (optional)
Preparation:
  1. Copy the Canoe Shape master onto a piece of cardstock and cut it out. This is your template. Trace around it onto each piece of Kraft paper, one per student. Mark dashed fold line on canoe shape. (You may also wish to mark lines for display slots, see below)
  2. Set wood out on table with bark facing up. Stabilize pieces with shims if they are wobbly.
Procedure
Step 1:

Using the activity introduction, talk with your students about how Native Americans from Michigan used the bark of paper birch trees to make canoes.
Step 2:

Show students the paper birch bark. Tell them the canoe they will make from paper will have a pattern similar to the birch bark.
Step 3:

Pass out brown paper patterns to each student. Have students lay paper on top of wood’s bark and use white crayon piece to do a rubbing. Crayon rubbing should fill in all of canoe outline.  Bark pattern gives appearance of birch bark.  
Step 4: Have students cut around canoe shape and fold along dotted line. Side curved edges and bottom edge of canoes can be joined with glue, glue dots or tape.
Step 5: Give each student two craft spoons, which resemble canoe paddles. These can be tucked inside the canoe, or they can be used to display the canoe in the following way.
One thin slot can be cut on either side of the center of the canoe’s bottom edge. Each slot should be ½ inch tall and as wide as the craft spoons are thick. The two slots should be about 3 ½ inches apart. Slide a craft spoon edge into each slot, and the canoe will stand up on the spoons.