Salt Dough Inuksuk/Innunguat

I learned some new things about inuksuks this time around!

What I (and most of the world) commonly thought is an Inuksuk is not! 

Inuksuk or Inukshuk : a landmark 

Inuksuit : plural

Innunguaq : imitation of a person

Innunguat : plural

Apparently this Olympic logo is partially to blame for the misconception. 

The project:

This lesson was a great round out to a unit on Native American art, culture, and history. 

My fifth graders made a large batch of salt dough as our clay for this. 

The recipe is:

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

1 cup water

Then it has to dry for a long time (or you can bake it on low for a long while).

It was also a great lesson in ratios for them as they measured and made them really

invested in the project making their own materials. 

After we made out dough we made pinch pots since some of my kids have

never had art until this year and we don't get to use clay a whole lot. 

The next day we discussed native peoples of the arctic region of Alaska, Canada, and Greenland.

I introduced Inuksuit and Innunguat and then we watched a really good five minute you tube video.

This video is such a great introduction to the lesson depicting

the landscape as well as explaining the purpose of the sculptures/landmarks. 

We used two to three toothpicks as the armatures for the stone people.

The image above shows the plan for how the clay "rocks" are held together. 

When they dry they look and feel like rock. 

We painted them brown and grey to look like rock when they were dry.