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Navajo Rugs

Navajo textiles have been produced for centuries. Students will learn about the history of woven rugs and blankets and create an illustration that depicts some of the designs.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

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  • Paper

Steps

  • Step 1

    The Navajo, also known as Diné, are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their handwoven blankets and rugs have been an important element of the Navajo economy. Have students investigate the history of these textiles. What are the recurring patterns and motifs? What were they originally used for? When did Navajo weavers begin to make rugs for tourists and for export? What is the legend of Spider Woman?

  • Step 2

    Ask students to view images of some Navajo textiles and their styles and designs. Let the images guide and inspire them as they create a drawing of a Navajo rug.

  • Step 3

    When they're finished, have them present their designs to the class and discuss some of the facts they learned about Navajo weaving.

Standards

SS: Culture: Create, learn, share, and adapt to culture. 

SS: Individual Development and Identity: Describe factors important to the development of personal identity and the context of identity within families, peer or affinity groups, schools, communities, and nationalities. 

Adaptations

Read a book such as "The Goat in the Rug" by Charles L. Blood, Martin Link, and Nancy Winslow Parker or "Songs from the Loom: A Navajo Girl Learns to Weave" by Monty Roessel. Have a discussion about how skills and stories get passed down from generation to generation.

There are several central figures in Navajo legends, including Spider Woman who is one of the most important. She was the advisor of the heroic twins: Monster Slayer and Born for Water. Have students explore these twins who were tasked with vanquishing the menacing monsters who were tormenting the land and how they embody the Navajo belief in triumphing over evil.