Weekend Pick: PlymouthReads 2013 Hosts Dakota Tribe Workshop at Plymouth Creek Center

Staff from the Gibbs Museum will be at Plymouth Creek Center this Saturday morning, March 9, to meet with kids and lead several activities focusing on the Dakota Tribe.

Traditional Dakota Tribe crafts and hands-on programs designed especially for children begin at 10 a.m. and have staggered start times until noon.

From PlymouthReads 2013: 

• Buffalo Nation
• 10-11:30 a.m.
• 3-5 year olds

The buffalo (American Bison) has been described as the grocery store of the Dakota people.

Gibbs museum staff will bring a buffalo box containing over 20 objects made from the buffalo that were used in everyday life. The program includes a story about a young Dakota boy and how he discovers the importance of “Buffalo Nation.” Children make a related craft to take home following the program.

• Harvest Through the Seasons
• 1-2:30 p.m.
• 6-10 year olds

In the early 1800s, Dakota people migrated from village to village throughout the year. These travels were influenced by the harvest: Maple sugar in the spring; corn, beans and squash in the summer; and wild rice in the fall. Even the types of animals that were hunted and the medicines used were influenced by the seasons. Following the program children will make a related craft to take home.

• Dakota Moons
• 12-12:30 p.m.
• Drop in

The Dakota kept time by the cycles of the moon; each of the 13 moons had a name that described the details of life in that 28-day period. Learn about the thirteen moons, what they were called and what life was like during each moon cycle. 

Gibbs Museum of Pioneer and Dakotah Life in St. Paul:

Gibbs Museum of Pioneer and Dakotah Life interprets early Minnesota pioneer life. Central to the stories told at the Gibbs Museum site are those involving Jane Gibbs, her husband and children, one of the earliest families to settle in Ramsey County.

Jane left her home in western New York as a young girl in 1834 and traveled west with a missionary family. She arrived at Fort Snelling in 1835 and spent the next five years at Lake Harriet living along side the Dakota people of Cloud Man’s village. 

When Jane and her husband Heman Gibbs arrived in Minnesota in 1849, Jane was reunited with her Dakota “family” when they crossed the Gibbs farm on an old wild ricing trail. Gibbs Museum interprets Dakota life because of this unique lifelong relationship Jane had with members of Cloud Man’s village.

Gibbs Museum of Pioneer and Dakota Life is open Wednesdays through Sundays, Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, from noon – 4:00 p.m. and weekends in September and October from noon-4:00 p.m.