National Museum of the American Indian

Our field trip group went to the National Museum of the American Indian yesterday. Opened in 2004, this museum "features the lifeways, history, and art of Native Americans throughout the Western Hemisphere." (I took that description from the museum's "General Information" brochure.) They have a "Family Guide" available at the Welcome Desk, that is pretty good. It includes some activities and "blurbs" for parents to read to the children to get them engaged with some of the displays in the three main exhibit areas. (We didn't actually acquire the "Family Guide" until we were preparing to leave the museum, but I was still able to use it as a discussion starter to reflect on the things we had seen and learned during our visit to the museum.)

We took the Metro, which is an exciting adventure itself, especially for the little ones, to the Smithsonian stop. We ate lunch in the museum's cafe. Most of the group had packed lunches, but the weather wasn't very nice, so we had to eat indoors. A couple of members of the group got native cuisine from the cafe.

My kids and I like the exhibits on the fourth floor the best. This is where you find the "Our Universe" exhibit with displays on Native American myth and belief systems. Everyone liked the story screens, where they could listen to native myths, see the illustrations on the screen and speculate which stars in the sky (on the ceiling) were the ones from the story. They also liked the short film that featured two of the artists that had created pieces for that exhibit. Also on the fourth floor you find the "Our Peoples" exhibit. This features displays on Native American history. The boys seem drawn to the exhibit on the role of guns in Native American history. They also like the display of gold objects. I noticed the corn included among the gold artifacts, and tried to point out to the older kids that corn was just as important as gold to the lives of the indigenous peoples.

We also visited the "Our Lives" exhibit on the third floor. I liked the display areas for each of the ethnic groups or tribes. We spent a little time checking out the Pamunkey display, since that is a reservation in Virginia. Of course the kids liked the Bombadier, the ice fishing vehicle. Once we had wandered around the "Our Lives" exhibit, it was time to start back to the Metro. (We did stop by the Roanoke Museum Store on the second floor. Where my younger son had a melt down over a toy flute.)

The children seem to like the displays with the screens and pull out drawers in the landing area of the third and fourth floors. I think they like that they can pick their favorite piece in the display and then inspect it more closely by choosing it on the screen. They also seem to like all the television screens in the "Our Lives" exhibit that show Native Americans talking about their way of life or Native Americans participating in dances or festivals.

We had alot of fun and will probably try to go back when we have more time to spend at the museum. We spent about 2 1/2 hours at the museum, which includes the time we spent eating lunch at the cafe. I wish we'd been able to stay at least one more hour.

Visit www.AmericanIndian.si.edu for more information about the National Museum of the American Indian.