Tipi facts for kids

Tepees of the Shoshoni tribe.

A new tipi made to look like one from long ago.

A tipi (also called tepee or teepee) is a kind of tent. It is cone-shaped. They were made by Native Americans of the Great Plains who frequently moved from place to place, following buffalo or other animals Native Americans hunted.

Tepees are made from long poles, and are covered with material. Long ago the material was animal skin or tree bark. Today, they are made from cloth.

Tepees were put up in as a circle, which symbolized the life.

Tepees are no longer usually used for a full-time home, but they are still used for special occasions.

Tepees were used by the Lakota.

The Plains Indians would sometimes paint and mark their tepees, and put signs to mark off evil.

They usually made the cover from buffalo skin (tanned hide).

Tipis had a flap that could be open and closed as necessary during the summer and winter months

They generally had an 'ears' flap

The doorway would face towards the rising sun

Tipis would contain paintings

Images for kids

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  An Oglala Lakota tipi, 1891

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  Crow lodge interior, 1907, showing the poles and outer skin at the top, the inner lining and bedding. The lashing rope is tied off to a wooden stake at the bottom of the photograph. Clothing is suspended on a line tied between two of the tipi poles.

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  Examples of painted tipi covers, from Paul Goble’s book, Tipi: Home of the Nomadic Buffalo Hunters, 2007.

See also

In Spanish: Tipi para niños