Places, Traditions and Discoveries · Drawing 13
A basket at Odanak
At Odanak, Abenaki craftswomen pass on ash basket-making skills. Their hands cross strips to create baskets.
Look together
Can you follow one strip with your finger?
An idea to try
Using two wide paper strips prepared by an adult, play at putting one strip over and then under the other.
For the adult reading along
A little more to discover
At Odanak, the Musée des Abénakis presents W8banaki culture and skills passed on within the community. Its programming describes an ash basket-making demonstration with an Elder. Such encounters introduce stages of a practice through someone who knows it and shares it.
The page shows a basket being made, with crossing strips. Invite your child to follow one strip and then another to observe the interlacing. Present this as an example located at Odanak, not a representation of all First Nations practices. Paper-strip play explores crossing without claiming to teach Abenaki basket-making.
Sources and context
These links lead to other websites. Explore them with an adult. Source titles appear in their original language; some linked pages are in French.
Source review: 2026-09-12. Illustrations simplify places and scenes; they are not historical documents.