Do we need a snow covered race track to play?

You don't need a snow covered track. In any climate, lengths of plastic sheeting can serve as an "ice" track covering grass or sand. Or you can play indoors. In a gym, use long boards or have players line the length of the track with their books or their shoes. A long hallway can be a track. You don't have to buy any special track equipment to race your Snowsnake Derby Racers.

Can I make my own snowsnakes?

Your group can carve branches into snowsnakes like American Indians did/do. But you can eliminate the danger of knife use with the Snowsnake Derby Racer kit. The balsa wood supplied in the kit is easily shaped with sandpaper. And, like other popular derby model kits, the identical materials supplied in the kits will give everyone an equal start.  

What concepts are included in the lesson plan?

Buyers can access an adaptable lesson plan with discussion questions that will lead groups through concepts of natural material use, tool making, importance of hunting, and ownership beliefs.

 What age groups are best suited to play?

Groups from age 6 upward will have fun and learn from the game of snowsnake especially groups with Native American badge work requirements and students with a Native American social studies curriculum.

Does shaping a snowsnake require use of a knife?

Use of a knife is not necessary or recommended. Kit instructions say to lay a piece of medium weight sandpaper with the rough side up on your work table. Rub or stroke the snake against the sandpaper until it is shaped as you want it. Leaders should draw an analogy between shaping the snake and American Indians chipping spear and arrowheads long ago. 

What are the goals of snowsnake?

Play as Native Americans did/do with the snake traveling farthest in the track winning a point and a score stick. If your track is short, make accuracy - can players hit a marker - your goal. You can play individually or divide players into groups for team derby competition - the Woodland Indians racing the Plains' Indians, or tribes such as the Menomonee racing the Chippewa, or use snake species like the Vipers competing against the Racers.

How do you keep track of winners?

Designate a person(s) to mark where the Snowsnake Derby Racers stop. Give score sticks to winners of each round. Compete by grade level and play several rounds at each level. Besides racing for distance, compete for accuracy, best Native American design, best snake design, etc.

Who played snowsnake?

All of the following tribes are listed in Dr. Walter J. Hoffman's Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Smithsonian Institution in 1896 as players:  Arapaho, Assiniboin, Cheyenne, Chippewa, Cree, Crows, Dakota (Oglala, Teton, Yankton), Grosventres, Hidatsa, Hurons, Iroquois, Kiowa, Mandan, Menominee, Missisanga, Omaha, Passamaquoddy, Pawnee, Penobscot, Pomo, Ponca, Sauk and Foxes, Seneca, Siouan stock, Takulli, Topinagugim, Tuscarora, and Yokuts.   

In addition, the Inuit/Eskimo people living in Alaska, Canada, and Greenland and the Dene people living in arctic regions of Canada played snowsnake. 

Both children and adults including the women of many tribes played snowsnake and some do yet today.

My logo/trademark?

My trademark is Dr. Walter J. Hoffman's sketch of an actual Menominee Indian playing snowsnake at the reservation in Keshena, Wisconsin in the early 1890's. Some shading was adjusted and red streaking was added to highlight the snowsnake.