• Native American crafts include painting, beadwork and blankets.indian art image by Pix by Marti from Fotolia.com
  
  Native American tribes in the United States each have their own traditional arts and crafts. Though they were developed in different contexts and for different purposes, almost all the indigenous people of the United States have their own handiwork, such as pottery, paintings, quill work and baskets. Some Native American crafts are utilitarian, and some are purely decorative. Many Native American crafts have similar aspects, such as earth colors, materials made from animal products and a celebration of the natural world.
  
  

Bead Work

• Different tribes specialize in different kinds of bead work, mostly used to decorate clothing or moccasins. People often use beads for necklaces, chokers and headbands. Native Americans originally made beads from things found in nature, such as shells, animal bones, horns, teeth, stones and amber. Native Americans did not use glass beads until the Europeans introduced them to the continent. Color combinations, styles and stitches can vary depending on a tribe's area. Plains Indian bead work is known for its intricate peyote stitch, while the northern tribes more often used floral bead work.
  
  

Dolls

• Native American tribes often made dolls for their children. They used corn husks, wood and leather. Like dolls today, small clothes similar to those worn by adults could be made for the dolls. Some dolls were not toys at all. The best known of these is probably the Hopi kachina dolls, which they made from wood and which represented different gods or spirits. Making and keeping a genuine kachina doll took years of training and practice.
  
  

Rugs and Blankets

• People recognize Native American rugs and blankets by their geometric designs. Tribes make star quilts by sewing together a complicated mosaic of diamonds into an eight-pointed star, a traditional symbol of the Sioux. Plains Indians made blankets from buffalo hide, but Native Americans all over the United States made woven blankets on hand looms long before the Europeans came across the ocean. They used cotton thread for blankets and rugs in the beginning, but with the arrival of the new settlers, the Native Americans replaced cotton with inexpensive wool.