Kachina (pronounced kah-CHEE-nah) dolls are traditional, hand-carved wooden dolls made by Hopi Indians of the southwestern US. Each Kachina doll represents a spirit in life. Some typical spirits represented by the Hopi in Kachina dolls include: the chief, the corn maiden, the ceremonial dancer, the singer, the ogre, the buffalo, the badger, the crow, the hawk, clouds,the sun, and the rainbow.

You can design your Kachina doll to represent anything you'd like. You can make it from a toilet paper tube, paint, fabric, felt, feathers, beads, and other items found around the house.

• A toilet paper or other cardboard tube
• Scissors
• Tape
• Hot glue (and paper glue if you're using construction paper for the clothing)
• A styrofoam ball or a ping-pong ball (or other object for the doll's head, like clay or a small box)
• Tempera paint, acrylic paint and/or markers
• Brushes
• Scraps of construction paper, felt and/or fabric
• Yarn
• Feathers, beads, buttons, shells, ribbons, and other decorative objects
• Thick cardboard, cut from a sturdy box (for the doll's base)

Make two short cuts at the ends of each slit you just made, cutting a "T" shape on each side of the roll (the flaps under the "T"s will be the legs of the doll).

If the ball is a bit too small for the tube, make a series of cuts along the top of the cardboard tube, forming flaps. Then fold the flaps into the tube. Glue the ball to the flaps. Let the glue cool and set.

Paint the head and let it dry. Then draw in the facial features using markers or paint. To make hair, glue on bits of yarn or felt scraps (or something else!).

Decorate the figure by gluing on feathers, beads, buttons, shells, ribbons, and/or other decorative objects.

Using hot glue, attach the Kachina doll to its base.

You now have your own Kachina doll.