Home / Hands-on activities / Oklahoma's Story: Land Run, Five Tribes & the Dust Bowl

Social studies activity

Oklahoma's Story: Land Run, Five Tribes & the Dust Bowl

On April 22, 1889, a cannon fired at noon — and 50,000 people RACED across the Oklahoma prairie at the exact same moment to claim land! On horseback, in wagons, even running on foot. By sunset, 2 million acres were claimed. Let's act out the most unusual race in American history!

Hands OnAbout 25 minutesScreen-freeParent help expected

Materials and setup

How this changes by age

Pre-K (ages 3–4)

On April 22, 1889, a cannon fired at noon — and 50,000 people RACED across the Oklahoma prairie at the exact same moment to claim land! On horseback, in wagons, even running on foot. By sunset, 2 million acres were claimed. Let's act out the most unusual race in American history!

Difficulty 1 of 3

Steps

  1. Clear a safe space in the room. One side is the starting line, the other side is 'free land.'
  2. Count down together: '3… 2… 1… BOOM!' Race across the room and sit on a spot — that's your claim!
  3. Talk about: 'In the real race, if two people claimed the same spot, what do you think happened?'
  4. Explain: 'Some people cheated by hiding in the territory the night before. They were called Sooners. That's where the Oklahoma Sooners sports team got its name!'
  5. Ask: 'Does anyone live there already? Let's find out next time.'

Learning objectives

  • Wonder at the scale of the 1889 Land Run — 50,000 people racing at one signal
  • Notice that the word 'Sooner' came from people who cheated in the race
  • Ask who was already living on this land before the race

Kindergarten (ages 5–6)

Here's a surprising fact: the US government told the Five Tribes that Oklahoma was their land 'forever.' Then, in 1889, the government opened it to settlers anyway — and 50,000 people raced to claim it in a single afternoon. The same land, two completely different stories. Draw both sides!

Difficulty 2 of 3

Steps

  1. Talk about what 'forever' means. Then talk about what it felt like when 'forever' ended.
  2. Fold paper in half. On the left, draw a Cherokee or Creek family arriving in Oklahoma — exhausted but finally home. Write: 'Our land, forever.'
  3. On the right, draw a settler family racing across the prairie on April 22, 1889. Write: 'One day — 2 million acres claimed.'
  4. Draw the same flat Oklahoma prairie and blue sky in both pictures.
  5. Write or dictate: 'The same land meant _____ to the Native families and _____ to the settler families.'

Learning objectives

  • Identify that the Five Tribes were promised this land as a permanent home
  • Retell that the same land was then opened to settlers without consent of the tribes already there
  • Recognize that the same place held completely different meaning for different groups

Early elementary (ages 6–8)

Oklahoma's history has three dramatic acts: First, the US government relocated the Five Tribes to Oklahoma — a place they were promised would be theirs forever. Then, in 1889, 50,000 settlers raced to claim that same land in a single afternoon. Then the Dust Bowl hit in the 1930s — massive black blizzards that buried farms and drove 400,000 Oklahomans west to California. Three enormous chapters, one state. Map all three!

Difficulty 2 of 3

Steps

  1. Draw an outline of Oklahoma. Label Oklahoma City (capital) and the Panhandle (narrow strip on the left).
  2. Draw arrows from the southeast showing the routes the Five Tribes traveled to reach Oklahoma.
  3. Mark the Kansas border where the 1889 Land Run starting line was. Write: 'April 22, 1889 — noon. 50,000 people, one signal.'
  4. Shade the Panhandle region and label it 'Dust Bowl — black blizzards 1930s.' Draw swirling lines.
  5. Write one sentence about each event: who was most affected, and why. Use the words 'because' and 'as a result' in your sentences.

Learning objectives

  • Locate key Oklahoma geographic features and sequence three major events on a map
  • Explain the Five Tribes' relocation as a broken promise, not just a move
  • Describe the Dust Bowl's cause (over-farming) and its human cost (400,000 displaced)
  • Write cause-and-effect sentences using 'because' and 'as a result'

Upper elementary (ages 8–10)

Oklahoma is home to some of the most fascinating stories of cultural achievement in American history. The Five Tribes — Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole — created their own written languages, newspapers, schools, and courts after relocating to Oklahoma. The Cherokee Nation published the first Native American newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, in 1828 — printed in both English and the Cherokee syllabary invented by Sequoyah. In World War I, Choctaw 'Code Talkers' used their language as an unbreakable military code, helping win key battles. Oklahoma also has more man-made lakes than any other state (over 200!), and has the most preserved miles of the original Route 66. How does a state that faced so many hardships produce so much extraordinary culture?

Difficulty 3 of 3

Steps

  1. Research the Cherokee syllabary: how Sequoyah invented it, how quickly Cherokee people became literate after its creation (within a few years, most Cherokee could read), and why having a written language was so important for sovereignty.
  2. Research the Choctaw Code Talkers in World War I: what they did, why their language worked as an unbreakable code, and how they were recognized for their service.
  3. Create a 'Oklahoma Innovations' timeline from 1820 to 1940: include the Cherokee syllabary, the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper, the Land Run, the Dust Bowl, and Choctaw Code Talkers.
  4. Draw an Oklahoma map and mark the Route 66 path across the state, the Five Tribes' territories, and the Panhandle Dust Bowl region.
  5. Write a 4-paragraph essay: paragraph 1 introduces the idea that remarkable cultural achievement can happen alongside great hardship, paragraph 2 examines the Cherokee syllabary and Phoenix as evidence, paragraph 3 examines the Choctaw Code Talkers, paragraph 4 argues: what do these stories reveal about how communities respond to challenge?
  6. Discussion question: When the Choctaw Code Talkers helped the US Army in WWI, the US government had relocated the Choctaw Nation decades earlier. What does it mean to serve a country that treated your people that way?
  7. In the 1889 Land Run, settlers raced to claim 160-acre plots for a $14 filing fee. If the land was worth about $2/acre then, calculate the instant profit per claim. Today Oklahoma farmland sells for about $2,000/acre (estimate) — what is one original claim worth now? Write a one-minute pitch convincing a family to join the race.
  8. Dust Bowl farmers in the 1930s learned to plant tree windbreaks and plow in curves to protect soil. Build a dirt tray and test 3 setups: bare dirt, dirt with toothpick trees, and dirt with curvy grooves. Blow a fan on each for 10 seconds and measure how much dirt moves. Sketch the winner.

Learning objectives

  • Research the Cherokee syllabary and Cherokee Phoenix as achievements in literacy and cultural sovereignty
  • Explain how the Choctaw language functioned as an unbreakable military code in WWI
  • Construct a 4-paragraph essay connecting cultural achievement to resilience under hardship
  • Evaluate the complex relationship between the Five Tribes and the US government using specific evidence

Safety and evidence note

Read the full activity before beginning. An adult should supervise tools, heat, food, outdoor work, movement, and experiments as appropriate. Completion records that the activity was done; the child’s explanation, work sample, photo, or demonstration is stronger evidence of learning than a completion check alone.

Related social studies activities

Advanced Map Skills

Learn what maps are! Follow a simple treasure map around your house or yard. Maps show us where things are.

Alabama's Story: Cotton, Civil Rights & Red Hills

Did you know that one woman sitting down on a bus helped change America forever? Rosa Parks sat down in Alabama — and the whole country stood up. And Alabama is also home to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville — where scientists designed the Saturn V rocket that sent people to the Moon! Ten years after Rosa Parks's bus protest, thousands of people marched together across a bridge in Selma, Alabama to ask for the right to vote. Let's draw that bridge!

Alaska's Story: Glaciers, Gold Rush & Seward's Folly

Alaska is so gigantic that if you put it on top of the rest of the United States, it would stretch from Florida all the way to California! And it has rivers made of ice — called glaciers — that move SO slowly you can't see them move. Let's build an icy Alaska scene!

American History Timeline

Color an American flag together — count the 13 stripes and 50 stars! Then wave it and sing a patriotic song.

Browse all 575 activities · Explore course syllabi