Surviving on the Siberian Tundra

Read the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC March 1998 article on the Nenets, and share it with your children. If you can reach the Internet from home, show them Geoguide/nenets on the National Geographic Web site.

Talk with your children about the area where the Nenets live. Find it on a world map, and explain to them that Siberia is an area in Russia. Talk with your children about “herding.” What animals are herded? How are animals herded? Why are animals herded? Talk about words used in the story that have connections to these questions—migration, caravan, nomads, vegetation, overgrazing, tundra, lassoing.

Relate the herding of reindeer to the herding of cattle in the United States during the 1800s. Ask your children to describe pictures they have seen of cattle being herded. Where and why were the cattle being herded? Compare the life of a cowboy on a cattle drive to the life of a Nenets herder.

Relate the shelter of the Nenets to the tepees of the Plains Indians. Compare the life of a Plains Indian with the life of a Nenets herder.

Discuss the author’s statement that visiting the Nenets was “an experience in time travel.” Discuss the Nenets saying “Those who hurry on the tundra are in a hurry to die.”

Jeanie Sisson of Red Oak Elementary School in Moore, Oklahoma, contributed family activities for this Geoguide.