The Three Sisters (corn, beans, and squash grown together) are most closely associated with the Haudenosaunee (hoh-dee-noh-SHOH-nee), the Six Nations Confederacy of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora peoples. In Haudenosaunee tradition, the three plants are honored as sisters and as sustainers of life.
They’re not the only nation to grow these crops together. Many other nations, including Cherokee and Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara communities, have their own ways of growing and talking about corn, beans, and squash. Each nation has its own stories, so “Native Americans did this” is too broad. When you teach it, say which nation you’re talking about, and say it in the present tense, because these communities and their growers are here today.
I’m not a member of any of these nations. So I’ll share what gardeners and plant scientists observe, and I’ll leave the meaning and the stories to the Haudenosaunee and other Native people. Please don’t have your kids “retell” a sacred story as a skit. Read or listen to it from a Native storyteller instead (sources at the end).
Table of Contents
How Each Sister Helps In The Garden
Here is what growers and scientists today describe about the plants:
- Corn grows tall and sturdy, giving the beans something to climb.
- Beans climb the corn and work with soil bacteria to add nitrogen to the soil, which helps the others grow.
- Squash spreads wide leaves across the ground, shading the soil and keeping it from drying out.
Notice the pattern. No sister does everything, and each one’s work makes the others’ work possible. Just like in a team, each one contributes to and benefits from the others.
The Three Sister’s Teamwork Lesson
What kids will learn: that a team works best when each member has a job, that everyone’s job matters, and what to do when someone isn’t doing theirs.
Materials: paper, pencils or crayons, three index cards per group, and the coloring pages (below). That’s it.
- Introduce (5 minutes). Tell kids the Three Sisters belong to the Haudenosaunee tradition, with other nations having their own ways. Show where the Haudenosaunee homelands are on a map.
- Meet the sisters (10 minutes). Explain what each plant does using the list above. Let kids act it out with their bodies: one stands tall, one “climbs,” one spreads out low.
- Do the activity (below, 15 minutes).
- Talk it through (10 to 15 minutes) with the discussion questions.
- Color and reflect (10 minutes). Kids color the pages and write or draw one job they do for their own family team.
What if one sister isn’t doing her part?
Every family and classroom has a moment when one person coasts and the others quietly pick up the slack. Gardens don’t give us a clean answer, because a bean plant isn’t being lazy. But we can use the Sisters as a way to practice a better conversation. Walk kids through these steps:
- Get curious before getting cross. Ask, “Do you know what your job is? Is it too hard? Do you need help?” Often the problem is confusion or overwhelm, not laziness.
- Name the need, not the person. “The beans need something to climb” is easier to hear than “You never help.”
- Adjust the job. Maybe the job is too big or doesn’t suit that person. Swap roles or break it into smaller pieces.
- Check back in. Agree on when you’ll look at it again.
- Keep the team’s trust. If the team keeps struggling, bring in a grown-up. Asking for help is part of teamwork.
In our own home, we have seen the beauty of teamwork over and over….and we have also experienced the struggle when one kid doesn’t help. As my kids have gotten older, there are often many things on the schedule at the same time. Sometimes I look at it and say…”I’m only one person, I can’t be in more than one place at a time.” Sometimes it has felt SO overwhelming…and just as suddenly…relief when one of my teens offers to run their brother to work. Or my in-laws offer to take my younger kids. Suddenly the impossible becomes possible because people look out for each other.
On the flip side, when we don’t look out for each other, it often leads to MORE work for someone. In our house, there is non-stop laundry (can you relate?) Most of my kids and teens wash their own. It used to be a problem though when one load was done, the next kid would just take all that clean laundry that belonged to their brother and dump it on the clean laundry table to get mixed up with everyone else’s. They weren’t thinking about their brother, their brother gets upset and then it takes a lot more time to sort it all out. Comparatively, when they take 30 seconds to put their brothers clean laundry in a basket, then it stays organized and the system keeps on moving smoothly.
Looking out for each other means looking for ways to make someone else’s life better with just a little foresight on your side.
One short activity: “Set the Table Together”
Divide into groups of three. Give each person a role card: Tall Support (sets out plates and cups), Helper (lays out forks and napkins), Cover (brings food and fills water). Each group has five minutes to “set the table” on paper or with real items.
Then read this scenario aloud: “Today, the Helper had a hard day and didn’t do their job.” Have groups use the five steps above to decide what to do. Let them act it out kindly.
Discussion questions
- What does each of the Three Sisters do for the others? What would happen if one was missing?
- When have you been part of a team (family, class, sport) where everyone had a different job?
- How can you tell when a teammate might need help instead of a reminder?
- What’s a job you do that helps your family, and who else depends on it?
No garden? No problem.
It’s November in much of the country, and gardens are asleep. That’s fine. Everything above works at a table. If you want something hands-on later, plant three seeds in a container in spring and revisit the lesson. For now, color, talk, and act it out.
Get the free coloring pages
I made a set of three coloring pages, one for each sister, to go with this lesson. [Insert link/call to action: “Download the free Three Sisters coloring pages here.”] No email required. [Adjust if you do use a signup.]
Learn more from Native voices
Please go beyond this post. Here are places to start (I’d encourage you to confirm current links and availability before sharing):
- Haudenosaunee Confederacy (the official site run by the Haudenosaunee), for information about the Six Nations in their own words.
- Robin Wall Kimmerer (Citizen Potawatomi Nation), Braiding Sweetgrass, which includes a chapter on the Three Sisters.
- Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki), whose books for families and teachers include Native stories and gardening activities, such as Native American Gardening (co-authored with Michael J. Caduto).
- Native Knowledge 360° from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, with classroom resources developed with Native communities. This one is museum-run rather than Native-authored, but it’s a good starting point.