The Plains tribes used tanned buffalo hides for the walls of their tipis. They were attached to poles, usually selected from the lodgepole pine trees. The poles were set together and the hides were sewn together and then wrapped around the poles, leaving an opening at the top as a smoke hole. The opening for the door was normally covered in hide.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipi You should keep in mind that not all Sioux used Tipi houses.
The plains Sioux Indians lived in tipis made out of buffalo hides and wooden poles. They are 15 - 20 feet in diameter. The tipis have flaps on the top that could be opened and closed to account for fires inside the tipi and for bad weather. They also contained hooks on the insides to hang weapons, tools and supplies. They relied on tipis for their housing since they're existence was centered around buffalo. They were a migratory tribe based on the presence of buffalo, and tipis were quick and easy to take down and put up. But, the Sioux on the east coast lived in places other than Tipis.
The Sioux built their homes so they could easily transport them if needed. Members of the tribe built the original teepees from ropes, pegs, and material that was placed over the rope and peg system.
The Sioux homes, or tipis, were made out of tall poles and tanned hides. The poles made from the lodgepole pine trees were grouped together and bound at the top. The hides after tanning were sewn together and wrapped and secured around the lodgepoles, leaving space for the smoke hole. These tipis were designed to be taken down and erected in just minutes.
No tribe put "art" on their tipis, since that word is used to describe purely decorative painting or drawing.Medicine lodges and the lodges of important warriors or chiefs were painted with designs that had either sacred and spiritual significance or indicated the war deeds of the warrior who lived there, so it was far more than simply art.Very few Lakota Sioux tipis were painted in this way - most were left plain. Some had other forms of embelishment, such as the medicine lodge of Slow Bull, which had small locks of hair sewn to the cover.See links below for images:
Sioux
They lived in tipis
the Sioux women taught girls to cook,tan hides,make clothing, and assemble tipis.
Sioux Indian homes were called tipis (pronounced tee-pees). They were uasually made out of buffalo hides.
The plains Sioux Indians lived in tipis made out of buffalo hides and wooden poles. They are 15 - 20 feet in diameter. The tipis have flaps on the top that could be opened and closed to account for fires inside the tipi and for bad weather. They also contained hooks on the insides to hang weapons, tools and supplies. They relied on tipis for their housing since they're existence was centered around buffalo. They were a migratory tribe based on the presence of buffalo, and tipis were quick and easy to take down and put up. But, the Sioux on the east coast lived in places other than Tipis.
That depends on which particular tribe of the Sioux you mean. The Sioux were divided into three dialect groups of tribes: Lakota, Nakota and Dakota - the Lakota or Teton Sioux were furthest west, the Nakota in the middle and the Dakota furthest east.The Lakota or Teton tribes were the Oglala, Minneconjou, Brule, No Bows, Two Kettles, Blackfoot Sioux and Hunkpapa. These were nomadic buffalo hunters of the plains who only used tipis.The Nakota tribes were the Yankton and Yanktonai. They used both semi-permanent earth lodges like the Mandan, and tipis when out hunting buffalo.The eastern Sioux or Dakota were made up of the Mdewakanton, Wahpekute, Wahpeton and Sisseton tribes. They lived in bark-covered longhouses with pitched roofs, like many of the woodlands tribes.See link below for an image:
The Lakota Sioux lived in teepees made out of long poles and wooden sticks. They lived in the plains but part of the Sioux lived in Minessota and Wisconsin so they got the wood from there. They hunted buffalo and conserved the hide so that's where they got the buffalo hide.
The Sioux built their homes so they could easily transport them if needed. Members of the tribe built the original teepees from ropes, pegs, and material that was placed over the rope and peg system.
The Sioux homes, or tipis, were made out of tall poles and tanned hides. The poles made from the lodgepole pine trees were grouped together and bound at the top. The hides after tanning were sewn together and wrapped and secured around the lodgepoles, leaving space for the smoke hole. These tipis were designed to be taken down and erected in just minutes.
Many of the Native American tribes of the Great Plains used tipis. (list of nomadic plains tribes from wikipedia: Blackfoot, Arapaho, Assiniboine, Cheyenne, Comanche, Crow, Gros Venture, Kiowa, Lakota, Lipan, Plains Apache (or Kiowa Apache), Plains Cree, Sarsi, Sioux, Shoshone, and Tonkawa.) They were the ideal shelter for the nomadic lifestyle of the Plains Tribes, as tipis are durable, portable, and can be dissassembled, moved and reconstructed quickly.
Lokota Sioux were semi-nomadic Indians who lived in temporary villages that consisted of tipis. After a buffalo kill, they would use the brains to soften the hide so it wouldn't crack in the sun. They gathered long sticks 10 ft. long and held them up as they tied the sticks to the hide using buffalo tendons. There was a hole at the top to let out smoke from indoor fires. The tipis were very efficient and could be taken down in under 10 minutes.
Teepees or tipis were mostly used by the Plains Tribes. They were hide covered lodge poles designed to be moved in a few moments as the nomadic tribes moved. Among the many tribes who used tipis were the Cheyenne, Sioux and the Arapaho.
the symbols on the tipis are what they did for life and how they kill buffalo