The NFB is committed to respecting your privacy

We use cookies to ensure that our site works efficiently, as well as for advertising purposes.

If you do not wish to have your information used in this way, you can modify your browser settings before continuing your visit.

Learn more
Skip to content Accessibility
New release
Coming 
None

How to Build an Igloo (Inuktitut version)

2011 10 min
Leaving soon

This classic short film shows how to make an igloo using only snow and a knife. Two Inuit men in Canada’s Far North choose the site, cut and place snow blocks and create an entrance--a shelter completed in one-and-a-half hours. The commentary explains that the interior warmth and the wind outside cement the snow blocks firmly together. As the short winter day darkens, the two builders move their caribou sleeping robes and extra skins indoors, confident of spending a snug night in the midst of the Arctic cold!

This content is not available for free viewing in your location.
Your rental expires on
None
You've already purchased this film.
Download it from My purchases.
Not available
Share
How to Build an Igloo (Inuktitut version)

Details

This classic short film shows how to make an igloo using only snow and a knife. Two Inuit men in Canada’s Far North choose the site, cut and place snow blocks and create an entrance--a shelter completed in one-and-a-half hours. The commentary explains that the interior warmth and the wind outside cement the snow blocks firmly together. As the short winter day darkens, the two builders move their caribou sleeping robes and extra skins indoors, confident of spending a snug night in the midst of the Arctic cold!

Enjoy the NFB experience on your favourite device

Education

Ages 10 to 17
School subjects
Students will research and compare other traditional native dwellings from different climates and cultures around the world. Students can do a comparative analysis of nomadic and sedentary lifestyles. Students should be encouraged to imagine and describe how different their own lives would be if they were nomadic. Students can view this film as part of a larger investigation on human adaptation and survival, or of Canada's North. Where conditions permit, students should be encouraged to build their own igloos.