American Girl Club: Meet Nanea

After 7 years of running our library's American Girl Club, keeping the program new and interesting can be a bit of a challenge. This is one big reason I am always happy when American Girl introduces a new historical character. This fall they introduced Nanea Mitchell, an American Girl living in Hawaii during 1941. Recently our club focused on Nanea for the first time.

To come up with ideas for Nanea I used the event kit put out by American Girl. These kits are a great resource, but tend to be taken down after a period of time, so if you are interested in these printables I would download asap them. In general I found Nanea a pretty easy to plan for, because you can draw from both Hawaiian themed activities and patriotic ones that are related to WWII.

We started the program with discussion about the time period, Hawaii and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I focused on Nanea's desire to help with the war effort by having them take the "Dip your Paddle in Quiz" found in the activity booklet.

Next we played a game of Hukilau. It is pretty similar to London Bridges, but involves the well known Hawaiian tune, "Hukilau". Two kids link arms to form a "net" that the other kids walk through as "Hukilau" plays. When the line about the "ama-ama come swimming to me" comes, they drop their "net" and trap whoever is underneath. It definitely seemed to go over well.

After that we did a version of Simon Says called Kuma Hula Says. Kuma Hulas, like Nanea's grandmother, are experts in their art and the kids got to take turns playing the part. We used hula moves as our actions, but you could let the kids get creative by including others.

Our last activity was making leis. We used the printable flowers that the America Girl event kit provides and pieces of colored straw to make them. They kids strung both on yarn to make their leis. I got this idea from The Bird Feed NYC. As we made our leis we had a snack of pineapple salsa, Rice Krispie treats (invented in the 1940s) and cookies with M&Ms (also invented in the 1940s).

It was definitely nice to change things up, and I think the kids at the program had a great time. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions about this program or any others I have posted.

American Girl Club: Meet Gabriela

Our latest American Girl Club was one of my favorite meetings of the year. We got to learn about the newest American Girl of the Year, Gabriela McBride. It is always fun to focus on a new character, and I continue to enjoy the way the Girls of the Year provide an opportunity to talk about contemporary topics.

When it came to Gabriela, the big ideas I wanted to discuss were community and voice. Gabriela helps raise money for her community's arts center. She also struggles with speaking out because she has a stutter. These two themes come together as she uses her love of poetry and dance to help save the center. As a group, we talked about these things in our brief discussion of the book, which was just enough to give an overview of Gabriela and her story.

What we did: 

• Our first activity was MadLibs. It is a fun and easy way to play with words and story writing, so I thought it made perfect sense to use for this program. I found a free MadLibs app in the iTunes store (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mad-libs/id326885152?mt=8), because I wanted to incorporate our iPads and new projector. I was very happily surprised to learn that the app actually had Gabriela themed MadLibs to complete. We each took turn entering words and then read our communal story aloud. 
• After MadLibs, we did a poetry game I found called Poetry Charades. I found it on Poetry4Kids. Charades are a fun way to get kids up and moving, and always seem to go over well with kids at my programs. I choose this version of the game in order to incorporate Gabriela's love of spoken word poetry. I especially liked that it provides the kids with a set of actions to guess from. Definitely makes the game a little easier!
• Our final game was Girl of the Year Bingo (found here). My kids love Bingo, even if the prize is as simple as first crack at checking out one of our American Girl of the Year books. 
• We ended by snacking on modern delicacies such as cookies, chips and fruit snacks. The craft was meant to be word collages with letter stickers but we did not have a chance to get to that this time. I'll be saving that idea to try again at future American Girl programs.
• As a take home activity, I also provided a word search about Gabriela and a template to create an acrostic poem.

For information on my other American Girl Club programs (including other American Girls of the Year) see the links below:

• Cecile and Marie Grace (from 1854)
• Grace, 2015 Girl of the Year
• Samantha, from 1904
• Caroline, from 1812
• Kaya, from 1764
• Addy, from 1864
• Josefina, from 1824
• Isabelle, 2014 Girl of the Year
• Best Friends
• Summer Fun 
• Felicity, from 1774
• Molly, from 1944

Hopefully these ideas come in handy for any programs you may be doing about Gabriela this year. She still has two more books coming out, so I'm sure there is plenty more fun to come! If you have any questions you can get in touch with me here or via Twitter (@MsKellyTweets).

American Girl Club: Meet Cecile and Marie Grace

It's been a while since I've blogged (due to the fall programing lull and general lack of time) so I figured a good place to get back in the groove is to give another American Girl Club update. The most recent girls we covered for this program were Cecile and Marie Grace, from 1854 New Orleans. Their series is the only American girl series where two characters' stories are combined into a single six book collection.

 

In case you've forgotten, here is a quick overview of my format for this monthly program:

• One session of 12 kids is registered. 
• Age group: 3rd-6th graders. 
• Length: One hour
• The only cost involved is usually for snacks (about $10).

Here's what we did this month:

• We started out with our usual discussion of the books. I highlighted some interesting facts, in particular I talked a little bit about the uniqueness and diversity of New Orleans during this time period. For instance, we talked about the idea of Cecile being a "free person of color" during that time period.
• The girls completed a quiz to determine whether they are more like Cecile or Marie Grace. This quiz has since been taken off the American Girl site, so get in touch if you need more information. 
• We played a game that I called "BABY". It is based off a game found here and is a combination of HORSE and volleyball. The basic concept is that when a team scores a point the other team gets a letter. The first team that spells "BABY" loses. I chose this game based on the connection to not wanting to get the baby in the traditional Mardi Gras king cake. It was fun and easy to set up, only requiring a beach ball, fitted sheet and two chairs.
• I cut paper plates in half to decorate as Mardi Gras masks. The decorating was more time consuming than expected but the attendees definitely seemed to enjoy it.
• To close out the program we had a snack of french bread, powdered donuts (standing in for traditional New Orleans beignets), and juice.
• Other ideas I've used with this theme in the past are Mardi Gras musical chairs (musical chairs with Mardi Gras music), and a version of Hot Potato called "Pass the Baby". 
 

For information on my other American Girl Club programs see the links below:

• Grace, 2015 Girl of the Year
• Samantha, from 1904
• Caroline, from 1812
• Kaya, from 1764
• Addy, from 1864
• Josefina, from 1824
• Isabelle, 2014 Girl of the Year
• Best Friends
• Summer Fun 
• Felicity, from 1774
• Molly, from 1944

Hopefully these ideas come in handy for any Mardi Gras, New Orleans or American Girl programs you might be doing with kids. If you have any questions you can get in touch with me here or via Twitter (@MsKellyTweets).

American Girl Holiday Party

The holiday season means one thing for our American Girl Club: Our annual holiday party!

The theme of this party is showcasing all the different ways the characters in the American Girl books celebrated the holiday season. We do games and crafts related to these celebrations and just generally have a great time. It is definitely one of my favorite programs I do with this age group.

We started out with our usual short group discussion. I went through each of the characters and gave a quick summary about which holiday they celebrate and what happens in their story. The holiday focused books were only published for the earliest groupings of American Girls, so this mainly focused on about 8 characters.

Our activities:

 

Human Dreidel

Image from openclipart.org

I found this game idea here, and it sounded like a great tie in to the celebration of Hanukkah. The version I came up with was pretty simple. I divided our program room floor into four spaces using masking tape on the floor. I wrote the words corresponding to each side of the dreidel on pieces of tagboard and taped those down as well. The kids were each given 8 gumdrops as their "gelt". I also set aside a small pile of gumdrops for them to prospectively win. Each child would spin around with their eyes closed, and the space they would land on would determine what happened to their "gelt". For more specific directions you can see the basic directions for the dreidel game here. The kids seemed to enjoy the activity, even though a couple were not a fan of the gumdrops.

Ornament Shuffle 

Photo from openclipart.org

This game was based on one called Steal the Treasure. Because I already had the floor divided into four parts I broke my group of 15 kids into 4 groups (I played on one team to make things even. Definite job perk!). I took four hula hoops and put 6 plastic bulb ornaments in each. The teams each had to steal ornaments from the others' hoops, all while following a few simple rules. For instance, they couldn't guard their "treasure" and they couldn't steal from the same teams hoop twice in a row. It was definitely a pretty fast past game, and a good one to get a little bit of the kids' extra energy.

 

 

 Gift exchange

Photo from openclipart.org

As a present to each girl I gave them each a paperback copy of an American Girl holiday book. These books came from an extra stash we've had since I started at my library five years ago. The club used to be ran in a more traditional "book club" format, and I guess at some point extra copies of many of the books were purchased. I've been lucky enough to be able to give these books away at every possible opportunity. If you do not have extra books to give away you could also substitute candy or other small prizes for this game. 

For our gift exchange game I try to do something different each year. This year we played a game I called "If you...". I can't remember where I found it, so if it sounds familiar please let me know. The basic idea is that you have the kids sit in chairs in a circle. One wrapped gift is on each chair. The kids all choose a chair and switch chairs based on "If you..." questions. The gifts stay on the chairs. For instance you could say "If you have a brother." and the kids who had brothers would have to get up and move to another chair. At the end they open the gift at whichever seat they are currently at. It is not only fun, it also helps the kids learn a little bit about each other. 

Snack and craft

Our craft was to decorate a printable template for a doll party hat. I used the one found here. As our snack we had a few different snacks representing some of the American Girl characters. We had popcorn (because Rebecca wanted to be in the movies), gingerbread cookies (because Samantha makes a gingerbread house), Fritos (invented during Kit's time period), and apple juice. This was also a time they could do a wordsearch or enjoy playing a Holiday ABC game. Feel free to use these printable activities in any and all programming.

Another great year of our American Girl Club has ended. To look back on some of the things we did you can head on over and check out my other American Girl related posts.

• Grace, 2015 Girl of the Year
• Samantha, from 1904
• Caroline, from 1812
• Kaya, from 1764
• Addy, from 1864
• Josefina, from 1824
• Isabelle, 2014 Girl of the Year
• Best Friends
• Summer Fun 
• Felicity, from 1774
• Molly, from 1944

If you ever have any questions about this or any programs I'd love to answer them! Feel free to comment here, reach me on Twitter (@MsKellyTweets), or email me at marrak at libcoop.net.

American Girl Club: Meet Molly

This month's American Girl Club focused on Molly, an American Girl character from 1944. Like Felicity, she is one of the first American Girls, and therefore will always be a favorite of mine. She is also easy to plan for, especially if you search for activities that are related to celebration of the USA's Fourth of July.

The program started out with our usual discussion of the time period and Molly's books. Participation was even better than usual, because the kids seemed pretty familiar with the events of World War II. In particular, we talked about the hardships Molly and her family faced and how each family was required to do their part to help the war effort.

For our active game we played "Prisoner's Base", a game I found in the always helpful "American Girl Party Book". It is a version of tag that involves putting players from the opposite team in your team's "prison" and rescuing your own teams players from the other team's "prison".

Next we had a little contest to see who could make the most words out of Molly's full name: Molly Jean McIntire. This is always a fun little activity that can be adapted for use with any word/theme. The "winner's" treat was getting first pick of the free books I gave out from our stash of extras.

We ended with a craft and snack as usual. The craft was making flowers our of plastic bags. All you need to do this craft is about 4 plastic bag per child and some pipe cleaners. It did take a little assistance for the younger kids in the group, but most were able to do it pretty independently. Here are the instructions I gave each child.

As our snack we had star shaped jelly sandwiches, carrots (because Americans many grew "victory gardens" during World War II), M & Ms (invented during Molly's childhood), and juice. I was very impressed with the child who pointed out the M & M could stand for Molly McIntire because I hadn't even thought of that when I purchased them!

For information on my other American Girl related programs go to these posts:

• Grace, 2015 Girl of the Year
• Samantha, from 1904
• Caroline, from 1812
• Kaya, from 1764
• Addy, from 1864
• Josefina, from 1824
• Isabelle, 2014 Girl of the Year
• Best Friends
• Summer Fun 
• Felicity, from 1774

If you ever have any questions about this or any programs I'd love to answer them! Feel free to comment here, reach me on Twitter (@MsKellyTweets), or email me at marrak at libcoop.net.

American Girl Club: Meet Felicity

For this month's American Girl Club, we learned about Felicity. She is one of the first American Girl's that came out, and I remember her fondly from my childhood. For this reason I try not think about how long it has been since she was released.

Here is a quick overview of what this monthly program usually looks like:

• One session of 12 kids were registered. 
• Age group: 3rd-6th graders. 
• Length: One hour
• The only cost involved is usually for snacks (about $10).

Felicity is a spunky and independent girl from 1774, and also seems to be a favorite among the kids at my library. Her stories focus on the period before the American Revolution and are set in Colonial Virginia.

As usual, we started out with a brief discussion and overview of Felicity's stories. It is always nice to talk about a time period the kids are relatively familiar with, so we had some good discussion. I brought up events like the Boston Tea Party, and themes such as patriotism and independence.

Once our 10-15 minute discussion was over, we moved on to our Felicity themed games. Our first game was found in the American Girls Party Book, and is called Frog in the Middle. It is a simple game that involves one child sitting on a chair while the other children walk around them. The child in the chair must try to tag the others without getting up out of the chair. I thought it was a good example of a simple parlor game that would have been played in Felicity's time period.

Image from openclipart.org

Our second game was my simplified take on badminton, which has been played in Europe for centuries. In the Colonial times it would have been called battledore and shuttlecock. Instead of rackets we used paper plates with Popsicle sticks taped to the back as handles. Instead of birdies/shuttlecocks we used balloons. We broke into partners and had to hit the balloon back and forth as many times as possible. The kids had a great time, although we did get two balloons temporarily stuck on our meeting room ceiling.

Image from openclipart.org

Our last activity was decorative paper cutting, also known as Papyrotamia. This was another activity I found in the American Girls Party Book. They provide templates in the book, but there seem to be other templates available online if you search paper cutting patterns. The craft seemed to work well from a difficulty level standpoint with this age group.

We closed out the program with a snack. I served apples, gingersnaps, scones and apple juice. The apples were chosen because in the books Felicity's mother uses them to illustrate the idea of beautiful things and acts remaining unseen. She cuts an apple and shows Felicity the shape that appears inside. Scones served as a tie to Britain, and gingersnaps are a cookie eaten during that time period. As a snack time/take home activity I provided a wordsearch I made about Felicity.

For information on my other American Girl related programs go to these posts:

• Grace, 2015 Girl of the Year
• Samantha, from 1904
• Caroline, from 1812
• Kaya, from 1764
• Addy, from 1864
• Josefina, from 1824
• Isabelle, 2014 Girl of the Year
• Best Friends
• Summer Fun 

So glad to be back doing this series and getting the school year programs up and running! Let me know if you have any questions or ideas to share.

American Girl Club: Summer Fun

For our last American Girl Club of the school year I decided to focus on summer. I figured this would be a fun way to close out the program until fall. Like the "Best Friends" theme, this theme also helps me to stretch a limited number of American Girl characters over the greatest time period possible. It also is a theme that allows a wide variety of options as far as activities, games and snacks.

Image courtesy of openclipart.org

 Overview:

• One session of 12 kids were registered. 
• Age group: 3rd-6th graders. 
• Length: One hour
• The only cost involved was for our snacks (less than $10)

What we did: 

• As usual we started out with a discussion about the American Girls characters. This time we focused on how they spent their summers. I tried to get the kids to think a little about how these character's summer plans were similar and different from their own. 
• For our first game we focused on Rebecca, our American Girl from 1914. In Rebecca's summer story, she went to Coney Island. I had to explain to the kids that this was a place with rides and games, and in fact not just a restaurant. I set up a simple carnival game for them to play. I stacked five cups on our meeting room table and had the kids try to knock them down with a ball. Once that was done we tried turning the cups over and throwing marbles into them.
• Next we played a little game of volleyball with my beach ball (purchased from the dollar store). I figured this was a fun summery game that they would enjoy. It was definitely a hit, because the kids didn't want to stop playing.
• Our final activity was a beach themed game of pictionary. I found a word list at The Game Gal and picked the words I thought would be easiest to draw. 

A little record of our Pictionary fun :)

• We ended the program with a craft related to Julie, from 1974. She is very into environmental issues, so we made bird feeders. To create them I we started with paper plates with the center cut out and holes punched on either side. The plates were prepared beforehand, and I left it to the kids to string yarn between the holes. Next time I make this feeders, I will do this step for them too, because some found it a little difficult. The plates were then covered on top with shortening (an allergy friendly alternative to peanut butter!) and sprinkled with bird seed. They can then be hung from the yarn. 

How it went:
This was a great end to my regular school year programming. Definitely a good way to usher in the summer before the craziness of summer reading hits! 

What we learned:
The attendees learned a little about different historical periods, in particular how the summer activities done in various time periods were often very similar to what they do in the summer. Through our craft, they learned a little about environmental issues. The games in general gave them valuable practice with teamwork.

For information on my other American Girl related programs go to these posts:

• Grace, 2015 Girl of the Year
• Samantha, from 1904
• Caroline, from 1812
• Kaya, from 1764
• Addy, from 1864
• Josefina, from 1824
• Isabelle, 2014 Girl of the Year
• Best Friends

American Girl Club: Best Friends

For this month's American Girl Club, I decided to focus on some of the lesser known characters in the American Girl universe: The American Girl's best friends. These characters mainly come from the original series of American Girls. For my purposes I classified this group as Elizabeth Cole, Nellie O'Malley, Ruthie Smithens, Emily Bennett, and Ivy Ling.

My display of books and handouts about each friend.

My main reason for coming up with this program is increasing the number of American Girl programs I am able to offer without repeating a character. This is important because this program has many repeat attendees, and many kids who stick with the program all through 3rd-6th grades. Even with putting the program on hold each summer, there are only so many available characters we can learn about.

Another benefit of focusing on the best friends is that it allows me to highlight different aspects of each original American Girl's story. For instance, when we learned about Julie (from 1974) I touched on her celebrating Chinese New Year with her friend Ivy. In this program I was able to focus a little more on Ivy and her Chinese heritage. This adds a little diversity to the program, which is especially important considering the fact that the rest of the American Girl line is pretty lacking in this area.

Overview:

• Two sessions of 12 kids were registered. 
• Age group: 3rd-6th graders.
• The only cost involved was for our snacks (about $10 for each group).

What we did:

• We had a discussion about the best friends. Each girl received a handout with information about each of the five best friend characters (taken from the character information websites linked above). I was pleasantly surprised with how much the kids remembered about these characters. 
• The kids took a quiz from the American Girl website: "What is your friendship style?". Unfortunately this game has been removed from their website.
• Our active games included British Bulldog (for Molly's British best friend Emily) and Catch the Dragon's Tail (in honor of Ivy)
• Our final game was writing a collaborative fairy tale, in honor of our fairy tale fan Ruthie. I wrote the first sentence and each child added a sentence on to that. I have to say I was quite impressed when they wrote in a trip to Hogwarts!
• To close out the program we made Chinese lanterns. We also enjoyed a snack of scones, fortune cookies Fritos (invented during the 30s, Ruthie's time period) and lemonade. I offered  a wordsearch for them to do during this time period as well.

How it went:
American Girl Club is always a hit at my library. This was the first time I have had to do two sessions because the demand was so high. The second session didn't fill up as much as I would have liked, but overall I think the attendees had a great time!

For information on my other American Girl related programs go to these posts:

• Grace, 2015 Girl of the Year
• Samantha, from 1904
• Caroline, from 1812
• Kaya, from 1764
• Addy, from 1864
• Josefina, from 1824
• Isabelle, 2014 Girl of the Year

American Girl Club: Meet Grace

For this month's Thrive Thursday bloghop, I figured I would share a new post about one of the most popular programs at my library, our American Girl Club.

Every year, American Girl releases a new "Girl of the Year". The "Girl of the Year" has stories set in present day, and is only available for one year. This is kind of a good news/bad news situation for my library's American Girl Club. The good news is there is a new American Girl to focus on, which always seems to excite the kids that attend. The bad news is coming up with new activities can be difficult, because there is no historical time period to fall back on. I kind of have to pick a theme or two from the girl's stories and run with it.

The theme for this year's "Girl of the Year", Grace Thomas, turned out to be Paris, France. This worked out particularly well because I was able to pull from the ideas I compiled when our summer reading theme was "One World, Many Stories".

Image from openclipart.org

Here is what we did when we learned about Grace:

We started out discussing Grace, her trip to France and love of baking. The girls were pretty familiar with the stories, which is always a good thing. I asked questions about the good and bad aspects of travel, and talked about how Grace and her friends want to start a business. We followed up with the "Which Cupcake Are You" personality quiz from American Girl's Grace Event Kit. Unfortunately this quiz is no longer available on their website.

Next we played a game called "The Beret".  It basically involves breaking the kids into two groups and assigning numbers to each. There are two people assigned to each number. Each child must try to be the first to grab a beret from the center of the room when I call their number. The kids got pretty active with this one and seemed to really enjoy it.

Our third and final group activity was trying to make the Eiffel Tower out of marshmallows and toothpicks. I gave each table a pack of marshmallows, a box of toothpicks and a picture of the Eiffel Tower and told them to see what they could come up with.

Here are some of the results:

Even the dolls ended up in a sugar coma.

We closed out the program by having a snack of French bread, macaroon cookies, sugar cookies and grape juice. While eating their snack the kids could work on an American Girl coloring page, or do a wordsearch about Grace. Unfortunately, these resources were also later removed from the American Girl website.

One of my favorite things about this program was the fact that it exposed the kids to the culture of a new country. The ideas would definitely work well for any France themed programming you may be planning. They would also be great to include for any programs held when Grace's new book comes out in May.

For information on other recent American Girl related programs go to these posts:

• Samantha, from 1904
• Caroline, from 1812
• Kaya, from 1764
• Addy, from 1864
• Josefina, from 1824
• Isabelle, 2014 Girl of the Year

For more great school age program ideas head on over to this month's Thrive Thursday roundup. It is hosted by Carol Simon Levin at Program Palooza You can also learn more about Thrive Thursday at the Thrive Thursday blog, or check out Thrive Thursday on Pinterest and Facebook!

American Girl Club: Meet Samantha

Our American Girl Club met again this January, and this time we learned about Samantha. Samantha is one of the original four American Girls and her stories are set in 1904. She was one of my favorites as a kid and remains among the most popular American Girl dolls. I personally like the focus Samantha's stories put on equal rights, as a big part of Samantha's narrative involves fair labor conditions and women's suffrage.

We started out with a short discussion of Samantha's stories. We had some good sharing from kids who had read Samantha's books, which always makes things go more smoothly.

It is hard to come up with an active game to fit Samantha's time period because for the most part it seems very prim and proper. To get the kids up and moving I included two activities I thought fit: a note passing game and a relay race.

Samantha and her friend pass notes in school by wrapping them around a pencil and sliding them from one pencil to another. I had the kids practice this as a group, but it could also be done in pairs or as an individual center activity. I got the idea for this game from the Samantha Event Kit, which has unfortunately been removed from the American Girl website.

Because Samantha's social standing and time period involved a lot of etiquette training, our next activity was meant to demonstrate the idea of "proper" posture. We had a mini relay race that involved walking with books on our heads. In the past I've combined this kind of race with a short curtsey practice, but decided to skip that part this time.

I found the inspiration for our final game here. I modified the game "Please I've Come to Learn the Trade" by turning it into a game of what I called "Job Charades". I wrote jobs on slips of paper for each attendee to pick and act out for the others. My favorite was "rock star". This was a fun game and seemed to be the hit of this program.

We ended the program by making "calling cards" out of pieces of tagboard. The concept of having to leave a card for someone if they weren't home when you visited seemed to be a little hard for the kids to understand. They still seemed to enjoy decorating their cards.

While they decorated they had a snack of cucumber sandwiches and ginger snaps, both foods mentioned in Samantha's stories. These snacks were the only thing I spent money on for this program and cost less than $10.

For information on other recent American Girl related programs go to these posts:

• Caroline, from 1812
• Kaya, from 1764
• Addy, from 1864
• Josefina, from 1824
• Isabelle, 2014 Girl of the Year

Our next American Girl Club will focus on Grace, the Girl of the Year for 2015. Any suggestions for games or activities would be greatly appreciated!

American Girl Club: Meet Caroline

This month our American Girl Club learned about Caroline, an American Girl from 1812. As usual we started out discussing Caroline and her stories. The big focus of Caroline's stories is, of course, the War of 1812. I had to do a lot of explaining about this for several reasons: 1) The group of 3rd-6th graders that attended skewed a little younger this time. 2) Caroline is still a relatively new American Girl character. She was introduced in 2012. 3) The War of 1812 doesn't appear to get a lot of attention in schools. The kids were familiar with the American Revolution so I tried to build on that.

Here is our table with Caroline books and handouts.

After our discussion we took a quiz to determine which character in Caroline's stories we are most like. I made this quiz two years ago when Caroline first came out, based on a quiz on the American Girl website. The overall consensus was that most of us were like Caroline, which of course made all the attendees happy!

Because Caroline loves to sail, next we played a nautical version of Simon Says called Ship's Captain. I found it among the playground games listed on Games Kids Play. I highlighted the commands I thought would be easiest for the kids to learn and had each "captain" take turns picking from them. The obvious favorite was "SHARK!".

Next we made ships based on a template found on the American Girl website. This template has unfortunately been removed from their website. After coloring the ships we raced them by blowing on them. This also turned into a teachable history moment: "You know back then ships didn't have engines and could only move by wind power."

As usual we ended the program with snacks. I chose gingerbread cookies and cider because Caroline eats both in the books. Baby carrots were also included as a healthy addition to snacktime, because Caroline and her uncle's family rely on the vegetables grown in their garden.

Here are some pictures of the kids' boats and dolls. The dolls are a totally optional thing, but the kids seem to love bringing them:

The next girl our American Girl Club is focusing on will by Julie, from 1974. Be prepared for some groovy fun!

American Girl Club: Meet Kaya

In case you've forgotten, at my library we have a monthly American Girl Club program for Grades 3-6. We pick a different girl each month, and spend time learning about her time period with discussion, games, crafts and snacks. The first girl we are learning about this school year is Kaya, a Nez Perce girl from 1764. As usual, our special guest was the library's Kaya doll.

I kept this program pretty simple because I knew attendance would be relatively low this month as people get into the routine of the new school year. The only money I spent was the $10 I spent on snacks.

We started out talking about Kaya and her stories. This was relatively brief because none of the attendees had read the books.

After that I wanted to make sure to get the kids moving, so we did a variety of animal themed races. These included racing as crabs, bears and frogs. I thought this was a good connection because respect for animals is an important part of Kaya's culture. I found the inspiration for these races here.

I saw on several sites that Nez Perce had a game where they would throw pinecones through a hoop. I adapted this and made a target on the ground for the kids to throw pinecones at. The pinecones were a donation from one of our clerks.

Our next game was found in American Girl's Kaya Event Kit (which is sadly no longer available on the American Girl website). It is called "Fur or Feathers". Each person pulls the name of an animal and the others must guess their animal using yes or no questions. I added a charades component to make things a little easier. Major bonus points to the girl who acted out "porcupine"!

We ended the program with a craft and snack. The craft I used was the Rosette craft in the Event Kit. For snacks we had sunflower seeds, gummy fruit snacks, goldfish and flavored water. The seeds and water were both things Kaya would have ate. The fruit snacks and goldfish were eaiser, more kid friendly versions of the same thing.

So glad to be back to doing this program! I look forward to updating you on American Girl Club throughout the year. Next month we will be learning about Caroline, an American Girl from 1812.

American Girl Club: Meet Addy

At my American Girl Club program we learn about a different American Girl each month. We talk about the character's books and play games and activities related to that time period. This month we focused on Addy Walker, an American Girl character from 1864.

All set up to learn about Addy.

Addy was born a slave, which provided a lot discussion among the kids at the beginning of the program. We talked about her escape to freedom and a little about the Underground Railroad. At least a few of the kids had already read Addy's stories, so they were able to help me fill in other details specific to Addy's stories.

The first game we played was called Ribbon's End. It is featured in the "American Girls Party Book", a wonderful resource that I believe is currently out of print. The basic idea of this game is that the kids form a human ribbon (conga-line style) and the odd person out must catch the end of the ribbon. This was harder than it seemed, as our ribbon kept breaking. I think most of the kids enjoyed it anyhow.

After that I taught them a clapping game I found on the American Girl website (unfortunately this resource and event kit are no longer available on the American Girl website). This was a simple activity so I didn't spend too much time on it.

Our final game was called "Annie Over". The basic idea of the game is that you throw the ball to the other team and if they catch it, the teams switch sides. During switching sides it becomes somewhat like dodgeball, trying to get somebody from the other team out. I think this game was most girl's favorite part of this program.

Finally, we ended with a craft and snack. As a craft, we designed our own money (just like the Confederacy did during the Civil War). For snacks we had jellybeans, cornbread muffins and ice cream shop cookies. Jellybeans tied into the theme because they rose to popularity during the Civil War. The ice cream shop cookies fit because Addy faces discrimination at an ice cream shop.

Our yummy Addy themed snacks. 

At the end of the program each girl got a bookmark and an Addy themed wordsearch to take home. The bookmarks came from a leftover supply of American Girl products ordered before I started here.

Next month's American Girls will be Cecile and Marie Grace (girls from 1853 New Orleans). If you have any great New Orleans or Mardi Gras themed activities for kids I would love to hear them :)

American Girl Club: Meet Josefina

For anybody unfamiliar with this monthly program at my library here is a brief explanation: Every month we learn about a different American Girl character. It is geared towards 3rd-6th grade and includes a short discussion, followed by games, crafts and a snack. It is probably the most popular program I do for school age kids.

At this month's American Girl Club we learned about Josefina, a New Mexican girl from 1824. The timing worked out perfectly, because the day before this program happened to be the character's birthday. If Josefina were a real person, and alive today she would have turned 199 years old.

All ready to talk about Josefina.

Our guest of honor, Josefina.

We started out as usual with a little discussion about Josefina and her stories. The kids remembered some of the biggest things from Josefina's books, which is always a plus. For instance, they remembered that Josefina's stories take place after her mother has died. We talked about traditions and how they help Josefina's family remember her mother. I tried to help them connect this to their own family traditions.

After a brief discussion about Josefina and her time period, we moved on to our games. I always use games from the time period of the girl we are learning about, and found two great ones for this event.

The first game we played is referred to in the "American Girl Club Party Book" as "The Rainbow".  To the kids I explained it as color tag. "It" yells a color and has to tag those wearing it. The kids were pretty familiar with this one, so it provided a nice connection from past to present.

Next we played "The Blind Hen", which I found here. I compared it to Marco Polo, and the girls got it right away. Our final group activity was a Spanish matching game, which I found in the online Josefina Event Kit (sadly no longer available through the American Girl website).

We ended our program by decorating woven blanket bookmarks. The template for the bookmarks was also found with the Josefina Event Kit materials. Our snack for the evening was Spanish cookies, chips and salsa.

We have extra paperback copies of some of the American Girl books from when this program was run in a more traditional "book club" format, so each girl got a Josefina book to take home. They also got a bookmark. I can't do provide these for every American Girl Club (we are using up the books and bookmarks we already have) but I definitely think it adds something to the program when I can.

Josefina books and bookmarks

Looking forward to updating you all about next month's American Girl Club! We will be learning about Addy, from 1864. Let me know if you have questions about this program or any of my others :)

American Girl Club: Meet Isabelle

For my first post on this new blog, I will share a little bit about our most popular school age kid's program: American Girl Club. The basic idea of the program is that we learn about a different American Girl each month during the school year. It is geared towards 3rd-6th graders. It is one of the few programs where I have to be pretty strict about the age limit, mainly because it fills up so fast.

The girls often bring their dolls, but it is definitely not required. The dolls usually end up sitting to the side and watching the rest of the festivities.

We start each meeting by talking about the girl's time period and books. I always ask who has read the books, and what they know about the time period. Reading the books is not a requirement by any means, but I usually have a least one girl who has.

At this month's we talked about the Girl of the Year, Isabelle, who is from 2014, so this part was a little shorter than usual. For the historical girls, I will usually fill in historical events and context. I try to keep it as fun as possible. For instance, I might throw out ideas of few objects or inventions and ask if they existed in that time period.

After that brief discussion, we move on to the fun and games. Isabelle is a dancer, so that meant I had the girls doing several dance themed games. I always try to include at least one active game in my school age programs, to get the kids up and moving, so this tie in worked well.

We played "Pass the Dance" first. In this game, one girl game up with a dance move, which the next girl had to remember. She would then add her own move. It continued in succession with each girl adding her own move while remembering the moves that came before.

Our second game was a simple freeze dance game. I chose two girls to be the "dancemasters", and they were in charge of stopping the music and catching the girls that didn't "freeze" fast enough. I think the girl's favorite part of this game was that I had them dancing to the "Hamster Dance" song.

The highlight of this program was creating our own fashion designs out of aluminum foil. In addition to being a dancer, Isabelle wants to be a fashion designer, so this tied in perfectly.

Here is one of my favorite designs the girls came up with:

As always, we ended with a craft and snack. With the historical girls, I try to come up with snacks from their time period, or food mentioned in their books, but this time I got off easy.We ate cookies, chips and pink lemonade. I figured a ballet dance themed program needed something pink :)

For our craft I printed out some blank tutu and dress patterns for them to color and design. As a take home I printed out some word searches and activities from the American Girl website. For many of the dolls this site has teaching guides, which have come in handy many times for this program.

When it comes to planning, I've also used the "American Girls Party Book" and the "American Girl Club Handbook". They have game ideas, recipes and a lot of other great information about several of the earliest American Girl characters. Both books are both older, but still seem to be available on Amazon.

Feel free to ask questions about this program, or borrow these ideas for your own use :)