American Girl Club - Kit - Weeks 1 - 6

For Kit I am just going to do one post for all 6 weeks.  Not because we didn't have an amazing time with Kit, but because I just waited toooooooo long to post about it.  We met for Kit  3 weeks in November and 3 weeks in January.  (We took December off.) So it's been 5 months since the first time we met for Kit and my memory is just failing me when it comes to the details.

So here it goes...

KIT WEEK 1

Theme:

The Depression hits Kit's house.  Kit's dad loses his job.  Mom starts a boarding house

Craft:

Felt Sport Banner - I pre-cut white felt into the shape of a sports banner. (About 8"X20")  Then I had a tons of felt and felt stickers for the girls to decorate them with.  They could make them for a sport team or just to decorate their rooms. (Most ended up being very pink and girlie!  LOL)

Paper Suitcase - In week 1 of Kit we talked about what it would be like to live during the depression and lose your home.  We talked about how many people would run into a boarding home and the whole families would move into one room.  So I made up a little template for the girls to make a little suitcase.  Then I had pages inside for them to fill in what they would have taken with them.  There are 2 printables.  You will find them HERE and HERE. 

Snack:

Sponge Cake and Iced Tea

During Book Discussion Time:

Have chunks of ice for the girls to lick.  Talk about what an icebox is as opposed to a refrigerator.

Other Ideas:

• Borrow an old typewriter if you can and let the girls experience typing on it. (To see old typewriter we borrowed CLICK HERE.
• Split the girls up into groups and have them work on publishing their own newspaper about the depression and the 1920's.
• Talk about the song "Pack up your trouble in an Old Kit Bag." talk ab out how the meaning of words change over time.
• Read excerpt from Robin Hood and His Adventures.

KIT WEEK 2

Theme:

Thanksgiving during the Depression.

Craft:

Make a cornucopia using torn magazine pages to make a mosaic.

Do geography sheets on Ohio. CLICK HERE.

Snack:

Oatmeal with a sliced of canned peach on top.

Ideas:

Book discussion and read from In Kit's World book.

KIT WEEK 3

Theme:

Christmas during the Depression

Craft:

Scottie Dog Hair Clips

To make these the girls traced 2 Scottie dogs onto black felt with white chalk.  They they cut them out.  Then they added a bead eye to the top one and cut to vertical slits in the back one to slide the clip barrette through.  Then they used black thread to sew them together around the edge.  Then they added a red bow.

Learned how to finger knit

The girls LOVED this!  For weeks everywhere I went I saw girls wearing their creations! The directions are HERE.

Snack:

Popcorn and Oranges in a Christmas stocking.  (With a pencil too.  I read this was typical of what a lucky child would have gotten on Christmas morning.)

Ideas:

Have girls sing Christmas Carols
Read about Amelia Earhart

KIT WEEK 4

Theme:

Penny Pincher Birthday Party!

Craft:

Paper Lanterns, newspaper hats and flower necklaces

 

For the necklaces the girl took a little stack of 3 pieces of tissue paper and pinched it up into a flower.  Then they tied them on their piece of yarn to make a necklace. For the paper hats they folded them with these instructions.  CLICK HERE. HERE is how we made our paper lanterns.

Food:

Mock Apple Pie, tea sandwiches, Depression Cake

Other:

Read about William Shakespeare

Kit Week 5

Theme:

Kit learns about the Hobo lifestyle.

Craft:

SOCK MONKEYS! - I will do a separate post just on making these! FUN, FUN, FUN!

Food:

Hobo meal...boiled potatoes, beans, slice of bread

Ideas:

Learn the Texas Two Step
Decode a Hobo Code

Kit Week 6

Theme:

Kit learns to have hope even during hard times.

Craft:

Make mittens

For these I had the girls trace around their hands on polar fleece and then they sewed these on the machine.  We had several machines.  They were VERY excited to use the machine since all the sewing to this point has been by hand.  :^)

Snack:

Soup Kitchen (Vegetable) Soup and a slice homemade bread

Ideas:

Read about the start of WWII
Read about News Correspondent
Play checkers and dominos

So there you have Kit!