Have you thought about starting an American Girl Book Club for your daughters? In addition to having a great time, your girls can improve their literature analyzing skills and learn some American history to boot. Here are some helps to get you started.
Before you start, decide how your club will work.
How often will you meet?
We chose to meet once a month since there are homeschool activities aplenty in this area. Since we were meeting monthly, we read the entire book before meeting. If you decide to meet weekly, you could always read one chapter at a time.
Choose a format.
Will you go through one character at a time or choose a different one each time?
Will you meet at the same home each time or share hostess duties?
Will the kids or a mom lead the discussion?
Will you make time for other activities?
Now, all you have to do is invite friends!
Fun Ideas for Your Meetings:
Have a snack that goes with the story you’re currently reading:
Ginger Cookies while reading Kirsten’s stories.
Cream Cheese and Walnut sandwiches for Samantha.
Kit’s Checkerboard sandwiches.
Crafts and activities that go with your book:
Make butter while reading Kirsten.
Make a quilt like Addy’s
Make a purse or blanket for your dolls.
Plan an Outreach:
Collect items for soldiers like Molly and her friends did.
Send blankets to an orphanage or bring coats to a group home like Samantha.
Go on a Fun Outing at the end of a season:
If you live near one of the American Girl Place stores, plan a field trip. We’ve gone to the Los Angeles store with our girls, and it is an experience you won’t soon forget! Just be sure you’ve saved up birthday and Christmas money for a year before you walk in the door 😉
Go on a picnic with your dolls.
Have a tea party with your dolls.
Go skating. Maybe leave the dolls home for this one.
Supplemental Resources
Each character in the American Girls series has supplemental books. There are mysteries, history books, craft books, cook books, activity books, and more. There are even a movies starring Kit, Molly, Samantha, and Felicity.
Disclosure: No money changed hands for the sake of this post. I was not asked to write this by American Girl. They do a fine job of advertising all by themselves, thank you very much. Just wanted to share some fun ideas for you all!
Which American Girl doll is your favorite?
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Krysten T says
I collected the American Girl dolls for 7 years. I have four dolls and a ton of other dresses and accessories. My favorite is Samantha.
Jennifer @ Milk & Honey Mommy says
I have been enjoying your series. Thanks for the great suggestion. We are readers over here and now that my daughter has a good comfort reading books by herself, I like the idea of a book club.
Your disclosure made me laugh. I think you’re covered.
LisaRose says
I was just wondering as we have no “American Girls” on this side of the world what ages they are aimed at? Do you try and keep the girls around the same age in the club? They are certainly stunning dolls and my visa card is sort of pleased they aren’t sold here … lol
Homegrown Mom says
They are generally geared towards girls 8-12, but most 6 year olds I know enjoy them. As far as ages, that’s different for everyone. Mixed ages seems to work fine for something like this that doesn’t get very deep 🙂
Heather says
I’m teaching a second semester of a “Survey of the American Girls” class at our homeschool co-op. I love it!
We’ve also been doing Portraits of American Girlhood, but I will have to think about a book club…
Great posts!
Heather
(fellow blog hopper at Blog, She Wrote)
Homegrown Mom says
Hi Heather, I am very interested in Portraits… I need to get it!
Lisa says
Ah, this is perfect!!! I had already decided to do American history with my girl next year using the books as a starting off point for unit studies. But I love this idea even better! I already sent the idea out to our local association and have 6 girls (including mine) signed up, and I only sent it a few hour ago. I am SO excited! I hope I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew though, lol! Thanks for the inspiration!
Homegrown Mom says
No way, that is awesome! And you can always ask other moms for help! 🙂
Lisa says
As far as my favorite-it is so hard to narrow it down. We are partial to Felicity around here, as far as historical dolls go. My daughter has Felicity and Elizabeth (her friend), Samantha and Lanie (last year’s doll of the year). We haven’t bought any of them-we make her save up for them. She is currently saving up for Kanani, this year’s Doll of the Year, from Hawaii.
Merrilee says
My daughter (now 7) was in an American Girl club last school year. She loved it & had a lot of fun. They read the whole series of Kaya books, went horeback riding, to the planetarium, and to Tillamook Village (an recreated Indian village in the Seattle area). We moved this summer & are really missing it for her this year. I have toyed with organizing one, but just started a Girl Scout Daisy troop for my 5 year old.
As for ages, she just turned 6 when it started and there were girls that were 8 turning 9 in the group. We read the books to her, which she enjoyed.
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