American Girl class: Kaya#2- week 1

We had our first American Girl class of the fall this week, and it was great! I restarted my cycle of the American Girls with Kaya, the first AG in the timeline, from 1764, a Native American girl. I had taught Kaya 2 1/2 years ago, and it was nice to have all the resources to begin the class! 

I was kinda nervous about the class, since I changed the first craft (from my original plan) a few days before. I decided not to make the totem pole craft which I had done a few years ago. After looking at Hobby Lobby, I decided to make leather beaded bracelets instead. My hubby went shopping in the morning before class for me and he ALSO made snack! What a great Daddy/ Hubby he is to us, to give time on his day off to help!

 Here he is making the Cranberry Fritters, which were very yummy! You can find the recipe for them here.

 I am so thankful for the moms that help in my class!

After we discussed Meet Kaya and I asked questions, we began our bracelet craft. The leather bracelet kit came with a word embosser, which embossed a word (girls chose from six words-- love, laugh, believe, inspire and pray)  on the leather when pounded with a hammer. We found this worked well with damp leather, so we dipped the piece into a cup of water first.

 After they got their leather rectangle stamped, they took it back to the table and tied to knots to keep the leather straps on the rectangle. (We cut the 8" pieces in half first-- should have been longer than 8"!)
Then the girls strung six brown and tan beads onto the bracelet and we tied it to their wrist (loosely so they can take it off later.)

 Here are the cranberry fritters up close (see recipe above in the link) They were enjoyed by most of the girls, they were happy to get two! (A few girls tried and didn't like them. We were supposed to put powdered sugar on them, but we had NONE at home. Oops-- they were still good, though!)

 Our second craft was to make dreamcatchers. I found the directions to make them here. While the girls were working on stringing their yarn in the holes, I read a few paragraphs of info about them that I found here.

 I was disappointed that we ran out of time in the first class to put all of the beads and feathers on the bottom. I hope the girls were able to finish them at home, like my daughter did! (age 6 1/2)

 The second class working on their bracelets with another great Mom helper!

 Silly girl putting her dream catcher cut plate on her face!

 2:00 class working on their dream catchers... I kept remarking how much these girls grew over the summer! It was fun to see them again for class. Some of the girls had a harder time tying those knots in the white yarn than others...

 This older girl finished her dream catcher first, so I got her pic and she helped the younger girls with theirs too. She's not been in my class before, but I will enjoy having her! Also, she is wearing the orange fun foam leaf nametag that I made before class. At our sign-up day for the class, I had the moms and girls choose a Native American Name from this list. (Actually I couldn't find my original list online anymore, so I found a similar list). The girls liked having another name! I wrote the native name on the front, with the meaning, and their name small on the back. I attached beads onto a ribbon on one corner of the name tag and a safety pin.

Here is a closeup of my bracelet that I made, you can see the embossed word 'Love' on the leather. There are beads on the other side. I love it! It was a fun class discussing Meet Kaya, making (simplified) Native American crafts and I am looking forward to discussing book 2 next week!


Genesis 24:7
“The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there. (Jacob, son of Isaac)


Isaiah 13:14
Like a hunted gazelle, like sheep without a shepherd, they will all return to their own people, they will flee to their native land.

Acts 2:8
Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?  (The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost)