American Girl class: Kaya#2 Week 4

We had a fun American Girl class yesterday. After we discussed Kaya and Lone Dog (book 4 in Kaya series), we made two crafts. 

For the first craft, I printed the tepee page here. I gave one page to each girl, they colored the page and cut out the tepee. Then I gave them a piece of orange, brown or yellow construction paper (I was going to have them use brown kraft paper but I forgot it at home-- oops!). They crumpled the construction paper a few times, tore the edges to look like a buffalo hide and glued the tepee to it. Then they glued the construction paper to another piece of white or black construction paper. 

 We had maple popcorn balls for snack. The girls liked them, even though they were sticky! Here is the recipe:

Maple Popcorn Balls (This is an old Algonquian treat-- the original cracker jack.)

1/4 cup popping corn
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
1 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons butter

Pop corn according to package directions. Season with salt, if desired. 

Heat syrup and butter in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until temperature reaches 250 degrees on a candy thermometer or until a few drops form soft balls when dropped in cold water. 

Remove pan from heat and pour mixture over popcorn. When mixture is cool enough, (5-7 minutes) toss popcorn with syrup and mold into balls, and cool on a buttered baking sheets. Store cooled popcorn balls in an airtight container. Makes about 8.

I found the same recipe here: http://www.reciperewards.com/recipe/maple_popcorn_balls.html

After snack, we made a Native American pendant. You can find the directions here. 

 I gave each girl a 24" length of thin, black hemp cord. This was just about the right length-- if it were any shorter, it wouldn't fit over their heads. I bought about 15 yards of the cord and trimmed it before class. For the Native American designs, I found them on the web several years ago, but couldn't find them again. I used the printed designs I had and copied them on card stock. This page could work if you printed the images smaller. We reinforced the cardstock piece with another black or brown punched cardstock piece glued to the back. We punched a hole, strung the cord on it and they put it on! Easy craft, but they liked it! I told them they could cover it with clear packing tape or mod podge if they wanted it to last longer.

Love these girls showing their smiles and necklaces!

 The 2:00 class...

I am looking forward to the last two weeks of Kaya and then we'll begin Felicity!!
I hope the girls have a doll to bring to class next week, I have a fun craft for them...


Genesis 13:18
So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord.

Numbers 1:52
The Israelites are to set up their tents by divisions, each of them in their own camp under their standard.

Zechariah 9:16
The Lord their God will save his people on that day as a shepherd saves his flock. They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown.

2 Corinthians 5:1
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.