Just Mom and Me bookAmerican Girl, the makers of those impossibly expensive dolls, has a publishing arm that offers books aimed at girls 7-8 years old and older. In general, they get great reviews at Amazon. I’ve just discovered them myself and my first purchase was Just Mom and Me: The Tear-out, Punch-out, Fill-out Book of Fun for Girls and Their Moms. I got for Mika (my soon-to-be 8 yo) for Xmas, and we’ve both loved it.
The book is full of activities for moms and daughters. It has quizzes that help to get to know each other better and ideas for things to do together (review a restaurant, have a movie night complete with popcorn recipe, make a calendar with pictures of the you together). Nothing is terribly original, but they are not things that either of us would have necessarily thought out on our own. Plus somehow it’s more interesting for Mika if she gets an idea for something to do together from the book.
What I most like about the book is that it just encourages me to do things with her.
The main plus and minus of the book is that these are activities for a mom to do alone with her daughter. This is great for one-on-one bonding time, but one-on-one bonding time is not necessarily easy to find when you have another kid around – specially one that is jealous of the book. But the book is really not geared to 5-year-olds. I wish there was one that was.
I’m also thinking of getting her Tear Up This Book!: The Sticker, Stencil, Stationery, Games, Crafts, Doodle, And Journal Book For Girls! , but I may wait until we have done more of the activities in the Just Mom and Me book.