The Doll's Storybook

Stories about dolls who live in our world. Although these stories are suitable for children, they should check with their parents before reading and always be careful online. Readers are invited to donate to a charity supporting pediatric cancer treatment and research. Images shown are taken by the author or from a free image website with attribution and appreciation. The author has no connection with Götz Puppenmanufaktur, but gives them credit for the amazing dolls they produce.

Showing posts with label frisbee. Show all posts

Friday, January 17, 2025

Ups and Downs

Billy saw that it was a nice day. He wanted to practice throwing his frisbee, but he couldn't do it alone. That would be no fun. He went looking for someone to play with him.

"Who would like to go to the trail and throw the frisbee around," he asked the other dolls.

"I will," said Mariah.
"I will," said Mandy.
Both dolls raised their hands, so Billy would know they wanted to come.

The three dolls walked to the trail and looked for a wide space where they could throw the frisbee without hitting anything.

They played for a while with the frisbee. They did a lot of throwing, running and catching.

Then Billy noticed something. "What are all these things?" he asked pointing to the trail.

The other dolls looked where Billy was pointing. There were lots of prickly looking things lying all over the ground.

"Those are pine cones," Mandy said. "They hold the seeds for the pine trees and keep them safe until it's time for them to grow."

"Why are they on the ground?" asked Mariah, looking at the pine cones.

"Well," Mandy began, "they need to be on the ground so the seeds can have dirt to grow in."
"But how did they get there?" Billy wanted to know. "Who put them there?"
"Let's sit down," Mandy suggested. "This will take a while to explain, and we can't talk while we're throwing the frisbee."
The dolls sat down on a bench next to the trail. Before she said anything, Mandy looked off far away, as if she might be remembering something.

"Do you remember when you left the factory in your box?" Mandy asked. She was remembering how she stood in her box in the factory.

"I remember," Mariah said. "I was wondering what my new home would be like."

"I remember, too," said Billy, "but I don't want to think about it, because they dressed me in girl's clothes."

The two girls nodded, because they remembered when Billy came.
"They didn't know I was a boy." He said.
The girls nodded again.
"Well, we got that straightened out," Mandy reminded him. "The point I was trying to make about that time is that the factory is on the other side of the earth. Your box didn't fly off into space. It stayed right where someone put it, unless it got knocked over."

"Something called gravity (GRA-veh-tee) held our boxes down," Mandy explained, "even though we were on the other side of the earth. Gravity is what holds us down, so we don't float away. It holds everything to the earth. No matter where you are, gravity will keep you from floating away."
"What does that have to do with pine cones?" Mariah asked.

"Gravity," Mandy explained, "is how the pine cones got to the ground. They started out in the trees, you see," she went on. "The tree grows pine cones to protect the seeds until the seeds are ready and it's warm enough for new trees to grow." Mandy got up and climbed down from the bench. "Let's go sit on that log," she suggested. "I think we can see the trees better from there.
The dolls went to the big log Mandy pointed to. They climbed up and sat on it.

"I thought cones were to put ice cream in," Billy said after the dolls were settled on the log.
Mandy tried to roll her eyes, but that isn't easy because her eyes don't move. "That's a different kind of cone," she said. "They don't grow on trees."
"I thought the tree made pine cones to feed the squirrels," Mariah said, who had seen squirrels taking something out of the pinecones and eating it.

"They do feed the squirrels," Mandy agreed, "and the squirrels help by planting the seeds. They put them in the ground to save them for later, but they forget some of them. Those seeds can grow into trees."
"Gravity is how the cones got to the ground," Mandy went on. "You can see some of them still in the tree." She pointed up at the branches on the tree.

The dolls could see some pine cones still in the trees.

"The tree only holds the cones up there until it's time for the seeds to grow. Then it lets go," she explained.
"I've got it, I think!" Mariah cried. "Gravity is why the cones fall to the ground instead of just hanging around in the air or floating away, just like our boxes on the other side of the world didn't float away."

"That's right," Mandy agreed. "Unless something stops the cones, they land on the ground, like this one."

"What would stop them?" asked Billy.
"They could land on something else before they reach the ground," Mandy explained, "like the one in that bush." She showed them a pine cone that had landed on the branches of a bush.

"The cone will stay there unless the wind blows it away," Mandy said, "or something bumps into the branches. The branches are stronger than the cone is heavy, but they bend."

Mandy thought for a moment. "Gravity was discovered a long time ago by a man named Isaac Newton. There is a story that he was lying under an apple tree," she went on.

"Because it was an apple tree," Mandy continued, "it had apples instead of pine cones, and one of the apples fell and hit him on the head. Isaac Newton started thinking about what made the apple fall and figured out gravity."

"Look," Billy said, pointing. "I think someone nailed some boards onto the tree to make a ladder, so they could climb the tree. I guess they had to use nails, so gravity wouldn't make the boards fall to the ground."

Billy ran over to the tree and started to climb up it.

Billy's hat came loose from his head and fell off.
"Come down, Billy," Mandy called to him. "If you climb any higher, you may learn about gravity the hard way, and it's time to go home."
Billy came back down quickly. He wanted to get his hat before the wind blew it away. He picked it up and put it back onto his head.

"Too bad Jolena didn't come with us," said Billy as the dolls started walking home. "She wanted to know all about gravity, too."
"That's OK," Mariah said. "When we get home, you can explain it to her."
"Yes," agreed Mandy. "A good way to help you remember something is to explain it to someone else."

The dolls walked the rest of the way home in silence. Each doll thought about what they had seen and learned.
As they reached the house, Mariah said, "Mandy, I still don't know how gravity works. I mean, what makes gravity, and why does a balloon float?"

Mandy paused at the door. "For that," she said, "we need to talk about something called mass. It's complicated. Let's save it for another day. I need to figure out how to show you what mass is."

"I would like to know that, too," Billy said, "and there's something else I'm wondering about. How do seeds turn into trees?"

Maybe we can plant some seeds, so you can see for yourself," she told him. "Let's try some smaller plants, though, because it works the same way, and trees can take many years."

Later that evening, Mandy found herself at the computer, looking online at seeds for vegetables and flowers that grow quickly, and finding out how to explain mass to other dolls.

Cast--
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London

You can follow The Doll's Storybook here.

Do you have questions or comments for us? Would you like to order an autographed copy of one of our books? You can email us at thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz, Classic Kidz or Little Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or any organization that supports pediatric cancer research and treatment. We are not affiliated with St. Jude in any way other than these donations.

"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 1:00 PM Pacific Time.

Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook and More Classic Tales Untold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are available from BookBaby and other booksellers worldwide, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Author's page on Amazon.

Royalties (net proceeds) go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment. If you don't get free shipping elsewhere, buy from Book Baby. Half of the price goes to charity (specific information available upon request). Autographed copies of all three books are available from the author. (Multiple books to the same address have a discount on shipping.) To inquire, email thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

<a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/19832501/?claim=j3fj3mbb8kt">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Friday, September 6, 2019

The Last of Summer

The days are getting shorter, and the dolls know that it will soon be cold again. There are some games they would like to play while it's still warm outside.
"Let's go play outside," said Charlotte. Soon all the dolls were outside in the sunshine.

The first thing Charlotte and Billy did was to play catch with the tennis ball.

Jolena and Mariah decided to ride bicycles. They are happy to have a place to ride where there are no cars.

Later, Billy showed everyone how he had learned to ride a skateboard. He didn't do any fancy tricks, because he didn't have his helmet, and his knee and elbow pads. He just showed them how to balance and make the skateboard roll.

Each of the girls tried Billy's skateboard, while he gave them tips on keeping their balance. It was nice to have a place to use the skateboard where there were no cars. Billy thought it was fun to teach his sisters how to use the skateboard.

Some of the dolls climbed up to play on the backyard play set.
"Watch this!" Billy cried. "I can swing on the monkey rings like a circus act!" He began to climb up the other end of the play set.
The monkey rings are very high up. Billy was not wearing a helmet. I was not wearing elbow and knee pads.
"Be careful, Billy," Veronika cried. "It would be a lot of trouble to have to replace your head!"
Jolena, Mariah and Veronika watched anxiously.

Billy climbed the rope to get up to the monkey rings.

When he reached the monkey rings, he swung from the first ring to the second and hung upside-down from it. His hat fell down to the ground, but he didn't care. He was having fun. He did not fall. He did not break his head. We did not have to replace it.

After he was across to the girls, Billy climbed down and picked up his hat. The other dolls were so relieved that Billy was safe that they each went down the slide, yelling, "Wheeeee!"

Mandy went for a walk on the trail to enjoy the birds and animals. She saw some jaybirds and squirrels. The trail is a safe place where there are always plenty of real people around. Some of them seemed surprised to see a doll walking alone on the trail. Mandy didn't mind.

Mariah and Charlotte spent some time throwing the frisbee in the backyard. They can't throw it very far yet, but their form is good, and they thought it was fun.

While they were doing that, Jolena and Veronika sat in the chairs on the deck. As they sat there, some geese flew over, making honking noises. The big birds flew in a pattern that looked like a big V, with one bird in the front.

When Mandy came back, the dolls all played hide-and-seek together for a while. Each one had a turn being 'it' while the others hid. Each one had a turn counting to 100 before looking for the others.

"What should we do now?" Mariah asked while Mandy, Veronika and Charlotte went to pretend to use the bathroom.
"How about jump rope?" Jolena suggested.
"Or maybe we could play hopscotch," Mariah said.

"I thought jump rope and hopscotch were games for girls," Billy said.

"There are no games just for girls or just for boys," Jolena said. "If girls can play football, boys can play jump rope and hopscotch."

"Girls play football?" Billy asked.
"Some girls do," Mariah said. "It can be dangerous, like some other games," but boys and girls can do it. They just have to learn how to be careful."

"Then I want to learn jump rope and hopscotch," Billy said. "I'm the only boy, and it's more fun to play together than all alone."

When the other dolls came back outside, they all played jump rope. Billy learned how. He thought it was fun. He was glad boys can play jump rope.

Then they played hopscotch. They drew some squares on the pavement with sidewalk chalk. Then they wrote a number in each square. The girls explained the game to Billy. Billy decided that hopscotch is fun, too. He learned that he was good at it.

Soon it was suppertime, so the dolls all went into the house.
"While we pretend to eat supper," Veronika suggested to Mandy, "let's talk with the others about all the fun things we did today."

"Our mouths don't open when we talk," Mandy said, "and they don't open when we pretend to eat. We should be able to eat and talk at the same time."

So the dolls went into the dining room to pretend to eat supper and talk about all the fun things they had done during the day.

Can you remember all the things the dolls did without looking back at the story? See how many you can name. What do you like to do outdoors?

Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London

There are lots of ways to play hopscotch. Here are some suggestions, if you don't know how.