Pack a Picnic.
Kids love getting involved, so harness that enthusiasm to create a special picnic. Baking cookies or muffins, making sandwiches, or making lemonade, not to mention helping to clean up afterwards are fun activities that will give them ownership of their food and make it more appealing.
Dance with Them.
Preschoolers love dancing, so put on your favourite music (bonus if you still have a record player because they’ll be fascinated by the old technology) and show them your best moves.
Revive a Forgotten Craft.
If there’s an activity you used to love when you were a child, why not have a go at teaching it to them. From flower-pressing to stamp collecting, you may just discover a new convert.
Share Your Passion.
Whether it’s gardening, fishing, crosswords or riding a unicycle while juggling, show your grandchildren what you love doing and get them involved. It may turn out to be a way to maintain the relationship once they get older and start spending more time doing activities outside the family.
Look through your Photograph Album.
If you have pictures of their mom or dad, or even yourself, at the same age as your grandchild, they will be fascinated to see what they looked like and how they dressed. Talk about what life was like back then.
Dress Up.
Play dress ups with your grandkids. Let them pick outfits for themselves and you. If you are feeling particularly brave, you can even let them “help” you put on make-up.
Write a Story.
Make a book. Grab some paper and crayons and start crafting a tale. If they’re young, they can dictate the words to you as you write them down, and then they can create the pictures to match.
Dig Out Those Old Toys.
If you have hung on to yours or your children’s old toys and they are not too fragile, there’s still plenty of play left in them. Just be mindful of the fact that safety standards have changed a lot since then, and supervise their play. Beware of potential choking hazards. Lead-based paint was once commonly used on toys, so it’s probably best to keep old toy cars or painted wooden toys out of reach.
Write a Letter.
Help your grandchildren write a letter to someone, show them how to address the envelope, buy and stick on a stamp and walk it to the post box.