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Kids these days are constantly looking at screens. Whether it’s watching hours upon hours of television or having their eyes glued to their cell phones, they hardly look up to truly experience the world around them. When you get the opportunity to spend time with your grandchildren, help them break away from their screens by participating in fun activities that stimulate the mind and imagination.
Explore Your Family Tree
As a grandparent, you are a living link to your family’s past. The stories and facts you hold are invaluable to your grandchildren. Break out the photo albums and memorabilia and teach them about where they are from and how far your family has come. Things such as jewelry, military goods, baby books, and quilts all have a story to tell, as well.
Or if you want to go even further into the familial history, use a genealogy website to explore your roots. These helpful resources can sort through thousands of public records to find roots and branches even you didn’t know about. You can spend time together gathering information, and your grandchildren will love learning about where they come from and treasure the memories you share for the rest of their lives.
Pass Down a Card Game
Every family has a card game they turn to on holidays, rainy days, and just plain moments of leisure. Your grandchildren rely on you to teach them the rules of these games to keep the tradition alive. Whether you love Hearts, Gin rummy, Spades, Poker or Bridge, break out the deck and show your grandkids how it’s done! Not only will they have fun, but playing cards is a great way to teach them about strategy and critical thinking — lifelong skills that will help them get ahead. Plus, most games help them practice math applications like statistics and probability without them even knowing they are learning!
Conduct an Experiment
Tap into your inner Einstein and entertain your grandkids with a fun science experiment! There are tons of fun ones you can find online. We like the rainbow magic milk science experiment, ourselves. With some household objects, whole milk, dish soap, and food dyes, you and your grandkids can create swirly magic color explosions. Make sure the kids understand what is happening in the experiment by explaining to them how the molecules that make up the dish soap interact with the fat molecules found in the whole milk to create the chemical reaction. They’ll think you’re extra awesome for having those facts in your back pocket.
Backyard Swing Set
If you have the space in your backyard, installing a swing set or jungle gym is a great way to encourage your grandchildren to get some fresh air and exercise while you monitor them from a safe distance. They can run, jump, crawl, slide, and swing all they want while burning off excess energy and wearing themselves out. Their parents will definitely thank you when they come and pick up a couple of exhausted young ones that are more than happy to go to bed early that night. Before purchasing a swing set or playground equipment, be sure to check out some online reviews.
Nothing puts a damper on the day quite like a trip to the emergency room, so you’ll want to take precautions before your grandchildren arrive, regardless of your planned activities. Make a point to kid-proof the house by putting up any firearms, medications or other hazardous items. If you’ve got extra little people over, you’ll want to make sure you tuck away breakable items or anything they might put into their mouths.
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A chance to spend time with your grandchildren is an opportunity for you to show them how to have fun without spending the whole day staring at a screen. Look for any way you can to interact with one another without having a TV, phone or tablet in the mix. You’ll have a better chance at bonding with one another and creating memories for a lifetime.
Guest post by Denise Long of GrandMothering