Monday Mumblings

Today is Monday and my hubby had a doctor's appointment, so I'm late getting this post done. Crackers has a list of things that she thinks it would be fun for you to do with your grandchildren. She doesn't have a grandma (except for me), but if she did, she would like to do some of these things.

     1. Read some of your favorite children's books with them. Let a grandchild pick a book, then curl up on the couch and read it together.

Crackers likes Anne of Green Gables.

      2. Have some good, old-fashioned fun. Play charades, board games, do a jigsaw puzzle or have a sing-along. Jacks and marbles are always favorites at our house. (We play jacks on the kitchen table so that gramma doesn't have to sit on the floor.)    

      3. Take walks with your grandchildren. Take along a tote bag and gather some interesting things that you find in nature, such as a special leaf, a pretty rock, a really big or really little pine cone, a cute acorn or a feather. When you get back home, make a "nature corner" box where you can keep these treasures and look at them again and again, remembering the fun you had finding them.

      4. Do you have something lying around that no longer works? A toaster, an old telephone, a watch or an old radio? Lay out an old sheet to catch all the pieces and sit in the middle with your grandchild. Give them a screw driver and let them take it apart, investigating all the pieces and parts, and then let them try to put it back together again! They could also use the pieces and parts to make a creative sculpture.

      5. Make a tool box for each child. Go to yard sales and thrift stores and find old tool boxes, metal or wood or plastic, and let them personalize them with their name and maybe some paint or stickers. Stock the tool boxes with some basic tools, like a hammer, a couple of screwdrivers, a pair of pliers and a measuring tape. You could use toy tools for little ones and real tools for older kids. Then help them find projects to work on around the house or for gifts.

      6. Make up silly stories together. Start the story with a silly sentence and then let the next person add another sentence, going around until everyone has added their bit to the story. If the story doesn't have an ending yet, go around again. Be sure to make it as silly as possible! You might like to write it down and make a copy for everyone.

     7. Write a group poem. Find something to write about - maybe a photograph or a painting. I've done this with paintings. Study the painting, do a little research about the artist, look at the use of color, line, texture, etc. Now everyone takes a small piece of paper and writes one sentence about how the painting make him or her feel. Or maybe about how the people in the artwork feel. Then you take all the sentences and arrange them into an order that makes some kind of sense. This poetry won't rhyme, but will be something called prose. You can get some really nice poetry doing this, and children can see the thought processes that happen during writing.

     8. Play "remember when....." with them. Talk about how things have changed since you were their age, or even how things are different from one place to another. Let them talk about how they do things like everyday chores, and then tell them how it was done when you were young. You could also "remember" things that have happened in their family, like a really great birthday party or the birth of a baby brother or sister. Get them to talk about how they felt, so they can keep those memories fresh.

     9. Have a fashion show! Children love to dress up, even boys when they are young enough! Keep some old clothes or gather some from thrift stores or yard sales, in a box or trunk, along with some costume jewelry, shoes, hats, belts and scarves. You can pick a time or event and ask them to dress the way they would if they were there.

This was taken for Father's Day.

     10. Have a color day. Choose a different color every day and try to choose clothes or food that are that color, or paint pictures using all different shades of the color-of-the-day.

Well, there's 10 good ideas to start of with. Crackers has more on her list, but we'll get to them another time. We don't want to smother you with too many ideas at once. If you have any good ideas to add, drop us an email and we'll add them to the next list. We want to hear them all!

Until we write again, remember......"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." Harriet Tubman    Goodbye and love to all,