More activities.....

I'm sorry. I've been a slacker this week. Grandpa's test are finally over for now, we just have to wait for results. I haven't been sleeping well and I'm on the verge of exhaustion, so this is going to be a short one. I promise to get back to business now.

Crackers has been adding to her list of things for grandparents and grandchildren to do together.

• Share family history. Look at old family photos and tell stories of the people in them.
• Build a bug box (tutorial is upcoming) and look for bugs together. When you find one that is unfamiliar to you, look it up on the internet or at the library.
• Draw pictures together.
• Have them tell you their favorite story.
• Cut pictures from magazines. Use them to teach colors, shapes, counting, etc.
• Write a funny story together. One of you starts with a silly sentence and then build on it. Take turns adding to the story.
• Build with blocks or legos. Tinker toys are fun, too. They will be thrilled that you took the time to build with them instead of just watching.
• Talk about fire safety. Draw a plan of your house and map out your escape routes. Choose a place to meet ion case everyone has to leave the house in a hurry.
• Make a menu and a grocery list together.
• Make a card for someone.
• Look up the events that happened on the day you were born or the day your grandchild was born.
• Put an ice cube in a bowl outside and see how long it takes to melt.
• Cook dinner together.
• Hide a treasure together and then draw a map to lead someone else to it.
• Practice printing or cursive with your grandchildren. Keep a sample from each year for them to look back at someday.

That's it for today. That dotee doll tutorial is coming up right away, so don't give up. And some more rock projects, too. Lots of fun! Goodbye for now and love to all

Tuesday Treasures

Hey everybody! Hope you're having a great day! Crackers and I have been playing games with grandpa all day. He gets on a kick every once in a while where he just wants to play games, and sometimes he plays by himself and sometimes we play with him. Today we played Farkle. If you don't know how to play Farkle, you should try it out. It's a game played with 6 dice and you have to build up points according to what you roll on the dice. It's a lot of fun, and it's good math practice for kids, too.

I told you Crackers had found a special Tuesday Treasure for you, and she really did. We were going through some boxes, looking for something ( Ican't remember what) and she saw a little bit of red paper peeking out from under an old calendar. Well, Crackers loves bright colors, so she pounced on that right away! And guess what it was? It was a valentine that my little grandson, Cyric, made last year in kindergarten for a little girl he really liked. Her name was Lily and she was really cute. The only problem was, he was either too shy to give it to her, or he forgot to take it. Anyway, I wound up with it and thought I would put it on a scrapbook page.

It says, "To Lily, You are My best friend in the world". The i in Lily has a little heart for the dot and there is a whole row of smiley faces at the bottom. It is so cute. Crackers chose this for her treasure today because she, like me, knows that children are only little once, and we should pay special attention to the things they make and do and say, before they get too old to share them with us voluntarily. Crackers may be just a baby, but she's a smart baby, isn't she? She is 3 (weeks) going on 30!

I like Crackers choice of treasure for today because I love my grandchildren with all my heart, and even though I don't get to see most of them very often, I try to let them know they are loved. It is so important for them to know that, especially when they get older and think that the whole world is against them. Then it's good for them to know they have someone on their side.

We have a few more ideas for you, to help you to keep that connection between grandparents and grandchildren. How many of you still watch cartoons? Probably not many of you, but your younger grands do. If you can find a cartoon that they like that you can stand to watch, you can enjoy time with them doing something they like. My two grands that live here are 10 and 11 and they love Phineas and Ferb. Well, grandpa and I started watching one day and we got hooked! It is the cutest show and there is always a lesson to be learned, or some knowledge to be gained, and it is extremely funny into the bargain!

Another thing you can do is arts and crafts. You probably already know this, but kids love to DO stuff and MAKE stuff. Just about anything you do can be taught to a child, even if you have to tone it down a little for them. And variety is always welcome, too. Don't just do watercolors, or knitting or scrapbooking. Change it up and do them all! (At different times, of course.)

Do you like to sing? Or dance? Even kids who say they don't like to sing or dance will enjoy doing it with you. I used to dance with my children when they were young, and we'd get going doing the jitterbug, or the twist, or whatever we had a notion for that day, and pretty soon the whole bunch would be dancing! The same with singing. We lived 60 miles from Las Vegas, which was where we shopped, and it could be a pretty boring ride. I would put the oldies on the radio in the car and sing along at the top of my voice. Pretty soon, one child would join in and then another and another. (I had 5 kids.) I chose the oldies because those were the ones I knew the words to, but you could choose any type of music you like. Later, I found a Wee Sing tape of campfire songs, and because all my children were scouts, that was very popular, too. Now I sing those same songs with the grandkids. And you know what, they don't care if you even know how to sing or dance, they just get a kick out of seeing you do it and having you do it with them!

That's all for today. Crackers is getting tired and needs a nap and I have to fix dinner, so we'll see you next time. "Til then, remember, family is what matters in life. Goodbye and love to all,

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,