Grandma Ideas

Grandma Robin e-mailed me with a conundrum.  (We pause here for a vocabulary lesson.  Conundrum is pronounced kuh - nuhn - drum. It means a riddle, something puzzling, a mystery, a problem.  There.  You’ve had your vocabulary building for the day.)

Grandma Robin’s conundrum was how to use Skype effectively with her 16-month old granddaughter who lives in Philadelphia while she (that’s Grandma Robin) lives in California.  (Drat it!  Don’t we just simply hate it when our grandchildren live so far away??)

I shared some ideas with her that I want to share here with you.  I’m even going to throw in a couple more for good measure.  Kind of like a baker’s dozen — only this isn’t baking and I don’t have a dozen ideas. . .

Before I share my ideas, I want you to keep this rule of thumb in mind: the length of a child’s attention span is one minute for every year that the child is old.  So, if the child is four years old, the child will generally have a 4 minute attention span.

Knowing this will help you adjust your expectations on how long you can expect your grandchild to pay attention and be involved in a Skype conversation with you.  Knowing this, you won’t be disappointed (hopefully) when you want to keep interacting but your grandchild would rather get down and go play somewhere else.

So, here are some Skyping ideas that you could do with 16-month old grandchildren.

1.  Before your Skype call, collect a few pictures from magazines or newspaper ads (a cat, dog, doll).  Hold the pictures up one at a time.  Make a comment about a feature such as the color of hair or what the dog is doing in the picture.

2.  Say a nursery rhyme incorporating appropriate actions.  See if your grandchild can do the actions with you.  If you have a book of nursery rhymes with pictures, show her the picture that goes with the rhyme.

3.  Sing a little song like the Eensy Weensy Spider or Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.  Have her do the actions along with you. Here are some more examples of songs that you can learn and sing with your grandchildren.

4. Ask her to point to her eyes, her ears, etc.  Or, you could have her point to “your” eyes, etc., which means she would touch the computer screen to indicate where your eyes are.

5. Before you Skype, ask her parents to have her favorite toy nearby.  Then, ask her to show you her toy.  Ask her a question or two or make some comments about the toy.

6.  Ask her what sounds different animals make such as ‘What does a cow say?’

7.  Have some alphabet blocks nearby.  Hold up a block and tell her which letter it is.  See if she can repeat the letter after you say it.  Also, see if she can spell her name as you spell it out loud with her.

8. Read her a very short picture book.  Point out items in the pictures for her to look at.

9.  Have her draw a picture (while you are watching) and show you what she has done.  Comment on the beautiful colors she uses and how artistic she is.

10. Have a finger puppet and have it ‘talk’ and ‘play’ with your grandchild.

11.  Have a bottle of bubbles and blow bubbles for her while she watches.  She may get frustrated and want to do it herself so maybe her parents can have a bottle on hand for her to use.  Then, the two of you could blow bubbles together.  See who can blow the biggest bubble.

12.  Play peek-a-boo where you go ‘off screen’ then come back on.  Play peek-a-boo with the finger puppet or some other item.

13.  Have her create something out of Play Dough while you watch.

14.  Touch your finger on your computer screen and move it around.  Ask her to see if she can follow your finger with her finger on her computer screen.

15. Have her show you how she can play catch with a parent.

16. When she gets older, play Candyland.  She will roll the dice and move the marker for both of you.

17. If you are really adventurous, put on some music and dance.  (You can’t be self conscious to do this activity!)

Well, lookee there.  I didn’t think I would have twelve ideas and I’ve ended up with 17.  Remarkable!

Remember, keep it short.  If your grandchild doesn’t seem to be interested in what you are doing, change and do something else — even be willing to end the conversation.  Good luck!

What Skyping activities do you do with your grandchildren?

One day, an elementary school teacher started saying, “Humpty Dumpty sat on a _______.” She paused, looking expectantly to her students, waiting for them to fill in the missing word. After a long pause, a little girl timidly said, “A chair?”

How sad it is that we are losing the tradition of handing down nursery rhymes from one generation to the next! Nursery rhymes provide rich opportunities for children to hear the rhythm of spoken language, to hear ’short stories’, and to be introduced into the wonderful world of reading.

It has been said that reading is to the mind as exercise is to the body.  (Boy howdy! Then my brain is svelte and comely!)  The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization says that literacy “enables individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society.”

I like the part where it says ‘develop their knowledge and potential.”  As a mother and grandmother, that opportunity resonates with me and makes me want to read, read, read to my children and grandchildren.

Research shows that we should continue reading aloud to children even after they can read themselves.  When our children were in junior high, they thought that they were too grown up for bedtime stories.  Plus, their evenings were so full of activities and homework, it was hard to find family reading time. But, I didn’t want to let go of that special reading time together.  So, I read to them while they ate breakfast.  I found that they (and my husband!) lingered longer over their meal so they could hear ‘what happened next!’

Research also claims that children need to hear a thousand stories before they can begin to learn to read.  Grandparents can relieve parents from some of that burden by reading, reading, and reading to their grandchildren! So, make sure you take every opportunity to read to your grandchildren.

I recently learned how readers are 300% more likely than non-readers to visit museums, attend plays or concerts, and create artworks of their own.  They are also more likely to volunteer, exercise, play sports, attend sporting events, or do outdoor activities.  What a wide impact reading has!  (And you thought that reading to your grandchildren just helped them develop a love of reading!)

I have two reading ideas to share with you.  First, create a reading center in your home.  We all know how expensive books are.  Get cheaper books at thrift stores or used bookstores or even your local library that might occasionally sell books for a small fee. Have Grandpa build some shelves for your books.  Buy some child sized chairs — banana chairs or bean bag chairs — or have big over-sized pillows and make it an inviting reading place.

You could allow your grandchildren to ‘check out’ a book that interests them — making sure that they return it to your lending library.  Or, you could even let them keep the book (these cheap books from the thrift store).

Second, sponsor a read-a-thon.  Get lots of pillows, wear your pajamas, and have cozy blankets to lay on or wrap up in to give it a festive flair.

A read-a-thon could be tricky for really young grandchildren.  Maybe the read-a-thon only lasts for half an hour where Grandma reads nursery rhymes, fairy tales, or other age appropriate books.  And then end it with a pizza party or simply cookies and milk.

If your grandchildren can read, they can bring their favorite book (a short one) and read it to everybody. Or they could read one of the books from your book collection. Or, have everybody read silently for half an hour then take a break for 5 minutes and then read for another half an hour.  You’ll have to adjust the amount of reading time to the age level of your grandchildren.

There are many, many fine books that you can share with your grandchildren. Here are some of my favorites that have crossed my path recently.

Books for young children:

• the Llama, Llama series
• the Olivia series
• the Scaredy Squirrel series
• The Incredible Book Eating Boy
• the Flat Stanley series
• Duck on a Bile
• No David and David Goes to School
• Too Many Toys
  

For middle aged readers:

• The Ranger’s Apprentice
• The Pictures of Hollis Woods
• Walk Two Moons
• Holes
• The Whipping Boy
• Mississippi Trial
  
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
  

For young adult readers:

• The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau (love, love, love this book and ditto for the next one!)
  
• The Eyre Affair (but you need to read Jane Eyre first to really appreciate this book)
• The Thirteenth Tale
• The Life of Pi
• The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing
• The Book Thief
• Goodnight, Mister Tom
  

What are some of your favorite books to read to your grandchildren?  What fun reading activities have you done with them?

This post is part of a blog carnival on About.com:Grandparents. Check it out.  There are TONS of great information and links to follow!

Hula hoops.  When was the last time that you used one, Grandma?  Mmmm???

If you can’t remember, then it’s high time that you purchase one for you — and several to have on hand when grandchildren come for a visit.

Lest you think that hooping is confined to twirling the hoop around your waist, you’ve got a lot to learn!  Oh the things — the marvelous things — that you can do with a hula hoop.

This young girl jumps up while keeping her hoop momentum.  She drops to her knees.  Then stands back up.  She jumps up and does the splits in the air.   And then a little John Travolta dancing.  Can you do this?  Can your grandchildren?

What about hooping while standing on one leg?

What about these hula hoop tricks?

You can start out simple by just seeing who can keep the hoop going around their waist the longest.  Then, can they hoop and clap a rhythm with their hands?  Can they do it to the rhythm of music?

You could branch out to see if your grandchildren could walk and keep their hula hoop going.  (You might want to do this outside.  Don’t want to break any of grandma’s lamps — or 52 inch flat screen TV!)

Can they hoop around their arm or their neck?  Can your grandchildren can do some of the tricks that you see in these videos?

Hooping is a great physical activity for your grandchildren.  Wears out the little rascals Gets their wiggles out.  Gives them something challenging to do.

Be sure that you have lots of water during your hooping! (And maybe give them cookies when they are finished.  Gotta build their strength back up, you know!)

Have any of you played hula hoop lately with your grandchildren?

Before I share the main idea for this posting, I have to show you something that I bought today.  But, shhhhhh!  Don’t tell Natalie or Kaylissa. I want them to be surprised when they come to my house to play.

This afternoon, I went to the local dollar store.  I wanted to get a Kaboodle.  (Do they make them any more?)  Or some other inexpensive plastic container.  I want a container so that the ‘dress up’ jewelry that I have been collecting won’t get all tangled up.

The second I walked into the store, a special display caught my eye.  It had tiaras and elbow length gloves.  The gloves were out of a cheap plasticky material.  (What did I expect from a dollar store?  Silk elbow length gloves like those in Nordstroms? Huh?)

Next to the gloves were tiaras.  I couldn’t resist them.  I had to get one of each color.  I will add them to the dress up clothes, jewelry, and shoes that I am collecting.  For the tea parties that I will have with my grandchildren.  I can’t wait!  Won’t these be great fun for granddaughters?

While I was in the store, I saw my friend, Grandma Karen, and her husband.  She told me what she was doing for her grandchildren: journaling.

She was getting a notebook for each of her grandchildren.  She is going to write about her grandchildren and her feelings for them.  When they draw her special pictures, she will put that picture in the journal and share her feelings about the picture and the grandchild. She will do this until they are older (around 16).  Then, she will give them the journal to have as a memento from their grandmother.

What a treasure that will be for her grandchildren!  Thank you Grandma Karen for sharing that idea with me.

Are any of you doing similar things for your grandchildren?