Karen (who is our daughter-in-law’s mother) shared more things with me in addition to how she had a tea parties. Here are more fun things that she does.

Karen said that at least once a year she flies to California to be with her grandchildren (that’s where they currently live). They like to visit an aquarium, take walks on the beach at sunset, and search for seashells. They go to Balboa Park, Sea World, or Wild Animal Kingdom as a family. They also go to a nearby park that has a little zoo. They buy fish food for a dime and feed the fish there.

They also love to play board games. She cooks with her grandchildren as soon as they are old enough to stand on a chair and hold a spoon in their hand. Sometimes they cook a whole meal together. Sometimes they make Christmas cookies. She has gotten aprons for her grandchildren and let them paint designs on the aprons.

She said that she has a fire ring in her back yard and they roast hot dogs, make smores, and tell stories. She keeps a special toy box for them when they come for a visit. She also has dress up clothes for them to play in. She calls her grandchildren about once a month and they put her on speaker phone so everybody can hear her. Her grandchildren tell her what is going on in school and what activities they are involved in. She also likes to send interactive e-cards to her grandchildren.

The first Christmas when her grandchildren had moved to California, Karen got a big Christmas stocking. Karen filled the stocking with small gifts. There were enough so that every grandchild had one to open for everyday until Christmas. Kind of like a Christmas count down. Some of the presents were things such as 3-D puzzles, erasers, and pencils. She now keeps her eyes open during the whole year to buy things to wrap and send in the Christmas stocking.

At Valentine’s Day she sends her grandchildren a little box of Valentine’s candy. On Halloween, she sends them a Halloween card in the mail.

She has done a safari themed birthday where they had safari hats and a cake decorated with animals. They played the activity game Goin’ On A Lion Hunt. One person is the leader and says the first line keeping a steady rhythm while saying the line. The group repeats the line after the leader. Then, the leader says the second line. The group repeats the second line while keeping a steady rhythm. There are actions that you can do while saying this chant. Young children really enjoy this activity.

This past Christmas, Karen got a small photo album and some plastic sheets to go in it. She got some water color paper and drew something that went along with the month’s theme (Christmas). She gave these albums to her grandchildren and now, during the coming year, she will paint a picture a month and send it to them to put in their photo album. She is so artistic and creative!!

Enjoy!
Digi-Gram