Since I wrote about helping your grandchildren develop creativity, I have been thinking quite a bit about it. Throughout the years when my children were growing up, I have watched how (in general) children’s opportunity to think creatively slowly wanes. Is it because parents or teachers squelch children’s creativity in an effort to help them mature and grow up? Is it because as children get into junior and senior high school they think creative activities aren’t cool? Whatever the reasons, there are several things that grandmothers can do to help their grandchildren develop creativity.

First, a little bit about creativity. Creativity is important because it allows scientists to make discoveries, inventors to develop new inventions, and parents to solve problems. Creativity isn’t just the ability to draw or paint a lovely picture. It is far more.

I used to teach a gifted and talented class at a local elementary school and was able to learn about creativity. Creativity is based on four things: originality, fluency, flexibility, and elaboration. Originality is the ability to think fresh or unusual ideas. Fluency is the ability to generate a large number of ideas or responses. Flexibility is the ability take a situation or problem and change the way it is perceived, approached, or dealt with. Elaboration is the ability to expand on one idea and make changes or add details.

So what does this have to do with grandmothers? Plenty. You can provide opportunities for your grandchildren to develop their creativity — and have fun in the process. And, if they enjoy the activities you do with them, you are strengthening your relationship and building a strong family unit (which is the ultimate purpose of this site) all the while you are helping them develop creativity.

I think that one of the most important things a grandmother can do is to praise those instances when she see creative thinking or creative problem solving. Verbal praise demonstrates to your grandchildren that you value creativity and that creativity is important. Another important thing you can do is to provide your grandchildren with a wide variety of activities in the four areas of creativity that I mentioned above.

So, let’s first talk about the element of originality. Have you played the game Scategories? That is an excellent example of an activity that encourages originality. (It could also fall under fluency.) Scategories would be a great game for a grandmother to stock in her game closet to play often with her grandchildren. There is a junior version for younger children and then the regular one for older players. As you play the game, praise your grandchildren for all of their original and creative ideas. (You might want to give that game to your grandchildren as a gift so you can play it with them when you visit their home.)

Here is a list of other activities that develops originality:

• Creature Creation. Have your grandchild select any two letters of the alphabet. Give them old magazines to go through and cut out seven or eight examples of these two letters in a variety of colors, sizes, and styles. Then, give them a sheet of paper and some glue. Have them create a creature from the letters that they have cut out of the magazines. They can use crayons or marking pens to add details such as facial features. You might want to suggest that they come up with a name for the creature. Hang their creation on your fridge or send it home with your grandchild so they can display it on their fridge.
• Door Design. Give your grandchild a piece of paper and crayons or marking pens. Have them select a door from a place of their choosing (such as a laboratory, a pizza place, a car repair business, a mansion, or clothing store). Then have them design a door that would be appropriate for the place that they chose.
• Disney Ride. Have your grandchild design a new ride for Disneyland and draw it on a piece of paper. Depending on your grandchild’s age, have him think about how to make the ride safe, how to make it visually appealing for a certain age, or how to make it fit in with a certain theme that is already in Disneyland.

Here is a list of ideas that helps to develop fluency:

• List as many creative ways to use gum other than chewing it. (An example could be to mend a hole in a tennis shoes.)
• Think of as many creative reasons for NOT cleaning their bedroom.
• List as many creative ways as you can think of to transport a tiger that is not in a cage from one zoo to another.

Here are ideas for activities that develop flexibility:

• Create a costume for Halloween with items found only in grandma’s home (or their own home).
• Think of as many ideas as possible for different ways to use a bucket.
• Come up with creative ideas of ways that a nine-year old could make money during the summer.

Here are ideas that help develop elaboration:

• Design a personalized phone (not a cell phone) for a rock star, a doctor, a chef, or a diesel mechanic.
• Think of ways to improve a playground in a city park.
• Select a TV ad that you don’t like and explain what you would do to improve it.

You could also play the ‘What If’ game. Give your grandchildren ‘what if ‘ situations and have them say what they would do. (You could even challenge them to give YOU situations!) Make them wild and wacky and challenging situations. You could do this while rocking a grandchild on your lap, as you ate lunch together, or were in the car while running errands. Here are some examples:

• What if you woke up one morning and your skin was blue with yellow polka dots?
• What if you opened your front door and there were cannibals in the yard?
• What if something that you ate made you grow a horse tail, have elephant ears, and speak in pig Latin. (You might have to explain what pig Latin is!)

I’m extending a challenge to all of my readers. See how creative you can be. See if you can come up with an original idea of an activity to do with your grandchildren. Or, see if you can take an activity and change it, improve it, make it more fun. See how many ideas for activities you can think of for a holiday that does not normally have lots of celebrations connected to it (like Ground Hog’s Day, Flag Day, or Veteran’s Day). Or take one activity that you have gotten from someone else on this web site and see how you can change it or add details to personalize it and make it fit your situation.

Then, please feel free to share your ideas and experiences here! I’d love to hear how creative your grandchildren are — and how creative YOU have been.

Creatively yours,
Digi-Gram

A couple of months ago at work, I had the opportunity of meeting a wonderful woman named Sharron who just also happens to be a grandmother. We chatted about some of the things that she has done for her grandchildren and I absolutely loved her idea of the book she has created for them.

The book is about her so that her grandchildren can get to know her better. This is a wonderful gift to give those grandchildren who live far away.

She purchased the software Scrapbook Factory (I believe at Office Max for about $40) and used that software to create scrapbook pages.

She gathered motivational thoughts, sayings, scriptures, and pictures of things that she enjoys or that are meaningful to her.

Then, with the Scrapbook Factory, she designed cute scrapbook pages around the sayings, thoughts, and pictures. She printed the pages up at a local Kinkos and also had Kinkos cut the pages to the size she needed. She went to a local scrapbooking store and purchased small photo albums and plastic pages. She put the printed scrapbook pages in the plastic sheet protectors and put the plastic pages in the small photo albums.

She gave each of her children and grandchildren a copy of the book for Christmas. She showed me one of the books that she made and I was very impressed with it.

As I look at the specifications for the Scrapbook Factory software, it sounds like it is a neat program. It has templates galore (6,000), 60,000 graphics, 5,000 photo realistic embellishments (whatever that means . . . ), and over 1,500 fonts. (I’m a font freak so just having this many fonts available would be worth the price of the software package and never mind about the other features!!!)

Since I don’t do scrapbooking, this software program will do it for me by designing the pages. I like that. I’d MUCH rather use technology than spend my time snipping little designs out of paper, gluing them on a page, arranging stickers and creating a page that cost $5 to make and holds less than 4 pictures! (I don’t mean to offend those readers who like to scrapbook. I’ve seen amazing scrapbook pages. That’s just not me . . . .Wait! Since this software is so amazing, maybe this it will convert me to scrapbooking . . . maybe . . .)

Happy  digital scrapbooking!
Digi-Gram

Grandma Kay was our neighbor over 20 years ago. She was such a good friend! She recently wrote and told me about some of the things that she does to build strong relationships with her grandchildren. Grandma Kay wrote:

“We built our backyard around the idea of the family. We wanted a place where they would want to come and spend time. Blaine (Kay’s husband) did a wonderful job. We have a pavilion and basketball court and a real log cabin (playhouse) and swings and lots of room to play baseball and tag and take rides on the four wheeler.

“The next thing I do is have them over a lot and take pictures and then I send the pictures in my e mails for everyone to see. They love seeing their picture immediately on the camera and then I send a write up to the aunts and uncles and cousins about the fun we had.

“Maybe the real theme of all this is to make your home usable and livable. If it has white carpet and too many ‘don’t touch’ articles, well you get my point. Our house is small but we have fun here. Nothing fancy but all are welcome. And the older I get the happier I am that I do not have a lot to clean and keep up.

“When I am with my grandchildren, I try and be present. I have to work at this. I get so distracted with work and life that I really have to concentrate and be there for them and hear each and every comment and question.

“We kid a lot. They like to have their leg pulled and then when I ask them if one of their legs is longer than the other, they know how the game is played. It is fun. I hope I will be a better grandma when I retire and have more time to do things.

“One more thing. We go to the ranch in Montana every summer and spend the week together. We have so much fun. Our daughters made a lot of happy memories there when they were little and so they want to go back to let their children make their own. It has been the best time for us. Nothing fancy and pretty primitive. They get dirty and have lots of room to play in.”

It sounds like Grandma Kay is doing a great job already being a wonderful grandmother. She doesn’t have to wait until she retires! I have been to her back yard and it is a haven — and a heaven — for grandchildren.

My husband has wanted a four wheeler for quite some time. Maybe when our grandson gets a little older we’ll have to break down and get one . . . We have a heavy duty commercial swing set (like for schools or public parks) and a basket ball standard. And a fire pit. And lots of room to play tag. But that is about all. I guess we need to start making additions so there will be fun things for our grandchildren to do when they come for a visit. A real log cabin playhouse sure sounds fun!

To sum up the ‘principles’ that Kay mentioned:

• Have a yard that is fun for children.
• Have a home that is ‘kid proof’ where Grandma doesn’t have to worry about what grandkids touch.
• Be ‘present’ when you are with your grandchildren. Don’t be mentally sidetracked by other things.
• Let your grandkids get dirty — and get dirty with them! You may not have a ranch in Montana to take your grandkids to, but you could have a sandbox in your yard (or a nearby park), a beach, or a place to camp where kids can enjoy the beauties of nature.

Enjoy!
Digi-Gram

My sister-in-law, Nadine, wrote to me about some of the things that she does for her grandchildren. She said:

“One thing that I always do is give each of our grandsons a book for Christmas, so that it encourages them to read. For Thanksgiving, I took round sugar cookies to their home and we decorated them to look like a turkey using frosting and candy corns. They loved doing that and eating the cookies. In fact Logan (who is 2 years old) kept eating the candy off as fast as we were putting them on.

“We usually go to Disneyland (they live in California . . . ) with our grandchildren for a couple of days once a year and stay in a motel close by. But now that they are in school it is harder to do because we usually do it the day after Labor Day when it is less crowded.”

Thank you for sharing, Nadine!

I thought that I would link to the recipe for my soft sugar cookies in case you missed it.  You can use this recipe to make tasty sugar cookies that you can decorate for any holiday — or to make for just whenever.

You know, there are two things that I am noticing that is quite common among grandmothers:

• Grandma = cookies!! Many grandmothers make cookies with their grandchildren. That’s wonderful. (I’m going to do that for sure.)
• Grandmas like to give books to their grandchildren to foster an interest in reading

I don’t recall making cookies with my grandmother. But, when we did go to visit, she would have strawberry flavored soda pop and she would make us a strawberry float. That was really a treat for us since we never had that flavor of soda pop at home. I’m thinking that grandma’s could have almost any type of food and, as long as the grandchildren know they are loved by grandma, the grandchildren will love the food grandma fixes!  Except maybe beets . . .

Enjoy!
Digi-Gram