I live in Utah. A semi-desert. Not close to an ocean. Not at all.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t have access to an aquarium to see live sharks, sea otters, or penguins.

When the approaching cooler weather gets too nippy for outdoor activities with your grandchild, invite her to your house for a virtual field trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Have fun clicking on the web cams for views of otters, penguins, the aviary, and Monterey Bay. (Cams are turned on from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Pacific time.) There are also games, activities, videos, and podcasts on the site.

The best part of a virtual field trip is that I can experience these ocean critters while siting on my couch in the comfort of my own home — and not spend one penny on gas!

In addition to the web cams, you can listen to podcasts about sharks, sting rays, jellyfish, or the Pacific spiny lumpsucker. (Eeewww! Wanna know what a lumpsucker is? Log on to their podcasts and learn all about ‘em.)

Watch videos showing squat lobsters feed or leafy sea dragons or cock-eyed squid swim. (Here’s a link to the video library.)

Under the Fun and Learning tab you can do the following games and activities:

• Print and play “Animal I Spy’
• Make a tide pool game
• Create a deep sea memory game to play
• Print and decorate a shark mask
• Make a sea otter puppet

Grandchildren cannot come to your home to enjoy this activity because they live far away? Not to worry. Create a virtual treasure hunt for them to do!

To create the treasure hunt, surf around the site taking note of interesting facts and fun things to see, to listen to, and to do. Then, write up questions for your grandchild to answer (e.g. why do ocean shark have to swim constantly, what is the fastest growing fish in the Monterey Aquarium) or activities to complete (e.g. print and do the One-Two-Three Search or be a seaweed sleuth to see if you have kelp in your house).

Then, send your grandchild an e-mail with a link to the site and your treasure hunt questions and activities. Mention some of the things that you found interesting and enjoyed doing. After your grandchild completes the treasure hunt, she can e-mail you and share her experience of her virtual field trip to the aquarium.

Maybe this will pique her interest in being a marine biologist . . .

Enjoy!
Digi-Gram

Are you looking for ideas of things that you can do to celebrate a grandchild’s birthday? Why not have an Olympic event? Invite all of your grandchildren to participate – or invite the grandchild’s family, or have just the two of you if others are not able to attend. Be sure to make appropriate adjustments for age and size differences. The purpose here is to have fun – not to discover an Olympic contender for the next games. You could do this activity out of doors or adapt activities to be played inside.

Here’s a list of activities that you could do.

Discus. Have a paper plate or a lid from a frozen whipped topping container. Give each contestant 3 tries to throw the ‘discus.’ Mark the longest throw. The one who throws the farthest is the winner.

200 meter run. Mark a short distance. Each contestant runs backwards the entire length. The one who does it in the shortest time is the winner.

Shot put. Blow up a large balloon. Contestants throw the balloon. The one who throws it the farthest is the winner.

Javelin throw. Each contestant throws a straw. The one who throws it the farthest is the winner.

Broad jump. Mark a line for contestants to stand behind. Each contestant will stand on one leg behind the line and make one hop. The one who hopped the farthest is the winner.

100 meter relay. (This will only work if you have a group.) Divide contestants into teams. Give each contestant a straw. Each team is given a Life Saver candy. When someone says ‘go,’ the first team member will put his straw in his mouth and put the Life Saver over his straw. He will turn to the player next to him and slide the Life Saver from his own straw to the next contestant’s straw. Contestants will pass the Life Safer from straw to straw until it gets to the last team member. The team that gets it on the last team member’s straw first is the winner.

Diving. Get 4 small buckets or pails. Fill them half full of water and place them 3-4 feet apart from each other. Each contestant will run to the first bucket and jump up and down one time inside the bucket. Then, he will continue doing this until he has jumped in all of the buckets. The player that does this in the shortest amount of time is the winner.

Hurdles. Get 5-6 boxes of varying heights (making sure they are not too high for your grandchild to jump over). Put them about 4 feet apart. Each contestant begins at a starting line and runs to the finish line jumping over each box as he goes. The one who finishes in the shortest amount of time is the winner.

Pole vault. Set up an a-frame ladder. Get a small beanbag. Have contestants stand 3-4 feet way from the ladder. Contestants will take turns throwing the beanbag over the ladder. The one who throws it the farthest is the winner.

Long jump. Mark a starting line. Each contestant stands at the line. Then, the contestant makes a standing jump. The one who can jump the farthest wins.

Swimming. Get a tub of water, a ping pong ball, and a spoon. When someone says ‘go,’ the contestant will put the ping pong ball in the water. Using the spoon to splash water up on the ping pong ball , the contestant will move the ball from one edge of the tub to the other. The one who does it in the fastest time is the winner.

Each contestant gets one point for winning an event. At the end, the one who has the most points is the gold medal winner. The one who has the second highest number of points wins the silver medal. The one who has the third highest points wins the bronze.

You may be able to find ‘play’ Olympic medals at a party supply store. Or, you could go to a dollar store to buy inexpensive prizes/toys to give to the winners. Or you could give the gold medal winner a 100,000 Grand candy bar, Smarties candy to the silver medalist, and Runt candies to the bronze medal winner. If it is just you and your grandchild, maybe you could have a cake frosted with a gold medal design on it and serve it with ice cream.

(Remember the golden birthday idea? You could do this on your grandchild’s golden birthday.)

Have a grand time!
Digi-Gram

Do you ever have several grandchildren over to your house at the same time? Need some new ideas of what to do? Game-O-Round would be a fun way to spend that time together. Here’s what you do.

Designate 3-4 rooms in your house as game stations (kitchen, living room, bedroom, family room, etc.). Select a game or activity for each station. Divide your grandchildren into groups and explain the games or activities in the different areas.

Send each group to a station. Start playing the game or doing the activity. Set a timer for 15 or 20 minutes depending on the activities. When the timer rings, everybody changes to a new station.

Game stations could include Fish, Chutes and Ladders, Concentration, Scatergories, Phase 10, Sorry, Chinese checkers, Dominoes, Twister, Ticket to Ride, Apples to Apples, or any game that your grandchildren enjoy. Select games according to the age of your grandchildren.

The stations could be activities instead of games. Activities could include sewing cards, dot-to-dot pages, coloring in coloring books, painting in water painting books, making mini Inca masks with Sculpey clay, dressing up in dress-up clothes (and taking your grandchildren’s picture), dancing the Hokey Pokey, making bookmarks with pictures from magazines, or painting a design on a terra cotta pot.

If you have older grandchildren in addition to fairly young ones, have the older ones do the activity left handed, or with their eyes blind folded, or in half the allotted time.

When everybody has gone to every station, gather in the kitchen for Chewy Brownie Cookies and a glass of cold milk. (Making these cookies could even be one of the stations!)

Chewy Brownie Cookies

1 1/3 C shortening
3 cups brown sugar
2 tablespoons hot water
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
3 – 3 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup powdered cocoa
1/2 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 bag chocolate chips

Beat eggs. Add sugar and cream the mixture. Add shortening and beat well. Add remaining liquid ingredients and mix. Add dry ingredients. Dough should be slightly sticky. Bake on greased cookie sheet for 9 minutes at 375 degrees.

Enjoy!
Digi-Gram