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!

Have you gone bungee jumping? Could you fly a rescue helicopter? Have you given a 2-ton elephant a bath?

No?

Well, maybe your grandchild (who idolizes you) thinks you can do these spectacular things!  Just maybe. . .

Rick Dilz has created a series of delightful little books that puts grandma in some pretty wild situations.  In My Grandma Could Do Anything, a grandchild is saying that her grandma doesn’t drive tractors, bungee jump, race cars, or fly jets — but she could.  (Hey! Wait a minute!  I’ve driven a tractor.  Not that hard at all . . .)  At the end, the grandchild says that she is happy with the one thing that grandma does best: love me. (Awwww, how sweet!)

I can imagine how fun it would be to snuggle with a grandchild to read one of these books, laugh over the crazy things that grandma COULD do, and end with hugs and kisses when you read the ending.  (I say imagine because when I tried reading one book to my grandson, he just didn’t want to sit still . . .)

In My Grandma Could Do Anything in the Rocky Mountains, the grandchild imagines that grandma could fly a rescue helicopter, ski black diamonds, hang glide, water ski, or sing around the campfire.  (Hey!  Wait a  minute!  I’ve water skied, skied black diamonds, and sang around the campfire.  While I haven’t done any hang gliding, I have gone sky diving.  Does that count?)

In My Grandma Could Do Anything in Hawaii the grandchild says that grandma could lead a hula show, surf a 20-foot wave, or windsurf with whales.   (Mmmmm . . . haven’t done anything like that.  But I’ve been there three times!)

In My Grandma Could Do Anything at the Zoo, the grandchild imagines grandma giving a 2-ton elephant a bath, swinging with monkeys, herding zebras, and feeding a 15-foot high giraffe.

There are pictures of critters that grandchildren can find throughout the books and fun animal facts which add an element of learning to reading the books. They are the perfect size to tuck into grandma’s purse when visiting grandchildren — or sending in the mail to those far away grandchildren.

You can check out these books here on Ric’s site. Thanks, Ric, for sharing your books with me!

(I was poking around his site and saw some of the sayings he offers on little onesies.  I love the one:  Party. 3:00 a.m. My crib.  What a hoot!  You might want to spend time browsing what he offers in addition to his books.)

Let’s take this idea and personalize it.  Why not have your grandchildren create their own book about themselves?  You could simply use a small spiral notebook — or be extravagant and get a nice bound book with blank pages. You could gather up crayons, markers, or colored pencils so your grandchild could write the book and then illustrate it.

Title your book Spencer Could Do Anything (or whatever your grandchild’s name is).  Then the two of you could come up with wacky things that he could do (but doesn’t) and end with something like ‘I’m so happy with the one thing he does best — love Grandma.’

Another twist on this would be for you to create your own variation for each of your grandchildren.  Then, when you visit them,  you could read the book to them and gift it to them.  Of course giving lots of snuggles and kisses along the way.

Happy reading and book making!

As a grandmother, what are your uses — beyond wiping drool off a teething baby’s chin or giving birthday money to a teen-aged grandson?  If you’re not quite sure, read 41 Uses for a Grandma by Harriet Ziefert.  It’s a hoot.

My son and daughter-in-law gave me this book as a belated birthday present.  And I was totally delighted with it.  Totally!  I love the ‘uses’ — a time keeper, a security blanket, a hand warmer, a page turner, a ballet barre.   My favorite is a monkey bar.

I also love the drawings. Maybe my favorite use (a monkey bar) is my favorite because I absolutely love the accompanying drawing.

I recommend that you buy this book — and then read it to your grandchildren when they visit.  It will be great bonding time together.

I have found a site that I just HAVE to share with you.  But let me warn you, it could get costly . . .

Perpetual Kid has the sub-title ‘entertain your inner child.’  I couldn’t agree more.  After just a few minutes browsing, I found a plethora of items that I wanted to buy.  They have novelty bandages — pickles, crime scene, Hello Kitty, bunny, cowboy, eyeball, fairies, and toast bandages.  When bumps and bangs bring blood, you’ll need to have some of these fun bandages on hand.

They have a heart egg molder so you can cook a heart shaped egg, a food face dinner plate (where you place food over the face on the plate to make hair, a  beard, a nose, a hat, a mouth), a French toast stamp (stamps the image of the Eiffle Tower on your French toast), and an airplane shaped fork.

And last but not least, I need to talk about toilet paper.  Do you have a grandchild that is going through potty training?  Getting some fun toilet paper from Just Toilet Paper can add fun to the whole experience.  (You might want to share this site with your grandchildren’s parents.)  Some of the toilet paper designs that they sell include hearts, lips, keyboard, music, paw prints, camouflage, rocks, soccer balls, eyes, frogs, penguins, and aliens.  Who ever thought that wiping a messy bottom could be so fun?

I recently read a posting on the GaGa Sisterhood’s site about a book of the month club that a grandmother can have with her grandchildren — especially those who live far away.  Fabulous idea!!

In this recession, a grandmother may feel a little strapped for funds if she has very many grandchildren and wants to do this with all of them.  So, I’ve thought of a variation that would be inexpensive and easy to do.  Have a virtual book club!

Together, grandma and grandchildren determine which book they read.  (I suggest that grandma pre-reads the book so that she can make sure it is appropriate.)  They check the book out at their own local library and read it during the month.  Then, create a private blog where you and your grandchildren post your thoughts about the book and respond to others’ comments.  (Be sure to have a catchy name for the blog.  That adds to the fun.)

If you’re not that technical (but come on, really, it isn’t that hard to create a blog!) grandma can call on the phone or use Skype to discuss the book with her grandchild.

Another idea is to have the grandma write a ’round-robin’ e-mail sharing her thoughts.  She sends it to one grandchild.  That grandchild sends it to the next one.  The last grandchild in the book club sends it back to grandma and then grandma sends it out one last time so that everybody can read everybody else’s comments.

Or, maybe grandma could get a binder and print up the e-mails from the grandchildren and insert them in the binder.  (For your scrapbookers out there, you could go wild with this!!)  Then, when the grandchildren come for a visit (or grandma visits them), they snuggle on the couch together and read what everyone has written.  (This would be a fun record to look back on through the years.)

Here’s a starter list of books that would be great to read with your ‘young adult’ reading grandchildren:

• A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel (non-fiction)
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Barrows (fiction)
• Speak by Laurie Halze Anderson (fiction)
• The Astonishing LIfe of Octavian Nothing, Vol I and II by M.T. Anderson (fiction — and this would be for older readers as it is quite sophisticated in the writing style)
• The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (fiction — especially fun if you’ve read Jane Eyre)
• The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (my favorite, favorite book!)
• Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen (non-fiction — and for older readers)
• The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan (fiction — for older readers)
• The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (fiction — for older readers)
• Book Thief by Markus Zusak (fiction — another favorite, favorite — for older readers)

Even though this idea is meant to be one way to connect with far away grandchildren,  it could also be used with grandchildren who live nearby.  For your book club meeting, you could invite them over to your house, talk about the book, eat sweet treats, and have a great old time!