Oh, little Bentley.  How dear you are.  How sweet.  How cuddly.  How cute. And so clever that I want to pinch your little cheek. (But therein lies the problem.  His cheek is little.  My digits are large-ish.  I’d probably break his egg-mobile.)

Don’t you agree he’s the cat’s meow?

Bentley is the amazing creation of Benita on her site Chez Larsson.

It’s always a challenge to find activities for teenage grandchildren, isn’t it?  Benita has solved that problem for Easter with her egg craft ideas. Her ideas are appealing to that age group of grandchildren. (My favorite is Bentley and Bick.)

I think teenage grandchildren would have a great time making some of her egg craft ideas — and then coming up with their own ideas.  (Maybe grandma could sponsor a little contest to see which grandchild could come up with the most creative creation . . .)

Take a look at Benita’s wonderful ideas.  I’m sure you’ll find one that will catch your fancy.

These egg craft ideas require a dremel tool.  Methinks that’s not something that grandmothers generally have in their crafting supplies. Not to worry!  You can find one for around $30 (and even a little cheaper) and some up to the amazing price of $120.  This would probably be a great tool to have on hand for lots of other crafting activities.

Two of Benita’s egg ideas could be done using plastic eggs in case you don’t have (and don’t want to get) a dremel tool. In fact, I bet you and your clever teenage grandchildren could come up with more similar ideas using plastic eggs.  (If you do, I would love it if you would send me a picture.  I’d love to share it here on my site.)

Remember: you can get my free document of Easter ideas for additional ideas of Easter activities to do with your grandchildren.

I hope you have a wonderful Easter celebration with your family!

Several years ago (like probably over 15 years), my husband and I went to a local ski resort for a murder mystery dinner party.  (He can’t remember it at all!  But I can.  I thought it was great fun.  If he can’t remember it, maybe that tells you what he thought of the evening . . .)

The actors performed Act I and then we were served our first course of the meal.  While we were eating, the actors walked around and talked with the dinner guests.  The guests could ask them questions.

Then, they did Act II.  We ate the main course and again the actors went around mingling with the guests.  After dessert, we wrote down who we thought the murderer was.  The actors performed the finale and we learned the murderer’s identity.  It was a delightful evening and lots of fun to try and figure out the mystery.

Several years later (probably ten years ago), I bought a boxed murder mystery dinner party called Pasta, Passion, and Pistols.  I invited 2 other couples over and we played the game while we ate a spaghetti dinner.  It was fun.  (Even though I was the hostess, I didn’t know who the killer was!)

Sometimes it’s hard to find activities that appeal to teen-aged grandchildren.  For Halloween, you might want to consider hosting a murder mystery dinner party.  You can find the games at your local game store.  They run around $30 dollars.  While that is rather pricey, you can use it for different grandchildren as they grow up and get old enough to play the game.  (You could even play it with some of your own adult friends!)

If you’re interested, there are murder mystery ‘events’ in the US and in Canada. The Great Gatsby Murder at the Elms in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, and the Island Getaway That’s murder on Jekyll Island, Georgia, sound so intriguing to me.  But because of the cost, it might be a tad too expensive to do with grandchildren.  (Maybe just you and grandpa might want to participate.)

Or, you can watch Clue, the movie.  Your local library might have it available for check out.  A friend of mine had Clue that was a game and was on a VHS tape.  (You can tell how long ago THAT was!)  Maybe your library has that, too.

Or, you can simply play the board game.

What are some of the Halloween activities you do with your teen-aged grandchildren — or have done with your teen-aged children?

Sometimes teen-aged grandchildren might feel that it isn’t cool to hang out with Grandma.  But, if you’re a cool Grandma, then it will be cool to hang with you.

And, how do I become so cool? you ask.

Simple.  Do bokeh photography with those teenagers.

Bokeh?  Bokeh?  What’s bokeh?

So glad that you asked.

Bokeh is an area of a photo that is out of focus.  (On purpose.  Not like the blury-ness caused by grandma’s shakey hands.)  Bokeh comes from a Japanese term that means “blur” or “haze.”  Hence, the area of the photo that is blurry.

See the cool picture here?  Click on it to see a larger version.  Those are examples of pictures using the bokeh technique. (Thanks to Amanda Bottoms for permission to use her fabulously creative pictures.  You’re wonderful, Amanda!)

Now, I’m not a professional photographer.  Not even close.  Which is why I was out-of-this-world delighted to discover this easy tutorial by Amanda demonstrating how to create some snazzy lookin’ bokeh photos.

(I’m warnin’ you folks right now.  Don’t go pokin’ around on her site.  It’s a dangerous one.  There are pictures of scores of decadent delights.  There are recipes where you’ll gain 30 pounds just reading them.  If you’re so weak that you succumb and make one of her divine recipes and then you gain 50 pounds, don’t come whining to me.  I warned you!)

Got scissors?  Tape?  Paper?  And a decorative punch thingie (that punches out shapes like stars or hearts). Good.  That’s all that you need — in addition to a SLR camera with a 50mm lens.

So if your teen-aged grandchild had a SLR camera, you’re good to go.  Or maybe grandpa has one that he would let you use.  Or, maybe you could ask around to see if a friend would lend one to you for the day for this fun activity.

(Mmmm . . . would this work with a consumer digital camera?  Not sure.  But it would be a great adventure to try it.)

I think I’m going to share this idea with my youngest son and his wife.  They have a digital SLR camera.  Maybe they could take some photos so that I could post them here.  If you take some bokeh photos, feel free to send them my way so that you can share them here!

(If you promise to feed your grandchild supper, that might give your grandchild just the extra amount of incentive necessary to share this activity with you.)

I know that many of the ideas that I share are not ones that work well with teenagers. (They tend to think that they are too grown up for what they perceive as childish activities!)

Well,  just today (as my grandson was napping) I came across a fabulously fun and free program that I think your teenage grandchildren would enjoy.  The program is Shape Collage.  It is a free download for Windows, Mac, and Linux.  (Are any of you grandmas running a machine with Linux?  Do any of you even KNOW what a Linux computer is???)

This program takes a collection of photos and makes a collage.  Once  you have made your collage, you can either print it on your home printer or send it to an online service such as Shutterfly to be printed.

It is very simple to use.  Drag your photos into the application.  Select the shape you want your collage.  Click preview to make sure the end shape is how you really want it.  Then click create to save your collage.  It’s that simple.  Here are some examples:

a rectangle collage

a circle collage

a heart shape collage

a smiley face collage

a collage of our last name

If your teenage grandchild lives close by, you could get together to collaborate on making a collage. Or, if your grandchild lives too far away, she could create something and then snail mail or e-mail it to you.  And you could make one to send to her.

The collage that you make could be given to another family member as a birthday, Mother’s Day, or Christmas gift.  Or, a granddaughter could make a collage of pictures of her friends and give a copy to each one.  A grandson could make a collage using pictures of him playing sports.  You could make a collage of a family reunion and give to families as a memento.  You could make a collage of a trip that you took with your grandchildren.

Or make one just for the fun of it and hang on your family room wall.