Fun with Your Grandchildren
The lazy days of summer are fast approaching and many children will be spending time at the homes of their grandparents. If you are a grandparent looking for something new and different to do for fun with your grandchildren this summer then read ahead. There are fun crafts that you and your grandchildren can do together while spending time indoors and out of the heat. You will bond with your precious grandchildren and teach them more about from where they came while doing so!
Scrapbooking
Scrapbooking is a craft that will lead to lots of fun with your grandchildren. It’s an excellent way to preserve the past in pictures and words by adding personal creative touches to tell the story of certain events. While scrapbooking with your grandchildren you can use pictures of their mother or father as well as their uncles and aunts to help them see the exciting things they have done. Children will love hearing stories about their parents as youngsters.
You can find inexpensive scrapbooking supplies at most mass merchandise stores as well as dollar stores. Shopping for supplies is part of the fun with your grandchildren that comes with doing crafts. Your first step to planning a scrapbook is to find pictures that you’d like to scrapbook. Sit down with your grandchildren and let them pick several pictures that they would like to use in the scrapbook. Maybe the event is their mother’s prom or their father’s baptism. Maybe their uncle liked playing baseball as a child and they want to do a scrapbook page about that. After you and your grandchildren have decided on which events you’d like to scrap, go to the store and pick out your supplies.
You’ll need a scrapbook, page inserts if your scrapbook doesn’t have them already, papers for the background, embellishments, acid-free adhesive and acid-free pens. Other fun tools include stencils, ribbon, and rubber stamps. Scrapbooking can be as simple or as complex and you’d like it to be depending on the amount of extras that are used. Deciding on which embellishments to use together is a sure way to have fun with your grandchildren while you pick and choose the special touches that are just right for your scrapbooking pages.
As you help your grandchildren to create the scrapbook page tell them the story behind the event. Talk about how you felt during the occasion and how the person in the pictures felt. This helps them to identify with the relative in the picture. Part of the fun with your grandchildren will be laughing over stories of silly things that their parents did as children. Each summer when your grandchildren visit you can do a few pages in the scrapbook and they will look forward to this time with you.
Greeting card making
Using the same supplies that you use for scrapbooking (most importantly, cardstock) you can help your grandchildren make greeting cards for the coming year. Work with them to make Father’s and Mother’s day cards, birthday cards for their parents and siblings and even Christmas cards. They will feel great having something to give their loved ones on special occasions and the recipients of the hand made cards will adore the work that was done just for them. While you have fun with your grandchildren creating a unique greeting card you will see their personality shine through.
Help your grandchildren come up with heartfelt messages to include on the inside of the cards by asking them to express their feelings about the person for whom they are creating the card. Older children will love this opportunity to write poems for their cards. The cards can be humorous or sweet and serious. Let your grandchild decide which type fits his or her style the best.
Make a family tree
Every child needs a sense of from whom and where they came. A family tree can help them learn about family members that they may have never met while leading to educational fun with your grandchildren. Make a tree of your side of the family as far back as you know. Tell your grandchild interesting stories about his or her great grandparents such as where they were born, what they were interested in, etc. As you create the tree, describe how they looked and other fascinating tidbits about them. In years to come your grandchild will treasure this map of his or her ancestry and you will always remember the fun with your grandchildren that transpired while they were learning about their family history.
There are ways to beat the heat when and have fun with your grandchildren during their summer visits. Unique and beautiful crafts are an excellent and educational way to have fun with your grandchildren. They need not be complicated or expensive. The bonding and memories you will make while doing crafts together will be treasured by your grandchildren for a lifetime.
