The weeks leading up to Christmas are a busy time. Parents are trying to get Christmas shopping done, the house decorated and Christmas dinner planned.
Getting ready to travel or receiving overnight guests often figure into the picture. Grandparents can play a valuable role in doing things with their grandkids that afford valuable sharing and also free the parents up to get their pre-Christmas activities completed.
The following are some grand-parenting activities. I’m sure they will also trigger more ideas for sharing this special time with your grandchildren.
Share holiday story books with your grandkids through bedtime reading, shared reading and/or a trip to the bookstore or library. There are lots of classic stories worth reading to and with your grandkids. See the resources list for my favorites. If your grandkids live a distance from you, why not do a Skype bedtime story every night in December? Or, send kids audio books you have taped and the book to go with it. Don’t forget to use a special sound each time your grandchild is to turn the page. You can also use a Hallmark recordable book. Record the book before sending it off, or let the grandchild record it. A lasting record of those childish voices is a great gift for all. As my Christmas gift to you, click on the URL below to save as much as 50% on your Hallmark recordable book!
2. Give the Gift of Home Baking
Baking with grandkids is a priceless experience for both grandparents and grandchildren. Many valuable skills are learned in the kitchen. Home baked goods also make great gifts for grandkids to give their parents, teachers, friends, and neighbors. See the RMC article Christmas Baking with Your Grandkids for field-tested recipes!
If you are a sewer, why not create doll clothes or simple clothes for your grandkids. You can have them help pin patterns, cut material, pin pieces together or even sew seams. You and your grandchild can pink around pieces of Christmas cloth to put in tins before filling them with Christmas goodies.
If you are not a sewer, why not shop online or at a retail center for a Christmas outfit to wear for opening presents Christmas morning or to pre-Christmas parties and concerts or Christmas dinner. Don’t forget those Christmas morning photographs! Kids of all ages love Christmas pajamas are extra cozy. Give them early! If you live a distance you can order Christmas pajamas or clothes online and have them sent directly to the grandkids. Receiving a package is always a thrill.
4. Go on a Christmas Outing
Whether it is a shopping trip, breakfast with Santa, a Christmas Parade, seeing a Christmas play, a mall visit to see Santa, a sleigh ride, a hayride and apple cider, or a visit to a seniors’ home to drop off home baked goodies, these are priceless memories. There are lots of Christmas opportunities in your community.
Work with your grandkids to select photos from your albums and take some new ones. Use the photos to make a surprise album or calendar for kids to give their parents. Lots of great discussion about vintage photos will arise from browsing through albums. If you are good with home graphics program, create your own photo pages. If not visit Blacks, Walgreens, CVS, Staples, Wal-Mart or any other store with a photo department. Staff will be very helpful.
Online sources are also available. A good inexpensive one is Snapfish.6. Teach the Gift of Giving
There’s no time like the holiday season for a lesson about sharing with others. If your grandchildren live close to you, you can take them to pick out toys to donate to children in need. Your family can adopt a family and shop for them at Christmas. Contact seniors’ centers, Salvation Army the food bank, a homeless shelter, soup kitchen or a local church group for details about how you can help.
If your grandchildren do not live close by, you could make a donation in their names to a charitable organization such as: SPCA; Toys for Tots; World Wildlife Federation; World Disaster Relief Fund; Salvation Army;
Christmas is also a wonderful time to remember the birds that share our planet. Why not create a winter feeding station with your grandchildren or decorate a tree with birdie snacks. Then you can sit inside with binoculars and a bird book and identify your guests together!’
If your grandkids live a distance from you, you can send them bird feeding supplies and a bird book for their backyard. A good source is Wild Birds Unlimited and here’s a coupon to save $5 on your purchase. Merry Christmas.
http://coupons.answers.com/Wild-Birds-Unlimited-coupons
8. Make a Christmas Memory.
Christmas ornaments that you make with your grandkids will become lasting mementos of the time you spend together long after you are gone. Craft books have lots of ideas. Here are a few:
Yarn angels are wonderful keepsakes. Get step-by-step instructions:
http://makethebestofthings.blogspot.com/2011/12/yarn-angels-loads-of-pics.html
Snowflakes
Make Stunning six-pointed snowflakes for your tree following these simple instructions.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-6-Pointed-Paper-Snowflakes/
Gingerbread Men
Make gingerbread men tree ornaments from scratch with your grandkids.
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1710,152183-255192,00.html
9. Make Snowflake Mobiles
Follow the directions below for creating six-sided snowflakes. If your folding skills are a little weak, you can print a folding paper pattern at: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1710,152183-255192,00.html
Hang them from such shapes as a coat hanger or a ring suspended from a light fixture or a ceiling tile. These make great Christmas decorations for a child’s bedroom. If your grandkids are too young to fold these, they can cut the one you fold and open them! Use various interesting paper and colors for your snowflake mobile.
Directions for folding: http://scrapbooking.about.com/library/weekly/blsnowflakes2.htm
10. Create a holiday poem or story or card.
Another great child-made gift is a poem or story or card created especially for someone. If you’re a long-distance grandparent, you can mail or email your poem to faraway family members.
Work with your grandkids to create photo cards at: http://www.snapfish.com/snapfish/fe/photo-cards/christmas-cards
Great resources for creating picture books with your grandkids are available at:
http://www.darcypattison.com/picture-books/30-days-to-a-stronger-picture-book/
These step-by-step instructions will help the two of you create a wonderful picture book!
Great ideas for helping kids write poetry are available at: http://www.readwritethink.org/parent-afterschool-resources/tips-howtos/help-child-write-poem-30317.html’
11. Sing, Sing a Christmas Song!
It’s fun to sing Christmas carols and songs with the grandkids. Many of these are becoming a lost art with TV, video games and computers filling kids’ time.
I went to a Christmas concert last night and almost no one—except the seniors—in the audience knew the words to traditional Christmas carols and songs until someone put the words on a screen.Rekindle the Christmas tradition of singing Christmas songs. If you need background accompaniment, CDs are available for a karaoke-type experience. If you live a distance from your grandkids, how about having a Skype sing-along? A great source is: http://www.the-north-pole.com/carols/index.htm
12. Keep Your Family’s Christmas Traditions alive!
Every family has Christmas traditions whether they realize it or not. These are simply things you’ve always done at Christmas like: a special food that is always served; a Church service or a play or movie or concert you always attend; decorating the tree; carol singing; Christmas breakfast; gift opening; Christmas cookie baking; a sleigh ride; ice skating; an open house; volunteering to serve Christmas dinner; inviting someone from the community to share Christmas dinner… Celebrate these Christmas traditions with your grandkids.
If your family doesn’t realize they have a special Christmas tradition, maybe it is time come up with an idea and start one this holiday season!
13. Christmas Movies
Whether you go to a movie theater or watch one of the wonderful Christmas movies together, this is priceless grand parenting time. Make hot cocoa, pop some popcorn and get comfy! You can buy, rent or borrow great Christmas DVDs from the local library. See Resources for Suggestions!
14. Decorate Christmas Stockings
You and your grandkids can decorate Christmas stockings for each member of their family or for a seniors’ home or neighbor.
I buy stockings from the Dollar Store. Get sticky foam Christmas shapes, glitter glue pens…to decorate them.Take your grandchild shopping or buy ahead for stocking stuffers.
15. Create a Crèche
Look at manger scenes in books and in the community. Work together with your grandkids to create a manger scene using play dough or clay or Plasticine.
Do you have Christmas activities you share with your children or grandchildren? We’d love to hear from you!
Christmas Books
A Christmas Carol. Charles Dickens
A Wish to be a Christmas Tree. Colleen Monroe
Eloise at Christmas Time. Kay Thompson
Frosty the Snowman. Golden Book
How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Dr. Seuss
Mr. Willoughby’s Christmas Tree. Robert Barry
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Dennis Shealy
Santa Mouse. Michael Brown
Snowmen at Night. Caralyn Buehner
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Barbara Robinson
The Christmas Bus. Melody Carlson
The Christmas Sweater. Glenn Beck
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. L. Frank Baum
The Secret of St. Nicholas. Ellen Nibali
The Truth about Santa: Wormholes, Robots and what really happens on Christmas Eve. Gregory Mone
‘Twas the Night before Christmas. Clement Clark Moore
Who is coming to Our House? Joseph Slate
Christmas Movies Kids Shouldn’t Miss!
A Charlie Brown Christmas
A Christmas Story (1963)
A Year without Santa Claus
Elf
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Frosty the Snowman
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Miracle on 34th Street
Home Alone
Santa Claus: The Movie (1985)
The Muppet Christmas Carol
The Polar Express
Disney’s A Christmas Carol
