Indoor Fun with the Grandchildren

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Friday’s Grand Connection Fun
by Mary May Larmoyeux

Well, it’s already Friday … and time to have some fun with the grandkids.

Two of our grands will be spending this weekend with Pops and me. Although it’s not supposed to rain in the next few days, it’s going to be too cold for the kids to play outside. So, I’ve been looking for some things that we can do together inside.

Here are a few ideas:

This activity can provide hours of fun and imagination for older children.

Make a doll couch. What little girl couldn't use a little furniture for her beloved doll?

Play storybook bingo. Make a bingo card by drawing 16 squares on a piece of paper or cardboard. Ask the players to list common words that they can recognize. Then cut the words out and place them in a small bowl. Before you begin reading out loud, select a word from the bowl. As you read, the kids will listen for the word that you drew, and they will cover the appropriate square (with a marker from another game, coin, etc.) when they hear it. You may want to play straight-line bingo (cover four squares in a straight line in any direction) cover the card, etc.

You also could use a deck of word flash cards for very young readers. If you do this, you will simply draw the “bingo word” from the stack of cards.

This activity can easily be done with grandkids who live out of town. Mail them the bingo card and markers, read a story on the phone, and play bingo together.

Storybook Bingo is one of the rainy day activities that I found on a family education website. They have a long list of activities that include games, reading and writing activities, science activities, gardening, kitchen fun, dance and movement, and more.

Simple to do and good for the imagination.

Make a Bear Hospital. Just give your little "doctor" or "nurse" a supply of Band-Aids and non-breakable first-aid items to use with his/her imagination. You may want to have a "pretend and play doctor" kit on hand.

Go on a Scavenger Hunt. We can download scavenger hunts from the Internet and enjoy them with local or long-distance grandchildren. Just mail a copy of a downloadable scavenger hunt to long-distance grandkids, and follow up with an e-mail or phone call.

Visit a library an online. You'll be amazed by all that you can find there!

Work a simple jigsaw puzzle together. This is always a fun activity to do and great for the entire family.

Make a puppet. Until I went to the Family Fun website, I had never thought about making puppets out of vegetables!

Hummmm so much to choose from. Right not, an indoor scavenger hunt, storybook bingo, and making a bear hospital sound good to me.

Please share some indoor activities that you do with your grandkids in a comment below. Or, send an e-mail to mary@marymaywrites.com and I'll be glad to add the comment for you.

Have a great weekend,

Mary

Mary May Larmoyeux

The Grand Connection

article and picture © by Mary May Larmoyeux. All rights reserved.