They’re Coming! What to Do with Grandkids Now?

My son texted: Can you watch the kids on Thursday after school? Now fully vaccinated, my answer was a resounding, YES!

The next day, the grandkids FaceTimed, can we come again today? And then the day after…?

In all, we spent a few hours together on each of four consecutive days. This, after having been apart for almost a year!

But how to keep the grandkids entertained? I had to think of activities fast. If, like me, you’re a bit rusty on grandparenting in person, here are some ideas.

On the other hand, if you aren’t fully vaccinated yet, or if you live far away, some of the activities were done originally on FaceTime or zoom, so you can do those remotely to stay connected.

Masked or Unmasked?

CDC says that vaccinated grandparents can be indoors with grandchildren without masks. However, since our grandkids have grown accustomed to wearing masks at school all day, out of an abundance of caution, we decided we’d all mask up until the children’s parents are vaccinated. With their turn imminent, we should be mask-free as a family by Memorial Day (fingers crossed).

What to do with Grandkids: Food Projects

Kids love making food–especially sweets. I’m not one for giving the grandkids candy except on special occasions because of worries about obesity and other health concerns, but baking is okay by me. So, we baked irresistible Blue Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies from The Great Book of Chocolate, by David Lebovitz.

While I own the book, I found the recipe for you online, but there’s a limit to how many free articles you can view from the East Bay Times, so be sure to print the recipe as soon as you find it or you may be locked out the next time. This recipe is easy enough for kids to make with adult supervision; it’s my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.

A few cautions when baking:

• Make sure little hands are far away from the beater paddles of the stand mixer.
• And, out of food safety concerns, don’t let kids lick the bowl or spoons once the egg and flour are added.

Here are some other sweet treats to make with kids:

• Strawberry Cheesecake in a Cup was originally a FaceTime project. But it’s even easier to do together in person.
• Grandma’s Peanut Butter Cookies enables even a three-year-old to help shape the balls and flatten them with a fork.
• LEGO-style Gummy Candy requires a mold that you can easily buy online. And you’ll have to allow refrigerator time for the molds to set, resulting in deferred gratification.

Arts & Crafts Projects to do with Grandkids

“Let’s make a collage!” said Miss T one day. So I put out colored cardstock scraps, tissue paper, glue sticks, scissors, stamps and ink pads, and assorted other bits and pieces for the kids to work with. They each made a collage to take home; Miss T’s was abstract, little N made a birthday cake and wrote his name in sticker letters.

Another day, I set up a painting easel in the yard. At $20, the easel from IKEA is an excellent buy. I use it with IKEA’s drawing paper roll ($4). By rolling out the paper on both sides of the easel and securing the paper with blue painter’s tape, two children can work opposite each other. The easel folds flat for storage.

Although my tempera paints are labeled washable, I had Little N wear one of my t-shirts as a protective smock.

I used blue painter’s tape to secure the artwork to a hallway wall. It makes a wonderful art gallery and gives the kids a place to showcase their work. I love walking past each day!

Here are some other arts and crafts projects to make with the grandkids:

• Clothespin dolls are easy and economical to make with yarn, fabric scraps, and wooden clothespins purchased from a craft shop.
• Make a doll house for clothespin dolls or other tiny dolls using a shoe box.
• A hanging art collage is crafted from clear contact paper and bits of string, glitter, and other odds and ends.
• Make new crayons from old crayon stubs. Interesting multi-colored, circular crayons result.

Recipes for Fun

Going through my recipe binder, I pulled out the recipes for slime and giant bubbles.

Kids are always intrigued making slime. But do caution them to avoid getting it into clothes, hair, and furniture. It’s notoriously hard to get out. The recipe I use includes contact lens solution because I have some leftover from when I wore contact lenses. Google to find other recipes that use liquid starch or borax.

I don’t recommend giving the kids slime to take home; parents will not appreciate it. Just bag the slime in a quart-size plastic bag and seal to play another day.

While I made some giant bubble solution, the weather was not great so we abandoned it. One thing to keep in mind is that the best way to make bubbles using smaller bubble makers is to blow air into them, so only do it if you’re all comfortable being maskless and blowing at each other.

The giant bubble wands just use the movement of air through the bubble solution stretched over the bubble wand to form bubbles. It’s a technique of waving the wand to unleash the bubble; no blowing is required so this activity can be done by masked kids.

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