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This time of year brings goal setting and lots of planning. We are huge advocates of both! Sometimes though, we just need some quick wins. So today’s post is a collection of quick connection ideas to access when you have a few moments with your grandkids. Better yet, almost all of these ideas can be used in person or virtually.
You could also pick a few favorites and combine them when you have more time together! One of my friends selected some of these ideas to use throughout the evening by putting the names of the activities on slips of paper. They would take turns drawing an activity, and then snapping some pics as they played. So at the end of the evening, they had enjoyed a great amount of fun together, and could also look back and enjoy the pictures later. Talk about moments turning into memories!
As you know we also believe that a great relationship with grandkids is best when we have a good relationship with our grown kids and a healthy ‘self’ as well. With that in mind, we’re also including a few ideas for connecting with your grown kids and ideas just for you too!
Here we go!
Up Up and Away
Supplies needed: balloons
Inflate those balloons and then using one hand, try to keep the balloon in the air for at least a minute. Younger kids can use both hands. If this is too easy, try adding additional balloons to the challenge!
Balance the Dice
Supplies Needed: popsicle stick/dice
Hold a tongue depressor (wide popsicle stick) in your mouth and attempt to balance dice on it. The person who balances the most dice in a predetermined amount of time wins. Younger kids could just balance dice on top of each other. This one’s super fun to watch!
Rock, Paper Scissors
Supplies Needed: just your hands!
Played all over the world, often as a way to decide what will be chosen. It’s also a fun game to play when you’ve got a few minutes to spare. As a refresher,
- Rock wins against scissors
- scissors win against paper
- paper wins against rock
Puzzle Challenge
Supplies Needed: DIY puzzle pieces
Our family loves puzzles! So why not incorporate them into a quick challenge. For this connection rather than purchased puzzles, create a puzzle from something you have around the house. You could use greeting cards, last year’s calendar, the front of a cereal box, or a picture of you and the grandkids. When you’re ready, just stack the pieces up, set the timer for a predetermined time (based on your grandkids ability and the difficulty of your puzzle), and rush to put the pieces together!
Penny Hose
Supplies Needed: pantyhose and 2 coins
This one is fun to watch! Do you have pantyhose buried in a drawer somewhere? Take two pennies and place one at each end of a pair of pantyhose. In other words, put the pennies in the toes. Your grandchild has one minute (or you could race, or time each person) to get their hands down into the ‘toes’ and retrieve the coins. My friend posted her family doing this on Facebook over Christmas – super entertaining!
Dance Party or Sing Along
Supplies Needed: Playlist
Find out your grandkids favorite songs, Create a Spotify Playlist, or wherever you have your music. You’ll have their tunes ready to go at a moment’s notice for a dance party, a game of ‘dance freeze’, or a boisterous sing-along!
The Transfer
Supplies needed: straw, 2 containers, and something to transfer (fishy crackers, marshmallows, cereal, cardstock pieces….)
This fun game is easy for kids to do, and one we’ve used a lot over the years. You’ll need straws and two plates, one with your chosen transfer item. Your grandkids have one minute to see how many of the little items they can transfer from one plate to another by using the straws to suction them up and transfer them to the other plate.
Quick Toss
Items Needed: container, something to toss
Our family just seems to find ways to play this game with about anything. Choose your container, and your tossable item. Then designate a tossing point. How many of the items can your grandchild toss into the container in your predetermined time?
Ideas to use: socks and a laundry basket, marshmallows and a cup, wadded up paper and a box, plastic easter eggs, and a basket…the possibilities are many! See our paperball post for another version our family just can’t quit playing
Coin Tower
Supplies Needed: a collection of pennies
Do you have a collection of pennies stashed away? It’s time to get them out! Take turns seeing how many coins can be stacked in one minute. Younger kids can use both hands, increase the challenge by having older kids use just one hand.
I Spy
Supplies Needed: None
This is a classic! We play in person or on facetime or Zoom quite a bit. Simply say “I spy something that is ________” and let the guessing begin.
Read A Book
Supplies Needed: quick access to a few favorite stories.
Another idea we use a lot – especially because my granddaughters are young. 5 minutes is perfect! As they get older, we will just set a timer and read until it sounds, then mark our spot and continue another day.
Tape and More Tape
Supplies needed: tape and paper
I haven’t met a kid yet who didn’t love playing with tape. I keep a roll in the drawer just for Morgan (she still needs a little help tearing off the strips) when she is visiting, and setting a timer to play with it means the tape lasts a little longer! For older kids, you could collect some fun decorative tape for them to use, but they might want to extend the time!
This one would be great for older granddaughters!
Tell a Tale
Supplies needed: Tell Tale game/or none!
This is a great game that can be purchased where you take turns picking a card and ‘telling’ the next portion of the ‘tale’ based on the picture on your card. You could also just take turns creating your tale without the use of cards.
Pico Fermi Bagels
Supplies Needed: paper and pen/pencil
This is a fun game that can be varied for different age groups, and is a great game to get kids thinking logically. the object of the game is to get your grandkids to guess a 3 (or 4) digit number. We’re going to send you over to The Math Fairy website for the official description.
5 Minutes to Color
My four-year-old granddaughter Morgan is all over this one. Ever since we participated in advent together and colored the weekly ornaments via facetime, she has wanted to continue the tradition of coloring (often with a candle lit – too cute!). Now I find a coloring page online, print one for myself, and then send a copy for them to print too. I have all my supplies (markers, candles, and coloring page) in an easy-to-access spot. Then, when she calls and asks if we can do the coloring activity I am ready to go! She gets to direct the coloring and we both use the same colors on the same parts of the picture, and we compare our pictures often. Then we just put it away until the next time. Here’s the bonus….a couple of times she has said “I’m done coloring now….let’s just talk.”
Squiggle Art
Supplies Needed: paper, writing tools (pencil, markers etc..)
This activity was always super popular in the after-school program I used to lead. Simply draw a squiggle or some type of nondescript shape on a piece of paper for your grandchild, or they can copy it if you are connecting virtually. Then everyone can add details to the drawing for a set amount of time. When time is up share your drawings with each other. This is a really fun activity for a group of grandkids. In fact, we found this Squiggle Book which has three “squiggles” per page and would be great for a group of older grandkids!
The Alphabet game
Supplies Needed: None
This is one we play on road trips, but it’s suitable for lots of environments. Name a topic/category and try to get through the whole alphabet by naming items that start with each letter, and match your topic. You could play as a team or take turns. You could even make it a bigger challenge by repeating what others have said along the way.
Grown Kid Connections
Don’t miss the connections that can be made with your grown kids when you have a few minutes. Here are a few ideas you can use over and over again.
- Make a date to connect
- Whether it is in person, a facetime, or old fashioned phone call.
- Send an old photo. I love doing this and the kids love receiving them. Facebook memories are a great source of pics – I just do a little screenshot and then text them to the kids. They are great conversation starters!
- Send some snail mail.
- Write a quick letter or send a ‘thinking of you’ postcard. You can get a pack of 6 we made with this specific thing in mind right here.
- Share some content.
- Send them a link to a blog or song they might enjoy.
- Affirm them
- Send them a text celebrating something you love about them.
And definitely not least (or last!)….take a few minutes for yourself too!
My watch tells me to breathe – and I am going to start taking a moment to respond to that. It really is helpful!
Drink a glass of water – I am talking to myself here. So often I head for another cup of coffee instead of the water.
Go for a quick walk – around the inside of your house, your workplace or outside. It will be a great way to reset your mind.
Reach out to a friend and ask how they are doing – talking to friends or family for a bit will help your mental health.
Find something funny to watch – for me this might be clips of The Office, or some ‘fail’ videos.
Keep a puzzle book near you, and fill in some of those blanks or circle a few words.
Do some quick exercises or stretches.
Do a quick refresh – put on some lip balm and that great-smelling lotion you save for special occasions.
The bottom line here is that all of these things, whether they are for our grandkids, grown kids, or ourselves, offer us fun ways to connect in a short amount of time. Sometimes it really is the little things that are what kids remember the most!
