Top Inexpensive activities with Grandchildren

If you own a computer, do a Google Search on Poetry for Children or Short Stories for Children. There are many excellent, quality websites. Children love to be read to. It's a fact that if children are read to, they will develop a love for reading.

Besides the toy box with a few toys, even more important are the books. I kept many of their parents books. But if I buy something, I buy Dr. Seuss or the older stories that their parents loved.

You remember. With chairs and blankets and pillows. See if you can find an old flashlight. Great place for them to take a nap!

Not just cookies and bread...but help them peel a potato, or put peanut butter in celery, or make smoothies in the blender. Do you make jam or can? If so, teach them early how to snap beans or wash fruit. Again, not just memories but skills for a life time. I haven't canned beans since I was a teenager with my grandmother. But I'll bet you I could figure it out in just a few minutes. Same goes for strawberry jam and pickles.

From scratch if you can, favorites like chocolate chip or snicker-doodles. Start them really young, as they get older, give them more things to do. This is a skill they'll keep for a life time. If you can't make them from scratch, the pop and dough boy has some great options. As does Toll house.

Red light, green light. Hide and seek. Kick the can. My kids loved this because in the summer we do these games just as its starting to get dark. They called them Night Games, and often we'd have the entire neighborhood playing. Pass these games on to your grandchildren.

Candyland, Ants in the Pants, Memory, etc...as they get older teach them how to play scrabble, or monopoly or chance...These are great chances to talk and create a bond.

Keep color books or sheets printed off the internet and age appropriate coloring crayons, washable markers, etc. One of my favorite things when they are really young is paint with water books.

When they are little, get a children's CD with Hoky Poky and other favorites on it. As they get older, teach them to swing, or jitterbug, or do the jerk...or ???

I had a leg up on this one. My youngest daughter was a dress up fanatic. We have costumes and tiara's and feather boas and tons of shoes...Keep everything that could be used for dress up in a box or trunk and on rainy days...dress up for the tea party in the fort.

From scratch or from a mix. Anything they can get their little hands into. Everyone loves to play with dough. Make their own loafs of bread. (I have baby loaf pans, like my grandma did for me. And I've seen them in stores still.)

We have a little corner we've set aside with sand. But you could get one of those small plastic wading pools at a garage sale at the end of summer and put a few bags of sand in it. A plastic cup and and old spoon are favorite toys for the sand box. Do you think their mother lets them take spoons and cups outside?

This is my two year old grandson's favorite activity. He loves watering my plants. Outside with the hose, or a plastic coffee can that is his watering bucket...or the water pitcher in the house. My plants never go thirsty when he's around.

You remember. I'm a Little Teapot...Eensy Weensy Spider...This Old Man. Get them dancing and singing. As they get older, share your favorite music with them. Everyone needs a little Elvis, or Beach Boys or ??? in their lives.

Check with your local zoo, or aquarium or children's museum for annual grandparent memberships/passes. For instance, our local zoo has an annual grandparent membership that includes my husband and I and up to six grandchildren to visit the zoo all year. Usually the pricing is such that you save money if you go more than two or three times a year. And if you have it, there is always somewhere to go for nothing but a picnic lunch.

A toy box or toy drawer for their toys...a shelf or drawer space for their jammies and extra clothes and blanket they keep at your house. This way when its clean up time, they know where their toys and things go. My grandchildren come in and either head for the refrigerator first, or to check that their "things" are in place. My older grandson keeps his special toys on a shelf, not in the general toy box. This way they don't get trashed and he feels really special.

The recipe can be found a gazillion places on the internet. So get to it. There is no messing this one up. Just make sure you sit them at the table or counter with a place mat when they are playing.

Dust the low tables. Throw things in the garbage. Unload the unbreakable and non sharp things from the dishwasher. In fact, don't use the dishwasher for these things. One of my favorite memories is standing on a chair at the sink with my grandma and washing dishes by hand.

An herbal tea like peppermint with more cream and sugar than anything. Tea and the cookies you made are great. Dress up in silly hats and make a real party of it. When they are really little, a plastic table cloth on the floor makes a great seating area.