A child’s love for a grandparent is a special, powerful emotion. The generation gap doesn’t matter—grandparents and children are a natural pairing. Help your children express their love with one of these five personal gifts for grandparents, and put smiles on both young and not-quite-so-young faces. Crafts If your children enjoy making crafts, why not have them make some for their grandparents? The internet has a multitude of imaginative crafts kids can make for their
National Grandparents’ Day is celebrated in the US on 10th September, but really, any day grandparents and grandchildren get together is a special day. Strengthen that special bond even more with these Grandparents’ Day Activities for kids. Have a No-Parent Day The best grandparents’ activities with grandchildren often happen when no parents are around to spoil the fun. Take the grandkids on a lunch date, go to the zoo, visit a museum, or go to
Grandparents offer kids much more than a kindly pat on the head and home-baked cookies. Research is increasingly proving that children who enjoy active relationships with their grandparents reap multiple benefits, from gaining a sense of family history to being happier than those who grow up without access to their parents’ parents. Here are a few of the many reasons you should be glad if your child has grandparents in his or her life. Values
Easter egg decorations always a fun kids’ craft, even if you wind up boiling so many eggs you wind up eating egg salad sandwiches for the next week. But kids, being kids, quickly tire of simple food-dyed Easter eggs. This year, give them some fun Easter egg designs they’ll love. Sparkle Dot Eggs For these elegant little eggs, you’ll need decorative colored sugar, clear adhesive dots you can buy at most craft stores, and, of
Every year, grocery and department stores stock up on pre-made Easter baskets. Most are filled with copious amounts of crinkly paper, cheap, mass-produced toys that break easily, and low-quality, waxy chocolate. Your child deserves better than this. With a little thought, you can make your own baskets of personalized Easter gifts kids will love. Pick a Theme Does your child enjoy crafts, or is she more of an outdoor adventurer? Let your child’s personality guide
Completing a puzzle gives a child a sense of accomplishment and a chance to develop hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and problem-solving skills. Knowing how to make puzzles helps parents keep little hands active and engaged—and even slips a little learning in under the guise of fun! Block Puzzles If your toybox includes Lego or Duplex blocks, you can make quick block puzzles for children. For very young children, draw the outline of individual blocks
April 22nd is Earth Day, when volunteers across the world work towards a better, cleaner earth. It’s also an ideal date for teaching children about nature and the importance of caring for the planet. Below are some simple Earth Day activities and crafts to help teach your little one about the world they live on. Plant a butterfly Garden Planting a butterfly garden is a wonderful way to teach children about the relationship between pollinating
Rice Crispy squares are an American tradition and a sticky staple of childhood. Many of us first learned to cook mixing Rice Krispies into a gooey mix of butter and melted marshmallows, waiting impatiently for the squares to cool so parents could cut them into squares—and then, ah, heaven! We’ve assembled a collection of Rice Crispy treats recipes, all based on the Kellogg’s official Rice Krispies Square recipe. Here’s the original recipe, in all
Children can react with very different emotions when they learn they’re about to be an older sibling. For every excited kid yelling “I’m a big sister!” to everyone she meets, there’s a quiet child who’s scared the new baby will replace him, or a jealous older sibling who’s acting out. Or you get all three emotions—excitement, jealousy, and fear—mixed up in one kid. This is perfectly normal. A new baby means change, and change
Teach a child a second language and you give them a lifelong gift. Being bilingual offers a host of advantages over those of us who stumble along speaking only one language, including more opportunities when traveling, jobs that would otherwise be off-limits, and relationships that, without that second language, might never blossom. If you live in a home where two languages are spoken, your child will grow up speaking both—kids have an amazing facility
