What are good activities to do with grandparents?

Key takeaways

• Simple, repeatable activities like cooking, gardening, puzzles and walks build more closeness than big outings.
• Match the activity to the child's age, and let the grandchild be the teacher sometimes.
• Grandparents who live far away can stay close with scheduled video calls, mailed letters and storytime over the screen.

The best activities to do with grandparents are the ordinary ones you can repeat: baking a family recipe, planting something, sorting old photos, a puzzle on the kitchen table, a walk to the same park every visit. Extension family specialists keep landing on the same point: time and attention matter more than the activity itself. Here are ideas sorted by age, ways to stay close from a distance, and traditions worth starting.

Activities to do with grandparents at home

• Cook a family recipe. NDSU Extension suggests making family recipes together and telling the story of why that dish matters at holidays. Even a four-year-old can stir, pour and taste.
• Sort old photos. Pull out a box of prints and have the kids guess who is in each one. Write names on the back as you go, so the history is saved too.
• Try on the old clothes. Hats, a wedding veil, a team jersey or a uniform make an instant dress-up afternoon and a story to go with each piece.
• Board games and puzzles. Utah State University Extension notes that crafts, puzzles and board games may seem old-fashioned but are welcomed by grandchildren, and the talking that happens over them is the point.
• Set the table together. University of Georgia Extension suggests letting young kids match and stack plates and sort forks from spoons, a small math lesson disguised as a chore.
• Build a blanket fort and read three books inside it.

Activities outside and around town

• Plant two pots. The UGA guide has a simple experiment: water one plant regularly, skip the other, and let the kids predict what happens over a few weeks.
• Nature walks. Collect leaves, count birds, or follow the same trail each season and notice what changed.
• Fishing or a trip to the pond to feed the ducks.
• A standing lunch date at the same diner, where the grandchild orders for themselves.
• Let older kids plan the outing. UGA suggests giving grandchildren the map and schedule for a zoo or museum trip and letting them work out the timing and cost.
• Library storytime followed by picking out a book to read at home.

Ideas by age

Ages 3 to 4. Short and hands-on: bubbles in the yard, play dough at the table, sorting buttons by color, a "letter detective" hunt for the letters in their name on cereal boxes and signs.

Ages 5 to 7. Kids can follow simple rules and steps: card games like Go Fish, baking from a recipe card, a backyard scavenger hunt, picture stories where they line up four or five magazine pictures and tell a story in order.

Ages 8 and up. Bigger projects: a woodworking kit, learning a grandparent's hobby, planning a day trip, writing letters to the local paper together.

Whatever the age, take turns being the teacher. Utah State's tips point out that having a grandchild teach a skill, like texting a photo or setting up a video call, is a role kids value.

Activities for grandparents who live far away

Distance changes the format, not the closeness:

• Schedule video calls. NDSU suggests setting a routine, like a weekly call, and the USU guide notes video chats tend to work better with kids than voice calls.
• Read together over the screen. Each of you holds a copy of the same book, or the grandparent reads while the child turns pages.
• Cook the same recipe at the same time. Mail the recipe and a key ingredient, then make it together on a call.
• Send real mail. A postcard, a drawing or a short letter just for fun, not only for birthdays.
• When the child is the one making the trip, keep the seat and the sleep hour steady. Holiday travel with young kids is that list.
• Play a game remotely. Tic-tac-toe held up to the camera, or "I spy" in each other's kitchens.

Traditions to start with grandchildren

Traditions turn one good afternoon into something kids expect and remember. A jar with one noticed thing each week is a quieter rhythm than a visit: gratitude activities for kids. The USU list includes ice cream outings, nature walks, fishing and lunch dates. Others: the first snow walk of the year, a birthday breakfast at grandma's, a summer week at grandpa's, or a photo taken on the same porch step every visit.

A book can hold a tradition too. Our personalized grandparent book is made for children ages 3 to 7 with one or two grandparents in the cast, using the names the kids actually say, like Nana or Papa. You can choose an imagined adventure from a short list, or start from a real memory you describe, such as the blanket fort or the fishing trip, and add one small detail they would recognize. You review the finished proof before printing, and a downloadable PDF is included. Start a grandparent book.

Inside the personalized grandparent book

The sample personalized grandparent book runs 8 illustrated pages, with a cast of granddaughter, grandpa. Pages 4 and 5 are the spread shown at the top of this page. Read the full personalized grandparent book.

The sample starts the way many grandparent afternoons do: a granddaughter and her grandpa open an old wooden trunk in the attic full of maps, photographs and keepsakes. It is the photo-sorting idea above, turned into an adventure. A book built around the grandpa, rather than a holiday plot, is the personalized book with a grandpa.

What a finished personalized grandparent book looks like

In the spread above, Grandpa hands his granddaughter a glowing compass under paper constellations strung across the attic rafters, and on the facing page the two of them look through a doorway into a storybook railway station. Later, she tucks a new photo of the two of them into the family album, and the book closes with a hug beside the trunk. Your own book follows the people and details you add, not this plot.

Frequently asked questions

What can grandparents do with a 3 year old?

Short, hands-on activities: bubbles, play dough, sorting buttons or plates, a walk to look for birds, and reading a picture book together.

How can grandparents stay close to grandkids who live far away?

Set a regular video call, read the same book together over the screen, cook a shared recipe on a call and send real mail just for fun.

What traditions can grandparents start?

Repeatable ones: a standing lunch date, a seasonal nature walk, a holiday recipe made together, or a photo in the same spot every visit.

Can both grandparents be in a personalized grandparent book?

Yes. The grandparent template takes the child plus one or two grandparents, each from their own clear photo.

Related reading:

• See a finished personalized grandparent book
• Start your own book
• A gift for grandkids who live far away
• Personalized storybook ideas for grandparents
• Personalized story ideas for everyday family moments
• Grandparents Day crafts
• Raised by Grandparents: Honest Words for a Real Home
• Birthday Gift for Grandma From the Grandkids
• Christmas Gift for a Child Who Misses a Grandparent

Sources

1. Fun Learning Activities for You and Your Grandchildren, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension
2. Strengthening Grandparent/Grandchild Ties, NDSU Extension
3. Building Relationships Across Generations, Utah State University Extension