Activities to do with your grandchildren over the Christmas vacations
Manoir Gouin presents 5 activities to do with your grandchildren during the Christmas vacations. See our latest blog post.
Grandparents often have a special relationship with their grandchildren. Strong, unchanging bonds that often highlight a great complementarity, namely the marriage between experience and innocence. Grandparents are unique in the eyes of grandchildren, and the wonder is usually mutual.
Here are a few recreational ideas you can try out with your grandchildren.
Play a board game
Many board games have the distinctive feature of being both educational and entertaining. While classics such as Monopoly and Scrabble are still popular, it’s a safe bet that games such as Intrigue or Carcassonne will be brought to the fore by your grandchildren. You’ll be seduced, but you’ll also have the opportunity to show this young guard that your brain is still fully functional and that thinking doesn’t scare you in the least. If you’re in a retirement home, why not take the opportunity to teach them to play chess during one of their visits?
Cooking
It’s a well-known fact that grandchildren love to cook, make desserts and taste them. So it’s time to reveal some of your best recipes to impress them. It’s also a way of teaching them about rigor and precise, meticulous work. Of course, their impatience and clumsiness will often have to be dealt with, but the time they spend in the kitchen is sure to stay with them. It’s also a great way to get them off their tablets or smartphones for a few moments, and keep them occupied in a fun, intelligent way.
Go to a field hockey game
Have you been a fan of a field hockey or other club all your life? So it’s time to pass the torch and keep the tradition alive. Children are often fascinated by sports competitions and love to identify with local stars. It’s also through sport that we can convey the values of effort and respect. It’s also an opportunity to be in a social context, to meet other children and share in the life of a club. Apart from the Montreal Canadiens, neighbourhood field hockey teams like the Laval Rocket are just as entertaining and often more accessible to everyone!
A visit to a museum
Whether it’s a museum of natural history, popular science or astronomy, your grandchildren are sure to be charmed. It’s a common misconception that museums are an ordeal for children, but the opposite is often true. What’s more, specific areas or exhibitions are regularly designed for them, enabling them to learn a great deal by experimenting or watching films. A fun way to learn and have fun at the same time.
Go to the local library
The idea is by no means to turn your grandchildren into true reading enthusiasts. Nevertheless, the first contacts in life with books are often magical, and taking them to a place dedicated to reading is bound to please them. It’s also a way of introducing them to the virtues of silence and, above all, helping to develop their critical thinking skills. Of course, you may want to combine this intellectual activity with a trip to a playground afterwards, so that your grandchildren can also play and get some fresh air. And, of course, you can secretly take a breather and watch them play with their friends. If you’re in a retirement home, you can prepare a few books in advance and improvise a little reading session with them. At Manoir Gouin, one of the services offered by our retirement home is a lounge on each floor with a library of books. You can also take advantage of the shuttle service to the local library.
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