Rockin' With Grams Pick of the Month: Young Chefs by Christina Dymock

        When I'm planning to spend time with a grandchild there's often a "no electronics" rule.  When my own children lived at home we had a summer "10-2" rule. They couldn't use any type of electronic device during that time. 
     Lest you believe I'm a technophobe luddite, I actually have strong feelings about the importance of technology and my responsibility as an older adult to learn it, and share it. I also believe technology is not only awesome, but an important thing for our children to learn to be successful. 

That said, it's often a challenge to keep those busy hands and feet out of mischief. When the screens are down, I find that their energy erupts and they are ready to get busy. 

Cooking is one of the best ways to engage the grandkids, have fun and learn something. 

The holidays are a great time to take advantage of fun cooking projects, but being in the kitchen anytime with your grandkids can be just as fun. Here is a list of fun things we've done in the kitchen:

1-  Cookies
2-  Sidewalk chalk
3-  Gingerbread houses
4-  Bird seed hangers
5-  Play Dough

Gift List Alert!

6-  Handmade gifts
7-  Pudding finger paint 
8-  Scones
9-  Lollipops or cake pops 
10- Cooking school 

Now for Gram's pick of the month: 



About The Book: Hey kids! It's time to take charge in the kitchen. Become a young chef as you make your favorite foods and explore new recipes with everything from Game Day Hot Dogs to Lemon Shark Bars.

About The Author:
Christina Dymok
Website
Blog
Facebook
 
Who:  Christina Dymock was once at a dinner party where her husband was teasing her about the frosting-to-cupcake ratio on her dessert. The woman sitting across from them sniffed her delicate nose and said, "If my husband gave me a hard time about my frosting I'd quit baking. That'd show him." To which Christina's husband replied while pointing at his speechless wife, "Try to stop her!"

Christina divides her time between the kitchen and her computer and books and her family of six. (Naturally, the family gets the biggest share.) Because she reads everything, she also feels compelled to write in several genres. —Amazon

PLANTING MEMORIES: Ten Ways To Connect With Your Grandchildren

Spring is a wonderful time to make a meaningful connection with your grandchildren. Below you'll find ideas, links and resources for activities that will create memories and give you plenty to talk about. 

Ten Ways to Use Spring to Connect

1. Plant Vegetable Garden Together- What better way to spend time with your grandchild than planting something and watching it grow.

KC EDventures- Offers a resource page with huge list of ideas, links, books. Nourish Interactive- Offers free color sheets for journaling, gardening color sheets, etc. 
Parenting With A Purpose- Planting a sensory garden full of tasting a smelling opportunities. 

2. Read Gardening Books Together-There are many wonderful picture books about gardening, planting, seeds and how things grow. 
The Best Children's Books- provides a great list of picture books. 
Polliwog On Safari- Another great list of books. 

3. Plant A Container Garden- There are many ways you can grow something even if you don't have any outdoor space. 

Coffee With Us3- Shows some easy 
ways you can plant in ziplock bag, jars, etc. 
What We Do All Day?- Has an interesting way to grow a rood vegetable in a container and actually see it grow. 

4. Plant A Flower Garden- Flowers are a great way to watch the different stages of growth together. 

The Golden Gleam- Great way to grow sunflowers with kids. 
Putti's World- Great idea about planting seeds in the shape of the first letter of their name. 

5. Micro-Gardens Perfect For Limited Space- Using containers you already have around the house or apartment. 

Sun Hats & Wellie Boots- Some creative containers using things you have around the house. 

Reading Confetti- Cute handprint garden markers. 

3 Boys=Blessed- Using those plastic strawberry containers.

The Full Circle Gardner- Check out this gardening in a glove idea!

Rockin' With Gramps!

6. Make Elf and Fairy Houses and Gardens- This is a fun activity anytime of year and can use existing materials or you can plant some. 

Growing Green Fingered Kids -Idea for a fairy home. 
Flicker Miniature Backyard Fairy Gardens- A whole group that is dedicated to pictures of Fairy gardens. 
The Magic Onions - I love this fairy garden in barrel! This blog also has several links to great ideas. 

7. Plant A Garden For Imaginative Play- This is a cool idea for creating a world for Lego figurines, dinosaur, bug, animal and other small action toys. Frugal Fun For Boys- Check out the great ideas and then make your own.
Child Central Station- Dirt not your thing, here are some fun art projects for outdoors.
8. Butterflies, Bugs and Beetles- This is great for those that love watching nature and a great way to teach respect for living animals. 

The Kids Garden- Watching a catapillar change into a butterfly is a fascinating activity. 
The Flight Of The Butterflies- A 3-D IMAX movie. A must for anyone that likes butterflies. Check your community for where it's showing. 

9. Do Some Outdoor Science- Learning together about the world is a great way to convey how important our world is.
Housing A Forest- An article about regrowing celery. 
Nature Science- Amazon has a great selection of projects about nature. 

For The Children- Bugs, Worms and Slugs
10. Long-Distance Gardening Ideas- When miles separate you from your grandchildren, it's often difficult to think any of these activities could work. With photo cell phones and Skype many of the activities above could shared. Each week a picture or Skype visit could show each other how the gardens are doing. If they know your doing it too, there's a connection!

You can always send a small package full of activities, pictures, seeds, that you can then talk about over the phone, Skype or email. The Kids Garden- Free printable puzzles about gardening. 
The Best Children's Books- Choose the perfect Spring book to send. 
Live Butterfly Garden- Order your grandchild live caterpillars that will cocoon and become butterflies. You can keep track of the progress long distance. 
Cozy Seaside Homestead- How to grow a garden in baseball card sleeves, light weight and easy to send! They just have to add the dirt.



When thinking about what to do with your grandchildren, keep in mind their age and attention span. Short and fun is far better than long and laborious. It's about making happy and fun memories. Parents teach, grandparents play!

What ideas are you going to try? If you've already done something fun, share it with us?