Here are Some New Ideas to Enjoy for Grandma Fun

The category, “Grandma Fun,” on “Call Me Grandma!” was designed as a place to feature games and activities you can do with the grandkids. But grandparents need their own fun, too.

According to House Beautiful, people who take up grandma hobbies like knitting, gardening, and bird watching (offensive grandma stereotypes?), have better mental health. So, there’s that….

Recently, I was sidelined from blogging for two weeks, due to malware on my site that Blue Host, my infuriating web hosting service, took nine days and a few hundred dollars to fix. Here are some of the Grandma Fun activities that relieved my frustration and stress while I dealt with this problem.

A Novel Kind of Coloring Book

I’m not big on adult coloring books, but I found Monet Coloriages Mystères at the bookshop of the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris a few months ago. Initially, all you see are the small bits of shapes with small, colored circles on each bit. You uncover the Monet masterpiece only as you start filling in the bits with color pencils, guided by the dots, to complete the image. This is mindless entertainment—something to do while watching TV or listening to an audiobook.

Jigsaw Puzzles

The case for jigsaw puzzles to keep your mind sharp is well documented. I’m working on Liberty Leading the People, artwork by Eugène Delacroix. If you do a puzzle featuring art from your local museum, you’ll better appreciate the work when you see it in person. The next time I go to the Louvre, which hopefully is this fall, I’ll be intimately familiar with this masterpiece, which hangs near the Mona Lisa.

Make your puzzle on a foam core board purchased from an art supply store. This board is sturdy, but lightweight. If you need your table for another use, simply remove the board, puzzle and all, without disturbing the pieces.

Construction Kits

Sakura Densya, a book nook kit, nearly destroyed me. Given to me by a son one Christmas, it took me a few years to really get going with it. The way to completion is to follow steps one by one doggedly, and not try to think ahead to keep from becoming overwhelmed.

This bookshelf decoration is an open box that sits between two books. In the box is a charming. 3-D scene of a Japanese electric train (densha) with cherry blossoms over a stream. The scene is wired to light up.

There are other such kits–some may be simpler. Search construction kits for adults for a sampling.

Smartphone Photography

I don’t have the patience to learn real photography techniques, so I’m happy just using my iPhone’s camera. Before the iPhone, Steve was our family photographer; now I’m the one who documents life’s precious moments with the grandkids. I enrolled in a few online courses from iPhone Photo Academy, which were helpful. These courses often go on sale.

If you’re not on Instagram, consider joining to display your photos, With Instagram, I began to see the world differently—everything in my surroundings became a potential picture to post. I started noticing beautiful flowers on my daily walks; the glow of a sunrise outside my window.

I also made Instagram friends as I engaged with others. I started my Instagram account in 2012. After 14 years, now I post in spurts and I don’t comment as much as I used to. If you’ve never tried Instagram, consider how you might use it to see the world with new eyes.

Free Entertainment from your Library

Partnering with local public libraries, Hoopla offers the loan of e-books, audiobooks, and comics, as well as streaming movies and music to iOS, Android and Kindle devices, all for free. Unlike Libby, another good free library service for ebooks and audiobooks, there is no waiting your turn for popular media in high demand. Your selection is always available, ready to download seamlessly to your devices.

Word Puzzles

Like everyone else, I played Wordle every day during its heyday. The daily web browser version remains free.

Now my obsession is Quartiles. Starting with five sets of four tiles, the challenge is to make five words using four tiles each, and to make additional words to score 100 points. Unfortunately it’s only available on Apple News. However, there seems to be similar free versions.

The New York Times word and logic games require a NYT subscription, which we have, but selected games are available for free (with ads).

The free game I play often is Classic Words, available as an app for iOS and Android. It’s a version of solo Scrabble. The ads supporting this game are unobtrusive. However, be prepared for Scrabble words that you might not consider as words, such as “za,” and “jo” from your computer challenger.

Creating Memories for a Lifetime

Kids grow up surprisingly fast so you want to capture their childhood as they’re growing. Why not make an old-fashioned scrapbook chronicling the first year of each grandchild’s birth?

Since most photos are stored on phones, kids don’t get to look back at their baby pictures very often. Scrapbooks are fun to put together and something the grandkids might enjoy looking at, from time to time.

Next I want to make a few books, such as one featuring the various bento lunches I made for the kids through the years.

Whether you craft scrapbooks by gluing down photos and images, or create actual hardcover books using an app as my son does annually for his children, this activity can provide hours of enjoyment as you sift through photos and travel through time.

Other Grandma Fun Projects

Of course, there are still projects I hope to do with the grandkids this summer:

I’ve wanted to try selling items on Poshmark, but I don’t know how to begin and I’m loathe to take the time to learn. To get over the hurdle, I’ve proposed this as a summer project for Miss T. It would involve: 1) doing some research on how Poshmark works, 2) following up with market research about what people sell, at what prices, and how they present their items, 3) photographing the items, and 4) writing “sell” copy.

Miss T as my business partner, will get a percentage of sales, still to be determined, based on her contributions. This project will be like our pretend cookie shop game, brought to real life.

I’m ready to toss the cardboard puppet theater we made three years ago, but N wants to do another puppet play. Maybe this summer, we’ll finally get around to it. He could dictate the script and I could type it out for him so he can get his thoughts down faster.

Then, of course, there’s our summer party for the grandkids. I’m looking for new games and food ideas to refresh this annual event. I bought some small (5 Euro) prizes in Paris that I will supplement with small prizes I can buy at home.

Hope you’re having a wonderful summer!