When my brother and I were young children, there was a period during which both of our parents were working full time and our grandparents watched us during the day. And I was thinking about that time the other day and realized how much our grandma and grandpa taught us while they were caring for us.
Naturally, my grandparents had a role in teaching us how to be nice to each other and how to use good manners and things of that nature, but they also taught us a lot of practical skills. My grandmother taught me how to sew a button. She would give me an old sock and her tin of random buttons, and I would just keep sewing on buttons until my fingers hurt. My grandfather taught us how to play the card game, Uno. He also taught my brother how to play chess, but I didn't have the patience for it at the time. He was a woodworking hobbyist, and he taught us how to hammer a nail and use a vise to hold things while you were working on them.
These may seem like small little everyday memories, but now that my grandparents are gone, they mean the world to me. I want to document those memories, so my kids have some insights into my relationship with my grandparents. I also want my kids to think about what their grandparents have taught them (and are still teaching them).
I created these simple printables for getting kids to think about how their grandparents have been a teacher to them. Please feel free to use them with your family, playgroup, or church group. This activity is not limited to children - adults can and should also write about or draw what their grandparents taught them. My intents for these worksheets are: 1.) To get families talking about the importance of the grandparent-grandchild relationship and 2.) To provide a concrete, kid-friendly way in which to document some of our everyday memories of our grandparents. (Click on either image to download the two-page PDF.)
Five Important Things Grandparents Can Teach Grandchildren
10 Things Grandchildren Can Learn From Their Grandparents
©2017-2024 Emily Kowalski Schroeder