Packing Activities in a Suitcase
One of the topics we discussed at our second Grandparent Meetup was how to nurture relationships with grandchildren who live far away. Favorites were frequent visits, FaceTime and Skype conversations, affectionate notes mailed regularly, and photo books.
A follow-up conversation with a longtime friend of mine added a new dimension: “When I visit my grandchildren out of state, I pack ‘take-along’ activities in my suitcase, things that we can do together without having to go out and buy anything. I’ve been doing it ever since they were babies, and so now the first thing they ask me when I arrive is “What’s in your suitcase, Grandma?””
I thought this was such a good idea that I asked Gail to describe a few of the activities she has prepared for her grandchildren recently. Here are her contributions:
Cooking on the Road
“One travel kit that I planned for a cooking project was apple crisp – my brother has an orchard and apples travel well in a suitcase.
“I took the recipe and all of the ingredients (measured and packaged in sandwich bags) and we peeled, chopped and baked together. And, it was a delicious treat for the whole family.
“We have also taken apples to make applesauce…. This is a fun activity to peel, chop, cook, smash with potato masher, add cinnamon, sugar, lemon juice and sample when cool.
“Another trip, I took everything to make our traditional family sugar cookies. Again, I took the recipe, special ingredients that they might not have in the pantry and all of my sprinkles and cookie cutters. We had a delightful day of baking, talking and sampling!
Writing a Story Across the Miles
“Also, another thing that I love doing with my granddaughter is that we are writing a chapter story via mail. She loves getting mail! We decided over the phone what types of characters, the names of the characters, whether they were family or friends and so on. Then, I wrote an introduction, with the characters and a few details… and started an adventure. Our animal friends have a new adventure with each chapter. We decided at the beginning that new characters could be added as we continued the story. We have been telling stories since Adessa was very young… so good for the imagination and she is very skilled at including many little details. I wanted to see what she would do when she started writing. Her chapters are brief, but she is thinking up the story line on her own. She just started first grade this year. I sometimes draw or insert a picture. Although, I’m not really an artist I can include simple sketches with colored pencils.
“We have been [illustrating our] letters since the children were very young. Our grandson is younger, just turned 3, and we wanted to send him letters so he wouldn’t feel left out. So, we send him a letter with fun facts about an animal that we choose. We google fun facts online and choose several interesting facts and then either draw or insert a picture of the animal. He also loves to get mail! And, of course we include a personal little letter to both children.”
Traveling Scarecrow
I loved Gail’s ideas so much I started dreaming up activities for my own distant granddaughters, although they are all less than a year old so far. (Doesn’t hurt to plan ahead, does it?)
Bean and I made a scarecrow this year for Halloween. Looking at our creation, I realized that I could easily pack a shirt, pants, scarf, hat and an old pillowcase with some string, safety pins and a permanent marker into a suitcase. No matter whether I travel to San Diego, San Jose, or Washington DC, we could create a porch or window decoration just like Bean and I did.
Sew Together
Another easy-to-pack activity is a beginning sewing kit. Needles, thread, thimble, scissors, and a pre-cut potholder, sachet pouch, or other simple project all fit nicely into checked baggage, and can be left behind in a zip lock bag or hand-crafted pouch fashioned by Grandma!
The Legacy Project has lots of ideas for introducing grandchildren to family history, and a take-along project could be creating a small scrapbook of pictures and information about some of the members of your family.
When Bean was two, I made a board book for her with pictures of several members of her extended family so that she could learn who they were before they arrived for the holidays that year. With an older child, you could create the book together. Gather the photos from your shoebox or hard drive, order a Blank Board Book, pack scissors, archival glue sticks, markers, and scrapbooky stickers or page decorations, and you have a traveling family album project.
Obviously, there are many types of activities that lend themselves to traveling in a suitcase. I’d love to hear some of your ideas!
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I think that the take a long kits are a wonderful idea. Another idea similar is if a second grandchild is coming and you wont be around to help try to think up some small snack bag size type of activities for the toddler to do on their own.. You can then send them to the mom to be and when she is trying to juggle a new baby and a toddler she can pull out one of your little bags to entertain the toddler when she most needs it. She will love you for it. Make sure that its not too messy and doesn’t take much in the way of adult help. Even a few toy cars or a new coloring book and crayons can entertain for 10 minutes. That 10 minutes might make a huge difference to the new Mom.
I love your idea of the toddler bags, Jill. I’m still basking in the radiance of four “first” babies, but if a second comes along in any of our families, I’m definitely going to make some of those. Thanks for contributing!