Interviews, Activities and Spending Time Together for Grandparents Day!

Taking place the second Sunday in September each year, National Grandparents’ Day is a chance to celebrate them and recognize the strength, knowledge, and guidance their generation can offer. Grandparents come in many forms – biological, caregivers, step-grandparents, longtime family friends and even neighbors or mentors – but they ALL have one thing in common… GREAT stories!

Kids of any age can take some time today (or really anytime throughout the year!) to sit with a grandparent and interview them – collect stories, learn and archive their history! It also provides great practice and skill building for young ones – from journalism basics, like writing and live interviewing to creative skills like coming up with the questions and harnessing good communication skills. And also… they learn the importance of storytelling and preserving family legacy.

In person? On the phone? On a video call? Any of these ways work perfectly!

Choose an option that works best for where you are geographically from your interviewee and which method your child is most comfortable with. (If the grandparent doesn’t live close by, you can still make some great memories over Zoom!)

Help kids think of some questions they’d like to ask. Here are some to help get you started:

• Did you have a favorite toy when you were little?
• Did you ever get into trouble as a child?
• Who was your best friend and what were they like?
• What was your favorite age to be and why?
• What is your favorite childhood memory?
• What was school like for you as a child?
• What is your favorite thing about being a grandparent?
• Tell me about the day we met?

Work together with your child to decide how you’re going to archive the conversation. Most phones have built-in audio recording apps. If your child is older, they might want to take notes by typing or writing. If you have access to video equipment and a microphone, that would be really special, too! Be sure to take some photos as the interview is happening to have… you won’t regret it!

Also decide along with your child how you will save and share the final piece with other loved ones. 

• Save it on your computer to listen to when you’d like
• Write a story based on the interview!
• Create a book
• Start a family YouTube Channel
• Text or email it to family members
• Do a small presentation at an upcoming holiday or family gathering

If the interview is over Zoom OR if your child prefers to just spend some quality time with their grandparent and not interview them, there’s lots of fun activities that translate well online. Here are some ideas to try:

• Complete a crossword puzzle
• Play I Spy
• Do some show and tell
• Set up a scavenger hunt with everyday items
• Make a simple recipe together
• If you sing or play an instrument, hold a concert for them!
• Read a book together!
• Create your own progressive story, flip flopping sentences
• Draw or paint each other’s portraits

We hope you found a little bit of inspiration reading through these tips and that you and your family have fun learning more about each other and capturing important memories. 

Happy Grandparents’ Day to everyone out there in that role who is leading with love and providing guidance, experiences and great childhoods to young ones. We appreciate you!