Many of us are fortunate to have lovely childhood memories of spending time with our grandparents. In fact, if we are really lucky, they may still be in our lives as we enter adulthood. The relationship between grandparents and grandchildren can be truly special. Having a close emotional bond with their grandparents can have huge benefits for everyone. When children have strong relationships with their grandparents, they are often more sociable, kind and generous. They also tend to have less problems with depression and anxiety. But what if the grandparents have limited mobility and live in sheltered housing, or a retirement or nursing home? Can they still spend quality time together? The simple answer is, yes!

Fun activities for grandparents and grandkids

Sometimes, visiting people at a nursing, retirement home or sheltered housing, can be a little overwhelming for young children at first. Especially as there can be a lot of people around. There can also be less space to do certain activities. But this doesn’t mean that children cannot have fun during their visit. There are plenty of activities that they can do, regardless of their grandparent’s mobility. The main thing to remember is to keep it simple, fun and child focused. Let them know this is their time, and if they have an idea of their own, just go with it. But what they do with their grandparents is not actually the important thing. It’s that they are spending time together and building a relationship that both generations will treasure forever. Here are some easy and fun ideas that also give them a great chance to chat and bond.

• Get to grips with gaming. No doubt the children have a game console, tablet or smartphone they play games on. But this doesn’t have to stop them bonding with their grandparents. In fact, they can even all play together. After all, there are some really fun educational games for youngsters and some great strategy games for older kids that you can both play together.
• Bond over baking. Culinary skills offer a wonderful way to spend time together. Together, the children and their grandparents can bake treats, which also helps the children to learn valuable skills too. Then afterwards, everyone can enjoy the yummy snacks together.
• Board games to avoid boredom. This is an ideal chance for grandparents to show the kids that there are other games than their computer versions. A board game can be a lot of fun and offers a great opportunity to chat while playing.
• Jigsaw puzzles. These are available for all ages, from the simpler to the puzzles, to the larger more complicated ones. They can be great fun to do and gives people the chance to talk while searching for the right puzzle pieces.
• Get gardening. Even if an older person uses a wheelchair, they can still enjoy getting outside to do some gardening. In fact, many sheltered housing places have that residents can look after and children can get stuck in too when they visit their grandparents.