Things for older children and grandparents to do together this Christmas

This is a collaborative post

If you have grandparents visiting this Christmas, sometimes it can be difficult to think of ways that they can enjoy spending time with their older grandchildren. Teenagers are long past wanting to get out the glitter and glue for some children's Christmas crafts, and they are too old for a visit to Father Christmas. But there are still lots of ways that older children and grandparents can have fun spending time together, and I've put together a few ideas in this post.

Help them with their tech

Older relatives often have the smartphones, the tablets, the smart watches and so on, but in my experience there is usually something that they've not quite got the hang of. Maybe they want to learn something that they've seen their friends do, they've managed to change some of the settings by mistake, or something just isn't working quite like it should. Teenagers can usually sort these problems out in seconds!

Make some videos

The teenagers in my house love making videos on their devices. Maybe they could film their grandparents talking about their childhood Christmas memories and edit them together along with other video clips and music. Or perhaps take a video of their grandparent preparing a favourite recipe or doing one of their other hobbies. They could teach their relative how to make their own videos using fun special effects and filters to share with their friends.

Go out for a walk

If the grandparents don't live locally it's nice for older children to wrap up warm and take them out for a walk to see some of the local sights. For example the way that they walk to school or the local library and shops. If you go out later in the day as it's getting dark you could visit some houses with impressive Christmas light displays.

Decorate a gingerbread house

If you don't have time to make a gingerbread house from scratch there are many kits that you can buy which have everything that you need to build and decorate a gingerbread house. Or you can even buy chocolate house kits! Either work on one together, or see who can fit the most sweets!

Photo credit Lan Gao via Unsplash

Do a jigsaw or play a board game

At this time of year I always like to have a Christmas jigsaw on the go and it's a lovely thing to work on together. Or else a board game is always fun. It doesn't need to be a long epic game like Monopoly, there are plenty of faster paced games which don't need to take the whole afternoon. A few that we enjoy are The Genius Square, Othello and Rubik's Race, which are all two player games. 

Video call friends and relatives

Grandparents love to show off their grandchildren, and maybe there are some more distant friends or relatives that they'd like to introduce them to. If the children have a particular talent like playing a musical instrument or a sport then perhaps they can share that over the call.

Watch some videos together

Video sharing sites like YouTube have a huge wealth of content. Maybe the teenager can help their grandparents search for videos of places that they lived growing up or things related to their hobbies and interests. They could show them how to put together a playlist of favourite videos that they can come back to when they are back at home.

Photo credit Tim Kilby via Unsplash

I hope that this post gives you some ideas for ways for grandparents and older children to bond while spending time together over the holidays!

Finally, if you are looking for ways to make your home more accessible to older relatives throughout the year you can find lots of mobility product solutions at Age Co Mobility.