A visit from grandparents is a very exciting occurrence in our house.  The grandparents are delighted to see the kids and vice versa.

However, due to the gap between the ages, there is sometimes a small disconnect.  The grandparents rest comfortably on the sofa while the children run around upstairs, trying to see who can dance the most like a dangerous alien.

My kids and I invented this game, and we think it's a nice way for family members of all generations to hang out.  (If you don't have any relatives visiting in the near future, your immediate family can still play this game to great effect!)

It's easy to make this game.  And the preparation itself is a great, fun activity for your children!

Before the grandparents arrive, tear up a blank piece of paper into four equal-sized pieces.  These will become your cards.

On each card, write down something to do.  A grandparent will choose a card at random and do the activity it describes!

(When our grandparents came over, the kids wanted turns to choose cards, too.  This was great -- they were both participating and entertaining the senior members of our family!)

Need some ideas for activities to put on the cards?  Use ours!  Here are some of our favorites:. . .

 

I am not just a Dad; I am a guy.  As such, I love gadgets.

I could spend the next hour extolling some of my many gadgets (my iPhone is like an additional beloved family member, much to my beautiful wife's chagrin.)  But today, I will limit myself to praise only my very most favorite gadget:  my kid analog clock.  These are both very handy and very appealing -- and I highly recommend them for you, too!. . .

 

Today's activity is just what the title says:  smooshed together letters.  And that's exactly what we'll be doing today:  smooshing letters together.

This isn't just something ridiculous for kids to do.  It's also artistic, creative, and engaging.

For starters, a lot of art and thought is put into making words and letters look interesting.  Have your kids heard of calligraphy?  And look at any billboard or magazine ad:  a lot of people definitely try to make letters look interesting!

One way to make letters look interesting is to smoosh them together.  Grab some paper and crrayons.  Have your kids choose any word -- or perhaps a name.  Your child should write this word or name and put the letters very, very close or smooshed together!

It helps to use all capital letters for this activity, but it's certainly not necessary.

Part of the fun here is too look at letters' lines and to combine them.  In the word LIBRARY, for instance, it's easy to combine the bottom lines of the L and I and make them one.  You could also try to extend that line right into the bottom of the B.. . .

The recently completed U.S. Census determined that the population of toys living in my house is approximately seventeen million.

The question, then, is:  why do my kids fight over the same single toy?  Why do they both insist on playing with the same one?  We have so many other options for them!

Well, sorry to say, that's exactly what happens.  My two boys often want the same item, which leads to discord and discontent.  That's not what we're going for.

To solve this issue, I invented a very workable solution:  the "closed lumberyard."  If this kind of inter-kid squabbling ever occurs in your home, please read on!  Today's suggestion requires more reading than most of our posts, but we think it's worth it!. . .

 

There comes a point in any young child's life when they start noticing road signs -- and puzzling over their meaning.

"Why does that yellow sign show a car with some squiggles?"

"Why is the number 35 on that sign?"

And, "Weren't you supposed to stop at that red stop sign?". . .