Perk up your January!

A trip with my grand to the carousel at the mall!

Plan an excursion with your grandchild! That can get you out of the January doldrums real quick!

Got cabin-fever? Maybe you're able to get out, but it's too cold and you simply don't want to leave your home and hearth? Then plan a trip with your grandchild to take someday. I've read that even just planning a trip can add points on your happiness meter. In fact, they say planning a trip often adds more to your joy bucket that actually taking the trip. Nevertheless, being with your grand is always fun, so plan something for the next time you can be together. And I'm not talking about some grand vacation. If you're lucky enough to have a grandchild in the same town, plan an excursion in town--even if it's just sending them a formal invitation to come to your house for tea! The possibilities are endless.

I do have three grandchildren in town; and we're lucky to have a trolley that travels around our town center. We love to ride that trolley and stop at the mall and the library. How lucky are we! But perhaps your community has a bus service, and while riding the bus may seem uneventful to you, I'm guessing it would be grand fun for a young grandchild! Plan something around that!

I related in earlier blogs how I got my grandson a camera when he was about four years old. And that camera has been passed down to his sisters. With each one of them, I've planned a photo-safari on one of our excursions and snapping pictures of various landmarks and sites. Each one of them has created a book using those pictures. Today I'm writing about my youngest granddaughter. We decided to do an ABC book of her hometown. That meant we had to create a list of everything we could think of in our town--one for each letter of the alphabet. I let her do the entire list. Then we went out to take our pictures. 

I realize you could stop right there with the trip. But I am ever-the-teacher, and I like to add a book to the time with my grand. It's important for so many reasons:

• It adds to their literacy. (Why not do an activity that will add to their ability to read and write and love reading....and writing!)
• It documents their history which they can share with their children and grandchildren.
• It adds to their self-esteem.
• It enables the child and the grandparent to get together for further activities.
• It's a wonderful keepsake.

Waiting for the trolley...camera in hand!

Plan that trip!

Here are some ideas, but you'll come up with a lot more:

• Trip to the library.
• Trip to the park.
• Visit to the ice cream shoppe.
• Special invitation to a tea party at your house.
• Trip to the mall and the carousel.
• Trip to a pet store.
• Trip to a children's museum.
• Trip to a restaurant for lunch.

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Enriching the experience further by creating an ABC book!

Here are the basic steps:

1. Brainstorm with the child various sites within your neighborhood or community--one for every letter of the alphabet.
2. Go on your trip/drive and take as many photos as you can. This might be several days of picture-snapping.
3. Go to a book-making website and follow their instructions for downloading your pictures and creating your book.
4. Let the grandchild design the cover--she might even want to do it by hand, in which case you could take a picture of her drawing or scan it.
5. That's really it! I'm telling you--it will really perk up your January!

Sample cover of book.

The photographer at the ice cream shop.

A peek inside her book: "V is for Vegetables."

Just do it! Plan a trip with your grand. 

Even if you don't live in the same town, plan a side-trip with your grand when you visit them. It's great one-on-one time. If they come to visit you, same deal. Plan a small excursion in your town...just the two of you! And if you can take pictures and make a photo-book of those pictures, even better!

I've listed these book-making websites before. Give them a try:

shutterfly.com
blurb.com
mixbook.com
snapfish.com


It will eventually get warmer and the snow will melt. I'm looking forward to February and all those Valentine activities! Yippee! Come on February!

Through the SEASONS of the year with Gigi!