National Grandparents Day is soon approaching and is a special time to honor and celebrate grandparents for their ongoing wisdom, guidance, and love. This isn’t a typical commercialized holiday where gifts and flowers abound, but a time for gatherings, reminiscing, and gratitude.
There are over 70 million grandparents in the United States and, according to AARP, over half of them have grandchildren living more than 200 miles away.
Though long-distance relationships between grandparents and their grandchildren can be challenging, we have some ideas on how to make them feel special and loved — and create memories — on Grandparents Day. Here are three “gift” ideas to celebrate grandparents, no matter the distance – pick one, two, or all three on Grandparents Day!
Activity 1: Read storybooks that honor grandparents
One of the most popular ways for grandma and grandpa to make memories with their grandkids is to read a book together. When grandparents don’t live nearby, families often rely on mobile phones and tablets to communicate. But FaceTime and WhatsApp don’t let you do an activity together so kids lose interest quickly. For a seamlessly interactive and engaging storytime experience, try the Caribu App. Caribu is the #1 way for grandparents and grandkids to share storytime, read books, play games, and draw together in a video-call.
Since we have hundreds of books on the platform we’ve picked a couple of our favorites to read together on Grandparents Day.
Try out the Caribu App on Grandparents Day with these fun books:
Activity 2: Create a short “I Love You” video
Take your mobile device or tablet and record the kids describing the top three reasons why they love their grandparents. Make sure to include the Grandparents Day date, September 8, 2019, for memory’s sake. Send the video and also post on your social media channels to celebrate how much you love and appreciate grandma and grandpa.
Activity 3: Sing a song or write a poem
Help your kids write a simple song or poem. Record it and send to grandma and grandpa and delight them with a follow-up video-call with a live performance.
Go Celebrate!
We all wish our grandparents lived closer to us and that we could celebrate Grandparents Day in person with them each and every year. When that’s not possible, we are grateful for the technology that allows us to have special interactions that show grandma and grandpa how much we love them.
Near or far, grandparents guide, inspire, and mentor their grandkids and deserve to be recognized and celebrated on Grandparents Day.