I learned or should I say re-learned a lesson recently, when it comes to grandchildren it’s the simple things that can build lasting memories. Two of my grandsons, age 7 and 5, were spending time with me and one of the things we did was go to the playground of a nearby school. They had fun playing follow-the-leader, pretending to be the Star Wars characters and daring each other to try tricks on the high bars. But most of the time was spend scooping up small gravel rocks and piling them at the bottom of the slide. They would then slide down and crash through the rocks. After laughing hysterically we would start the piling again. This went on for about 30 minutes and then it was time to head back home. At dinner and even later in the evening they talked about how much fun we had piling and sliding through the rocks. They both expressed, “That was their favorite thing!” It all seemed so simple yet, I believe it built a lasting memory.
I recently did a camp out for my grandchildren. Our time together was completely filled with well planned activities, crafts, games, and more. At the end of the camp we sat together and I asked each one what was their favorite part of the camp. The winning activity was a very short ride within our rural neighborhood in the back of Papa’s truck with all of the cousins. The ride itself was just a couple of minutes to a much more elaborate activity we had. Who would of thunk?
I think those well planned and elaborate activities are great and fun and I love to do them, but often we just don’t have time. That’s where the simpler activities come in.
My youngest granddaughter loves to sit in the porch swing and play “bumpy road.” We start off swinging nice and smooth, then uh-oh! We start hitting the bumps in the road, and the porch swing jounces and bounces. She laughs hysterically. My two grandsons are into digging holes. The holes have no real purpose to them, but they love digging. I have to lay down rules about where you can dig and where you can’t, because otherwise my yard would look like a prairie dog town. These are activities that arose spontaneously, just like your slide play.