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Things to Do with Grandchildren at Home: 12 Ideas, Ages 3 to 8
Things to do with grandchildren at home, ages 3 to 8: twelve screen-free ideas sorted by your energy, from chair-led yoga to a garden bug hunt.
The best things to do with grandchildren at home are short, screen-free and matched to how much energy you have that day, not how much they have. Below are twelve ideas for ages 3 to 8, sorted into three groups: four you can run from your chair, four at the kitchen table and four for when you're up and about.
Chair-led yoga, the first idea, is when you stay seated and call out the poses while your grandchild makes the shapes on the floor.
Choosing by your energy, not theirs
Most activities for grandparents and grandchildren assume you both have the same energy. You don't, so pick the group that suits your knees today and let the child do the running about.
All twelve suit ages 3 to 8, with notes where a younger child needs a hand. Fun things to do with grandchildren at home shouldn't need a shopping trip: cards, old photos, kitchen roll, a sheet and some music cover the lot. Check the parents' rules on sweets and screens first, and use theirs.
12 things to do with grandchildren at home
From your chair
1. Chair-led yoga
You sit in a solid chair and call out a pose, and your grandchild makes the shape on the floor. The names do the explaining: a star, a flower, a rabbit. On a mat with fifteen numbered poses, you call a number and they hunt for the picture. A rug works if you call names.
2. Snap and pairs
The card games you grew up with still work. For a three-year-old, play pairs with eight cards face down and help with the turning. From about five, snap is loud and fair, because being older doesn't help you win. You deal, they shout, and you stay seated.
3. The photo box
Get out the old photographs, especially the ones of their mum or dad when they were that age. Children are often amazed that their parent was once small and muddy. Tell the story behind each picture and let them pick one for your fridge. Best from about age 4.
4. Musical statues, with you as judge
You run the music from your chair and decide who moved. They do the dancing. For under-fives, play without anyone out: a wobble just earns a round of applause from the judge. Seven- and eight-year-olds like a turn as judge, which makes you the statue, sitting down.
At the kitchen table
5. Bake your recipe, not a new one
Make the biscuits or scones your family has always made, from the card in your handwriting. A three-year-old can tip in and stir; a six-year-old can weigh, crack an egg and watch the timer. The oven and the sharp knife stay your jobs. Save one for their mum or dad.
6. Cress on the windowsill
Lay damp kitchen roll on a saucer, sprinkle cress seeds over it and put it on a light windowsill. Keep the paper damp. Cress is quick, which suits a young child's patience, and it gives them something to check on next visit, or a photo to receive if they live further away.
7. Sock puppets and a show
Odd socks become puppets: felt-tip faces for the youngest, buttons or wool you stitch on for older children who want to keep theirs. The back of the sofa is the stage and you're the audience in your armchair, which is the best seat in the house.
8. Something your hands already know
Finger knitting, sewing on a button, shelling peas, polishing shoes: whatever you learned as a child and still do without thinking. Show it once, slowly, then let them have a go. Most suit age 5 and up. It becomes a skill they connect with you.
Up and about
9. A den from sheets and chairs
Two chairs, a clothes horse, a sheet and some pegs make a den in the living room. Your job is the engineering; theirs is the furnishing, with cushions, a torch and a teddy. Anyone who helped build it is usually allowed inside, so make sure you help.
10. A garden bug hunt
Lift a few pots, stones and logs in the garden or the park and see who lives underneath: woodlice, worms, snails, the odd beetle. Count them, name them, then put every stone back as you found it. A magnifying glass is a bonus, not a requirement.
11. Hunt the thimble
Send them out of the room, then tuck a thimble or a clothes peg somewhere visible but unexpected: on a picture frame, a plant pot, the edge of a shelf. Call them back in and guide them from your chair with "warmer" and "colder". A three-year-old needs a bigger target, such as a teddy on a cushion. Older children like making you do the searching.
12. A walk to the post box
Draw a picture or write a card for their mum or dad, address the envelope together and walk it to the post box. The walk is short and has a purpose, and post landing on their own doormat a few days later is a small thrill.
How do you entertain young grandchildren without wearing yourself out?
Let them do the moving while you do the organising. Keep each activity short, and be the caller, the judge or the audience rather than the one running about. A young child needs far more activity than you do, and these games are built around that.
On days they'd rather play alone, or ask for the tablet they have at home, don't sell the activity. Start it yourself; plenty of children wander over once something is happening without them.
You still count. The NHS guidelines for older adults say adults aged 65 and over should aim to be physically active every day, even if it's just light activity, and the NHS counts moving around your home as light activity. For moves of your own, it has a set of sitting exercises done in a solid, stable chair without wheels.
Your grandchild needs much more. The NHS says 3 and 4 year-olds should be active for at least 180 minutes a day, and children aged 5 to 18 should average at least 60 minutes of moderate or vigorous activity a day across the week.
A rainy afternoon, a holiday morning and a Christmas visit
Three or four in a row, lively first and quiet last, turn a visit into a plan.
A rainy afternoon
For things to do with grandchildren on a rainy day, try musical statues (4), then build the den (9), then take the photo box (3) inside it with a torch. That's about an hour, mostly sitting down for you. There are more in our rainy day activities for kids.
A morning in the school holidays
If you're wondering what to do with grandchildren in the holidays for a whole morning, start outside with the bug hunt (10) and the post box walk (12). Back home, set up the cress (6), then play snap (2) while lunch cooks.
An afternoon in the Christmas holidays
Bake your recipe (5) after lunch and do chair-led yoga (1) while it cools. Finish with a puppet show (7). Still choosing presents? Our gifts for grandchildren follow the same idea: presents you'll still be using together months later.
What do grandchildren enjoy at 3, 5 and 8?
What a grandchild wants from your time shifts between 3 and 8. Roughly:
- Ages 3 to 4, short and close to you: chair-led yoga (1), musical statues (4), cress (6), the den (9) and hunt the thimble (11).
- Ages 5 to 6, rules and turns: snap (2), baking (5), sock puppets (7) and the bug hunt (10).
- Ages 7 to 8, trusted with something real: the stories behind the photos (3), a skill of yours (8), running musical statues (4) and writing the card (12).
If you've read that grandchildren lose interest at a certain age, there's no set age for it. What changes is who leads, which our guide on how to bond with grandchildren covers, near or far.
What should you keep ready at your house?
One box with the bits these twelve need, so a visit doesn't begin with a search of the cupboards: a pack of cards, an old sheet and a handful of pegs, a torch, odd socks and felt tips, a packet of cress seeds, and envelopes with stamps. Add whatever your grandchild asks for twice.
Frequently asked questions
What can I do with my 3 year old grandchild?
Keep it short, physical and close. A three-year-old does well with musical statues where nobody is out, cress on a windowsill, a den made from a sheet, or copying animal poses while you call them out. Plan on ten to fifteen minutes each, so three or four short activities rather than one long one.
What are free things to do with grandchildren?
Nearly all of this list is free. Card games, the photo box, hunt the thimble, a den from sheets, a bug hunt and a walk to the post box cost nothing, and cress seeds and kitchen roll cost very little. The stamp for the card may be the only thing you buy.
Can I do yoga with my grandchild if I can't get down on the floor?
Yes. Sit in a solid chair and lead: you call the pose, they make it on the floor. If you'd like to move too, the NHS has a set of sitting exercises and suggests a stable chair without wheels or arms. It says to check with a GP or a health professional involved with your care if you're not sure they suit you.
How long should an activity with a young grandchild last?
There's no official figure. As a rule of thumb, plan ten to fifteen minutes for a three- or four-year-old and up to half an hour for a seven- or eight-year-old, and stop while it's still going well. A quiet activity last makes the handover to their parents easier.
A mat that stays at yours
If chair-led yoga catches on, it helps to have the poses on the floor. Our kids' yoga mats have 15 numbered poses laser-engraved into the surface, so you call a number and your grandchild finds it. They're designed for ages 3 to 8 but made full length, 183 x 61 cm, so a grown-up can use one too, and each weighs 800 g with a carry strap.
Mats are £34.99 with free UK delivery, and two or more are 10 per cent off: one for your house and one for theirs.
