How to Bond from a Distance as a Grandparent

Share Family Recipes
Your own bubby’s sweet noodle kugel recipe can live on through generations with the help of your grandchildren and the Internet. Plan a monthly cooking session that begins with an email exchange of a recipe and grocery list. When it’s time to make the meal, log on to Skype and let loose your inner Barefoot Contessa. Tell stories about your bubby while you cook. It won’t be long before your grandchildren engage in the family history and open up about their own experiences.

Play a Game
Check out the Games section of Grandparents.com. Across the miles you can do crosswords, sudoku, word jumbles, and jigsaw puzzles. Also, help develop your grandchildren’s strategic thinking skills by playing online chess. You can join a free Web site, such as Chess.com, to have access to live matches or to turn-based matches, which allow you to ponder moves for days. Parents will have to sign up as guardians for children twelve and younger.

Teach Morse Code
Teach your grandchildren Morse code. Children love secrecy, and they’ll want to teach their friends after they learn. This could be done via email with simple “dots” and “dashes” such as SOS being “... - - - ....” Note how educational this activity is, too! And when any two people share a secret (or a code), a strong bond develops.

Bird-Watching Challenge
Both of you can carry around a notebook, pen, binoculars, and a camera as you explore your respective neighborhoods in search of birds. Make notes on birds you see and use field guides to identify them. Exchange photos online. During migratory seasons, this could be especially interesting. And the search really turns into a bonding activity when your grandchildren spot a new bird and get excited about it. Of course, you’ll return the enthusiasm in kind!

Play Twenty-Questions via Email
This can be an ongoing game, with you setting the level of difficulty higher and higher. The neat thing about doing this by email is that it’s a process that can take a few days or a few weeks. The continuous back-and-forth helps keep the lines of communication open.

Originally published on Grandparents.com