Grandparents Day is one of those special classroom celebrations that can become so much more than a cute card or craft.
For young children, grandparents and special older people are often storytellers, teachers, helpers, cheerleaders, memory keepers, and favorite playmates. That makes Grandparents Day a wonderful opportunity to celebrate these relationships while also building meaningful K–2 literacy, social studies, writing, and math skills.
The goal doesn’t have to be squeezing every activity into one busy celebration. Instead, spread the learning across two days, giving children time to talk, read, write, compare, create—and then celebrate!
Day One: Begin With the Children
Start Grandparents Day learning with something children know best: their own experiences.
Ask students to think about a grandparent or special older person in their life. What do they enjoy doing together? How does that person make them feel? What makes that person special?
A simple Would You Rather? class poll can get everyone involved. Would students rather read a book, bake cookies, or play a game with their grandparent or special person?
Students can vote with sticky notes and then return to the results later for a little math! Count the votes, compare the choices, and discuss most, least, more, fewer, and same. Older students can determine how many more students selected one choice than another.
One simple activity has now incorporated speaking, listening, personal connections, and math!
Build Vocabulary Around What Makes Grandparents Special
Next, move from what children do with grandparents to what makes those people so special.
Words such as:
Kind • Funny • Helpful • Loving • Wise • Caring • Special • Memory Keepers
give young learners the language they need to describe the important people in their lives.
Pair this discussion with a favorite Grandparents Day read-aloud. As you read, encourage students to notice what the grandparent and child do together, how they help one another, and the memories they make.
Afterward, return to those descriptive words. Which words describe the grandparent in the story? What happened in the book that supports their choice?
Now a sweet Grandparents Day story has also become a meaningful comprehension lesson!
Take a Trip from THEN to NOW
One of my favorite Grandparents Day connections is helping children realize:
Grandparents were children once, too!
That’s a pretty fascinating idea when you’re five or six!
Introduce pairs of familiar items from the past and present:
Rotary phone → Smartphone
Typewriter → Computer
Chalkboard → Interactive board
Paper map → GPS
Old television → Flat-screen TV
Letter → Text message
Encyclopedia → Internet
Let students decide which pictures belong under THEN and which belong under NOW.
The best part is the conversation that follows. What changed? What stayed the same? Which item might their grandparents have used when they were children?
This also creates the perfect lead-in to a Grandparent Interview that students can take home.
Add Writing That Becomes a Keepsake
Grandparents Day writing doesn’t need to be complicated to be meaningful.
Invite children to finish a prompt such as:
My grandparent is the BEST because…
Before writing, brainstorm together. Maybe Grandpa tells funny jokes. Grandma gives the best hugs. Perhaps they bake cookies, go fishing, read stories, or simply love spending time together.
Another sweet option is having students share five things they love about their grandparent or special person.
Add a student illustration or simple craft, and suddenly the writing assignment becomes a keepsake someone will treasure.
Day Two: Read, Learn & Dig a Little Deeper
On the second day, shift from children’s personal experiences to informational learning about grandparents.
Before reading, brainstorm two categories:
Grandparents ARE…
and
Grandparents LIKE…
Children might say grandparents are loving, funny, patient, helpful, or wise. They might enjoy gardening, cooking, fishing, traveling, playing games, or spending time with family.
It’s also a wonderful opportunity to remind children that every grandparent is different.
As students read an informational mini-reader, have them listen for ideas that fit into four simple categories:
ARE • LIKE • HAVE • CAN
What are grandparents like?
What might grandparents like to do?
What might they have?
What can grandparents do?
This simple structure helps young learners practice identifying and organizing information from a text rather than simply recalling isolated facts.
Don’t Forget the Special Person
Grandparents Day can also be a difficult celebration for a child who doesn’t have a grandparent in their life or whose grandparent cannot attend.
That’s why I love giving children the option to celebrate a special older person.
The important part isn’t the title that person holds. It’s giving every child an opportunity to think about someone who loves, supports, teaches, encourages, or makes special memories with them.
Even the writing can easily be adapted. Students can write about a grandparent or special person, draw what they enjoy doing together, share some of that person’s favorite things, and explain why that individual is special.
Finish With a Grandparent Celebration ❤️
After two days of learning, a classroom Grandparent Celebration becomes even more meaningful because children have so much to share!
Instead of the celebration feeling like a completely separate event, it can become the culmination of everything students have been learning.
Children can share their writing, show off their keepsakes, talk about Then & Now, read with their guests, complete activities together, or simply enjoy spending a little special time with the people who came to celebrate them.
And isn’t that really what Grandparents Day should be about?
Not completing every worksheet.
Not creating the fanciest craft.
But giving children an opportunity to talk, listen, learn, remember, create, and celebrate the special people who help make their lives a little sweeter. ❤️
Happy Grandparents Day!
Whether you have an entire Grandparents Day event planned or simply want to weave the theme into your literacy block, a few thoughtfully chosen activities can turn this special day into meaningful K–2 learning—and create some pretty wonderful memories along the way.
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