It's the school holidays, the CHIC OUF will be arriving (Chic they're coming, ouf they're leaving)... Mum and Dad are working, so you may have the great pleasure of looking after your grandchildren for a few days.

Here are a few ideas to keep them occupied - get inspired!

Cooking.

This is one of the favourite activities to do with grandma and grandpa. It's also a wonderful time for sharing, learning (we weigh, we calculate) and tasting pleasure. What could be more wonderful than introducing them to new flavours, your favourite recipes, or even letting them invent a dish or dessert? After all, we can try new things at home!

Personally, I love making crepes with a design. You add cocoa to half the pancake batter. You can put the two batters in two bottles and when the pan is hot, you draw the crepe in two colours, pouring in the light batter and the dark batter. You can also use food colouring to make colourful pastries.

Walking in nature:

It's good for everyone's health! And autumn is a season rich in discoveries. Find and observe mushrooms. Touch the trees and listen to their music. Observe their leaves. You can also collect dried fruit for a snack or to make crafts. There are lots of ideas on this site.

Sharing family memories :

Get your scrapbooks! Children love true stories and those of their parents as children. You can also create albums with them, using old photos or photocopies.

You'll find books for this purpose on this site. Collect memories to pass on to your grandchildren. It's the family memory. We'll soon be offering you a copy through a competition on the www.senior.life network.

Play board games, draw or play traditional card games.

My grandfather used to play stinky jack with me and battle. It's a wonderful memory. My grandmother used to make "exquisite corpses": you each draw the head of a man, fold the sheet and pass it to another person, then you draw the body, fold and pass, then you draw the legs and so on. At the end of the drawing, you unroll it and it's fun to discover the man everyone has drawn.

Making works of art.

We're already laughing as we think about the feedback from parents and the paintings or sculptures your darlings will be bringing home. Children are artists, they create wonders. You could take them to the museum and ask them to pose like the artists, take photos of the ones they like best and copy them, or let them express themselves freely by painting on giant canvases.

Mandalas are another good idea. Colouring is an excellent exercise in calm and concentration. You can even use the plates and dishes in the kitchen to draw your own. Or glue leaves from the garden together.

Making music

Use the pots and pans around the house to create a family concert. Don't forget to record them! If you have any of these nuggets, let us know at www.Senior.life!

Knitting or crocheting:

This is a great activity for them! They love it. Why not try your hand at making a winter hat or scarf?

And let's not forget intelligent television

The kind we don't watch with our children, but with them, laughing with them and explaining things they don't understand. Depending on their age, revisit the old Disney films (they remind us of our youth) or Louis de Funes?

If they're coming for several days, you could even draw up a schedule with them of the activities you're going to do.

We hope you have a wonderful time, and if you have any other ideas, please share them with us at www.senior.life.