September 17, 2025

Grandmothers’ Day in the Fall – Creative Family Activity Ideas to Honor Grandma

September 17, 2025

Grandmothers’ Day in the Fall – Creative Family Activity Ideas to Honor Grandma

Creative Fall Family Traditions to Honor Grandma and Share Her Legacy

What better gift to give a senior than to connect her grandchildren to her history? What is more meaningful than spending time discussing family stories and facts with the younger generations and actually engaging them?

Why Fall Is the Best Time to Celebrate Grandma

Fall and winter are good times to plan activities that do just that. When the weather is fine, the younger set are interested in enjoying the outdoors, travel, and sports. Why not give a family gathering for this purpose the name mothers’ day in November to define its goal: honoring grandma. They can bring cards and little punny gifts. But the main activity should be a surprise with layers of what really counts to grandma. More than cake and flowers, she wants deep connection and to share her legacy.

Planning Family Activities That Connect Generations

Here’s an activity that doesn’t take much planning but will be enjoyable and meaningful for all. Buy one package of the big post-it notes that are designed for easel display or for hanging on a wall. Grab a bunch of markers and a package of glue dots.

Spend a little time at home putting together a timeline of a recent deceased forbear of your mother (or father). It should be someone that most of the grandchildren didn’t know but is of meaning to your mother. It can be a parent, sibling, aunt, or uncle of hers. Put together the main eras of her lifetime in six to ten segments. You will be devoting a post-it for each era. Verify dates and three or four main events for each such as birth and childhood in Havana, young adulthood in Miami, graduation from college, the Orlando years, marriage and birth of children in Sarasota, moves, professional accomplishments. Have someone sworn to secrecy prepare these post-its. He will write the name of the era/chapter at the top of the page as well as the main events of each right below. The rest of the post-it should be blank as photos and documents will be glued on during the activity.

Collecting Photos and Documents for Family History

The rest of the preparation is fairly simple. Gather and print copies of photos and documents you have from that person’s life. They can be newspaper clippings, immigration records, family occasions, and casual snapshots. You will bring these to the mothers’ day in November event.

How to Organise the Grandmothers’ Day Activity

When you are ready to start, choose a secretary who will hang the post-its in proper sequence on the wall. This is a good role for a child of nine or ten who is too young to be interested but will feel important to have an important job to do. He will also hang the photos on the right post-it with glue dots.

Young and old sitting around the table take turns choosing a photo or document at the top of the stack. They have to figure out who is in the photo and to which era it belongs. Then the secretary hangs it using the glue dots.

Everyone in attendance is free to help out and engage. Conversations about the event and the people in the photo ensue. Grandma has a lot to tell. Much is shared and everyone learns some family history which is laid out in order.

A Celebration of Legacy, Not a Competition

It’s not a competition or game. it’s an activity that the family does together. There are no points involved and there are no winners. Everyone gains.

If you run out of time or have too many photos and documents, you can resume the activity at another family occasion.

Creating Lasting Memories with Grandmothers’ Day

Remember to take photos. Appointing a photographer at some point is advisable.

Leave the post-its hanging in grandma’s house for a little while; she will enjoy the reminder of the wonderful time that she had as well as the memories provoked by the photos.

Caring Professionals has lots of resources for caregivers:

About the Author

Faigie Horowitz

Faigie Horowitz, MS serves as director of communication at Caring Professionals. She advocates for the senior population on the state level and writes about senior and caregiver issues. She is a columnist for several periodicals. She has spent decades in nonprofit management and serves as a lay leader and founder of several community organizations.