Kids love to make crafts, help bake, get their hands dirty...

Why not plan a few simple projects to do with her? Not only will it keep her busy, you will be spending quality (and fun) time together while you're doing it.

Also, it's easy to incorporate a few simple lessons in there at the same time. For example, you can cut out simple shapes from colored paper (circles, triangles, squares, hearts, etc.) and help her create an animal or person using them. Not only will she have a good time, she'll be practicing cutting (if you feel she's ready), gluing, shape recognition, color recognition and drawing with crayons. The best part? Most crafts you make with toddlers and preschoolers can be made from supplies and scrap materials you already have around the house.

Here are a few ideas from my Creative Kids Ideas site for fun and simple crafts that are perfect for a 3-year-old. My daughter's the same age so they have all been tested out before being posted to my website.

My advice - Tap into your own imagination and keep it simple. Whether it's baking cookies, making crafts, playing with PlayDoh, taking a walk, or cuddling up to read a story, the most important thing is you and your granddaughter are building memories together.

I love colouring with kids. It gives them a chance to be creative and it also gives you a chance for some face time to get to talk to your grandaughter and ask her questions about her life without it being like an interview.

When I was three my father taught me how to read by sitting me on his lap and reading the paper with me every night. Children's stories are always good too.

You could always get her to help you cook... you can always bake when it's not mealtime.

Kids are at their most absorbent until the age of 5... anything that involves learning is a great activity to do with kids. They sell all kinds of work books and things that make learning math and other subjects seem like fun things to do.

Have fun!

I am a grandmother and also cared for alot of children. I did something with them that all ages loved. But t-shirt and different collor fabric paint with their hand the put hand prints on one an write on it my grandchild or children can't keep their hands off me, with their feet your put my grandchildren walk all over me. This is not only something to do but you get to wear it when their around and it make them feel proud of what they made.

I could sit here and give you a long, long list of things to do, but I'll save you the eye strain and keep it short and, hopefully, sweet.

1 - Potato printing - Great for motor skills and inexpensive. Just halve raw potatoes, cut shapes to stand proud of the cut surface, dip in paint and print. For homemade paint recipes, see links below.

2 - Cooking - There are plenty of things you can do with a three year old that don't require heat, knives and other unsafe elements. Try making pastry, rolling it out and making jam tarts (obviously, the adult deals with the oven). Melt a bar of chocolate and, when cooled, mix in cocoa snaps or a favourite cereal. Pile into paper cake cases and let them set.

3 - Puppet theatre - Create the theatre from an old cardboard box and make puppets and scenery. These can be as complex or simple as you like, adapted to favourite stories or making up brand new tales.

4 - Water play - Fill a bowl, add plastic beakers and cups, sieves and sponges and let your granddaughter loose. She'll learn about pouring, half full/empty etc whilst thinking she's only playing.

5 - Skittles - Paint or use marker pens to decorate up the inner tubes from kitchen towels (paper towels). Roll up a pair of (clean!) socks and use as a bowling ball. Set up the skittles and off you go.

This can also be adapted by using a variety of rolled up items (foil, tissue paper, cottonwool, wool balls) and a varied selction of cardboard boxes with the lids cut off. See how many 'balls' you can get in the boxes.

6 - Playdough and Salt dough - Recipes for these are in the links. Much cheaper than the bought versions and endless hours of fun. Salt dough can be baked, varnished and kept for a long time. Great for making Christmas decorations, or for Halloween.

I've also included a link to a website with acticities for preschoolers.

There are loads of simple ideas like this which don't need a lot of money and can keep a child happy for hours. Have fun and remember, that's more important than anything else. Enjoy!

Zoo (they are wheelchair accessible and have plenty of places to rest)

Science museum (same as above)

Coloring
Finger painting (make sure its washable =P)
Read a book together
They have Sing-Along-Songs that you can get from the library.
You could buy a kiddie pool and have her swim while you soak your feet.

Hi Twinpairs,
Here are some tips.
- Calender Walk through
Explain to your grand daughter that days, like people have their names. for example Today's name is 'Monday', Tomorrow's name is 'Tuesday' etc. Show her the day's name at the top of calender. Help her understand the passage of time, how we calculate week , month , year etc.

- Tracing Shapes
Cut out some regular shapes like Circle, Square, Triangle from a large piece of cardboard. Give your grand daughter a large sheet of paper on which to make a picture or design by tracing the shapes.Encourage her to color the picture or design.

-Newspaper Fun
Read some Newspaper Comic Strip to your grad daughter. Encourage her to enhance that strip with her own imagination/idea.

Well I don't have enough experience but one of my neighbor's daughter is 3 yrs old and she spends most of the time with me. So from that experience I can list following activities which are not too physical :-

1) Playing with doll : Just get involved with her and even pick another doll and play.

2) Talking : Girls are very talkative right from childhood. Just ask them un-necessary questions or tell stories.

3) Walking : Take her for a walk or may be to market. You know how much girls like shopping.

I hope you would try sir.

I've got a three year old daughter - here are some of the things that she enjoys doing with her grandparents:

1. “Craft” time – I use the word “craft” loosely here. Mostly she does simple things like coloring/tracing, cutting paper (at just over three it is less “cutting shapes” as it is “shredding”), playing with play-doh, etc. These types of things help her with colors, fine motor skills, creativity, etc.
2. Puzzles – Our daughter loves puzzles. At three she can handle most “basic” puzzles (like the “bug” or “Noah’s Ark” in my link below) and even enjoys trying some more “complicated” ones (like the US Map or Airport in the link below). Our daughter really likes Lauri puzzles - http://bit.ly/98w0b.
3. Cooking/Baking – At three some patience is required here (note: it’s going to be slow and messy!). I started with letting my daughter stir things (like mixing the flour, salt and baking soda in cookies) or having her “run” the mixer (switching it in different settings). From there, we’ve added “dabbing” (putting olive oil on vegetables to grill) and pouring (emptying a measuring cup something into the bowl)
4. V-tech – Our daughter has a little V-tech computer that someone got her (http://www.vtechkids.com/). They have lots of great educational toys that can help them with age-appropriate learning (like colors, numbers, letters, etc.)
5. Pretend Play – Age 3 is great – the imagination is really starting to grow. We often take a toy and develop a little story around it. One of my daughters recent favorites is for me to tell her the “story” of her stuffed animals. I talk about the polar bear’s trip from the South Pole or how her stuffed cat got to be pink. She LOVES it. Alternatively, she will come up with some of her own “pretend” situations and we just go along with them.
6. Television – Unbelievable, right! Actually, within limits it really has two nice benefits – (1) PBS Educational programming is pretty good. Our daughter has learned a TON from shows like Word World (her interest and comprehension of letters/words is up big time just by watching once a day for 30 minutes). (2) Often our parents just need a little physical break (heck, we need one too!). I don’t like TV as a babysitter, but hanging out with a 3 year old can be tiring. This can help give the break you might need to have energy to do the other things above.

This is such a wonderful age. Enjoy!

It doesn't have to extravagant. Try cooking with her, maybe baking some cookies or brownies. Or you can give her the sour cream and the dip mix in a large bowl and give her a spoon to mix it with while you chop up some carrots or broccoli, or open a bag of chips. My daughter loved to play in the kitchen at that age, and she used to pretend to feed me. Tea parties with real tea and warm cookies is a memory she'll treasure forever.

My daughter also enjoyed drawing and coloring at that age. She is very creative and also liked playdoh, which is very cheap and easy to clean up as long as she stays away from the carpet. And if it gets on the carpet, use ice cubes to freeze it then scrape it off.

Do you have a tolerant dog? My daughter used our big dog to learn how to brush gently and put barettes and ribbons in her (the dog's) hair. She also liked to get her toenails painted and play dress up. She will love if you let her go through some old costume jewelry and use it to be a princess bedecked in beautiful jewels. Reading to her, taking a walk and showing her different flowers, planting flowers, there are so many ways to bond with her that she will enjoy.

abc"s and 123"S color books learning games they make toddler flash cards you can look up how to make homemade kool aid play dough