101 Questions To Ask Grandparents About Their Lives
These questions to ask grandparents are a great way for kids to spend time with their grandparents and get to know them better. Kids love asking questions! "Why...?" "How...?" "When...?" Rather than answering a few dozen rounds of why they have to take a bath, channel their curiosity toward getting to know some of their favorite people a little better.
As the chief present-giver, cuddler, and child spoiler in the family, grandparents can play a huge and fun role in kids' lives. But they're also people in their own right, with fascinating stories and histories. Their history is directly related to the lives of the grandkids. These questions for grandparents will help kids get to know these favorite people a little better. One great question to start with is about the names your kids call their grandparents. Do they know why they call them this?
For more fun with grandparents check out this list of 50 Fun Activities for Grandparents To Do with Kids and 10 Activities to do with Grandparents on Zoom.
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Note: If your kids don't have their grandparents around or are closer with other loved ones – like godparents, aunts, uncles, or family friends – you can use this list of 101 questions just as easily with anyone your kids love. Even yourself!
How to Pose These Questions To Ask Your Grandparents
When your kids set out to learn about their grandparents' lives, it can be a beautiful experience. Not only are their elders sharing their own memories, but new memories are now being created as two generations bond and share with one another.
There's no right or wrong way to sit down and interview a grandparent. Here are a few ideas for ways to make this question-and-answer session memorable, fun, and enlightening for the whole family.
- Get together for some lemonade and sit around the kitchen table for a chat.
- Invite them over for a surprise dinner and bake their favorite sweet treat.
- If your kids' grandparents live far away, you can send them a few questions to answer. Then the kids can video chat with them to hear their answers.
- If you meet in person, record the children asking them questions. If you do this over a few years or visits, you'll have a beautiful compilation of two different generations sharing together. You can audio or video record these question-and-answer sessions for posterity.
We've rounded up a list of 101 questions for kids to ask their grandparents about their lives. If this number is daunting, don't panic! (Or if you prefer a nice round 100, leave one out – haha). Choose 10-15 questions at a time, and ask a new round at each visit to their house. Or you can pair the questions according to your kids' ages. For example, when your kids are little, they can ask 5 easy questions of their grandparents, like "What's your favorite color?" It's fun to realize you have the same love of all things blue!
When they're slightly older, they can talk about school or favorite movies. Teenagers can introduce topics like love, and religion, and learn about their grandparents' careers.
Again, there's no perfect way to do this activity. Keep it fun and watch your little ones grow as they learn about your parents in a whole new light. You just might learn something, too!
Great Beginner Questions Ask Your Grandparents
1. What's your first childhood memory?
2. Did/do you have siblings?
3. What was your favorite hobby growing up?
4. Did you have any pets as a child?
5. What do you remember about your neighborhood growing up? Did you know your neighbors?
6. Did you have a favorite meal that you looked forward to at your house?
7. Who was your best friend during your childhood? Did you keep in touch with them later in life?
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Ask questions, go through old photos, and talk about what it was like growing up. Photo by Mikhail Nilov via Pexels
Easy Questions to Ask Grandparents for Little Kids
8. What was your favorite color growing up?
9. What's your favorite color now?
10. What's your middle name?
11. What was your favorite food at my age?
12. What's your first school memory?
13. Did you have any favorite pets?
14. What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?
Questions to Ask Grandparents About Their Parents
15. What were your parents' names?
16. Do you know the significance of their names? (family name, passed down from...)
17. How did your grandparents describe their lives?
18. What did your parents do for a living?
19. Do you remember your great-grandparents? What do you know about them?
20. Who was the oldest person you remember as a child?
21. When did your parents die? What do you remember about it?
22. What do you miss most about your parents?
"Where Were You...?" Questions to Ask Grandparents About Their Lives
23. Where were you born?
24. Where were you when Apollo 11 landed on the moon?
25. Where were you when the Berlin Wall fell?
26. Where were you on 9/11?
Scholarly Questions to Ask Grandparents
27. What was your favorite subject in school?
28. Did you participate in any clubs (art, music, sports, drama)?
29. Who was your favorite teacher, and why did you like him/her?
30. What kind of student were you?
31. Did you go to prom? What was it like?
32. Did you receive a degree in higher education? How high did you go?
33. If so, what was your major?
34. Who was your best friend in high school/college?
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Ask your burning questions about love and dating! Grandparents have great advice.
Questions to Ask Grandparents About Love
35. Do you remember any grade-school crushes? Who was your first?
36. How old were you when you went on your first date?
37. Who was your first date?
38. When, where, and how did you first meet your spouse?
39. What was your first impression of him/her?
40. Do you remember where you went on your first date with your spouse?
41. How long did you know them before you got married?
42. Describe your wedding proposal.
43. Where and when did you get married? (date, place, church, etc.)
44. Describe your wedding ceremony.
45. Who was there?
46. Did you have a honeymoon?
47. Where did you go?
48. What's a funny memory you have with your spouse?
49. What do (did) you admire most about them?
50. How long have you been (were you) married?
51. What advice would you give to a grandchild on their wedding day?
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Curl up on the couch for a long chat. You can audio or video record the talks for posterity.
Questions to Ask Grandparents About Life
52. What did you want to be when you grew up?
53. What was your first job?
54. How many jobs have you held in your lifetime?
55. Did you have a favorite job or career path?
56. Is there something you wish you'd done or pursued?
57. What advice would you give a grandchild about holding a job or having a career?
58. Are you religious? If so, what religion do you practice?
59. Do you have a philosophy or mantra you live by (e.g., the Golden Rule)?
60. What's the best piece of advice you ever received?
61. What advice about life would you give your grandchild(ren)?
Questions to Ask Grandparents About the World
62. Who was/is your favorite president? Why?
63. Are you a member of a political party? Which one?
64. What wars have you lived through?
65. Were you part of the military?
66. Do you have any striking memories of living through wartime?
67. Did you travel to any different countries in your life? Which ones?
68. What's your favorite place in the world? Why?
Host a dinner where the topic is getting to know all about Grandma.