← All articles

50 Things Kids Love About Grandma and Grandpa (and How to Turn the List Into a Book)

The "Things I Love About Grandma & Grandpa" book asks for twelve to sixteen specific things a grandchild loves — not one big statement. Fifty real examples to borrow, sorted by category, plus how the book itself actually works.

50 Things Kids Love About Grandma and Grandpa (and How to Turn the List Into a Book)

Ask a young child what they love about Grandma or Grandpa and you get, almost every time, one enormous sentence: “everything.” True, unhelpful, and not what goes in a book.

The “Things I Love About Grandma & Grandpa” theme is built the other way. It’s a list — twelve to sixteen short lines, one per illustrated page, written in the grandchild’s own voice — and the difficulty isn’t sentiment, it’s specificity. So here are fifty real examples, sorted by category, to steal outright or use as a shape for your own child’s list. Then the second half: what the finished book actually looks like, and the one detail that makes it different from every other gift on this theme.

Two rules before the fifty

Specific beats general, every time. “I love my grandma” is true of every grandchild who has ever lived. “I love when Grandma lets me lick the spoon” could only be about this grandmother, and that’s the entire difference between a nice sentiment and a page someone reads twice.

Use the kid’s actual words, not the words you’d choose for them. The best way to fill this list is to ask the question out loud — “what’s your favorite thing Grandpa does?” — and write down exactly what comes back, spelling and phrasing intact. A parent writing what they imagine sounds sweet produces something that reads like a parent. A five-year-old’s actual sentence reads like a five-year-old, which is the whole appeal of the theme.

The fifty, sorted

Things we do together

  1. I love when Grandpa lets me steer the golf cart.
  2. I love when Grandma lets me pick which movie we watch, even if she’s seen it a hundred times.
  3. I love fishing with Grandpa, even on the days we don’t catch anything.
  4. I love when Grandma teaches me her card game and pretends I’m winning fair and square.
  5. I love raking leaves into a huge pile with Grandpa just so I can jump in it.
  6. I love when Grandma and I do puzzles and she lets me put in the last piece.
  7. I love riding on Grandpa’s shoulders even though I’m getting too big for it.
  8. I love when Grandma lets me help stir, even when I get flour everywhere.
  9. I love going to the hardware store with Grandpa for no reason at all.
  10. I love when Grandma paints my nails and doesn’t mind that I move too much.

Things only they say

  1. I love that Grandpa always says “one more minute” and it’s never actually one minute.
  2. I love that Grandma calls me her favorite, and my cousin says she does too, and somehow that’s fine.
  3. I love when Grandpa tells the same story about when Mom was little, even though I already know how it ends.
  4. I love that Grandma always asks “are you hungry?” before I even walk in the door.
  5. I love that Grandpa calls me by a nickname nobody else uses.
  6. I love when Grandma says “just five more minutes” at bedtime and means it.
  7. I love that Grandpa always says I’m getting too big, every single time he sees me.
  8. I love that Grandma tells me I remind her of somebody, and it’s always a nice somebody.
  9. I love when Grandpa answers the phone the exact same way every time.
  10. I love that Grandma always says “be careful” like she means it more than anyone else does.

Food only they make

  1. I love Grandma’s pancakes, which taste different from anyone else’s pancakes and I can’t explain why.
  2. I love Grandpa’s secret recipe that isn’t really secret, he just won’t write it down.
  3. I love the cookies that are only in Grandma’s house, in the jar that’s always full.
  4. I love when Grandpa lets me have the crunchy part of whatever he’s cooking.
  5. I love Grandma’s soup when I’m sick, which somehow works better than medicine.
  6. I love that Grandpa always has my favorite snack even though nobody told him I like it now.
  7. I love helping Grandma set the table, even though I always get the forks and spoons mixed up.
  8. I love Grandpa’s barbecue, and the way he says it’s “almost ready” for an hour.
  9. I love Grandma’s kitchen smell before I even see what she’s making.
  10. I love that there’s always dessert at Grandpa’s, even on days that aren’t special.

Traditions and rituals

  1. I love our special handshake that Grandpa made up just for us.
  2. I love that Grandma always gives me a dollar for no reason.
  3. I love the same seat at the table that’s always mine at Grandpa’s house.
  4. I love that Grandma keeps a drawer of toys just for when I visit.
  5. I love the walk Grandpa and I take every single time, past the same houses.
  6. I love that Grandma always takes my picture at the door before I leave.
  7. I love our tradition of getting ice cream even when it’s cold outside.
  8. I love that Grandpa always saves me a seat on his side.
  9. I love the ornament Grandma lets me pick out every year.
  10. I love that Grandpa and I have a “thing” that’s just ours.

The little comforts

  1. I love Grandma’s hugs, which are longer than anyone else’s.
  2. I love that Grandpa always knows when I’m sad without me saying anything.
  3. I love falling asleep on Grandma’s couch and waking up with a blanket already on me.
  4. I love that Grandpa never gets tired of my questions, even the hundredth one.
  5. I love that Grandma always has a bandage ready before I even finish crying.
  6. I love the way Grandpa’s laugh makes me laugh even when I don’t know the joke.
  7. I love that Grandma remembers things about me that even I forgot.
  8. I love that Grandpa waves until I can’t see him anymore when I leave.
  9. I love that Grandma’s house always feels the same, no matter how much I’ve changed.
  10. I love that Grandpa says he’s proud of me for things that aren’t even that big a deal.

How the list becomes an actual book

The theme is called Things I Love About Grandma & Grandpa 💛, and the child is the illustrated hero throughout it, generated from a single photo of them, with Grandma and Grandpa alongside on the page. Twelve to sixteen lines like the ones above, one per page, mixing the big rituals with the small specific ones, closing on a page that ties the whole list together.

The dedication is where it flips. Every other Akoni book has a grandparent, parent or aunt sign a page to the child — “For Maya, with love. From Grandma.” This theme runs the opposite direction: the child is the one giving, so the front page reads “From Maya, to the best Grandma and Grandpa.” It is, mechanically, the same field everywhere else on the site asks a giver to fill in — it’s just that here, the child is the giver, and someone else is typing on their behalf.

The keepsake pages in the back carry a few nice, specific touches for this theme in particular: a discussion-question page that asks things like “what is a story your grandparent likes to tell you?”, and even the maze activity page has its little illustrated path leading to “grandparents’ house” instead of the usual destination. Small details, but they’re the kind that make a themed book feel actually themed rather than generic with a sticker on it.

One honest limit: one child stars per book. If there are several grandchildren giving this together, the version that tends to work is one book from the eldest, with the younger ones’ names woven into the story rather than a shared cover.

The calendar, briefly

National Grandparents Day 2026 is Sunday, September 13 — though this theme works just as well for a birthday or Christmas. If you want the exact order-by date for a printed copy and the reasoning behind it, we’ve already done that math in full here.

What you need: the child’s first name, their age, and one clear front-facing photo.

What it costs: $9.99 digital, $29.99 for an 8 × 8 inch softcover, $39.99 for a hardcover — both ship free to 55 countries and include the digital PDF. A second language is $10 more on any format.

If it doesn’t land: email within 30 days of delivery for a full refund, and they keep the book.

Make a free preview →

The other direction

This is the gift a grandchild gives. If you’re the grandparent doing the giving instead — a book about the grandchild, signed by you — the questions are different: softcover or hardcover, and how many days to leave for shipping. That guide is here.