Expressway: New and old games at grandma's

Long ago it was "Over the river and through the woods," as the song says, to grandmother's house for the holidays. Now it's over the bridge and onto the Long Island Expressway to grandmother's house. And I'm the grandmother.

But in some ways the holidays are still the same. The delicious smells from the kitchen are inviting. Seeing all the relatives, especially the younger generation, makes all the work worthwhile, and enjoying each other's company after we light Hanukkah candles is always fun.

But the times have changed. The interests of the different generations have changed, and sometimes it is difficult to know what my grandchildren will enjoy doing after dinner.

Before the age of batteries and electronic toys, the choices were easier. It was simple card games for the little one, like Go Fish, or Old Maid. As the children got older, Monopoly was played or checkers or chess, and everyone joined in. Nowadays computers have taken over the world.

I'm amazed at how plugged in my grandchildren are. When they come to visit the challenge is always what activity (as they call it) will keep them occupied. When my 6-year-old granddaughter, Jenna, recently came to visit, first I brought out some books, and when she quickly finished all of them, I brought out an art project. She enjoyed using the smile and frown rubber stamps leftover from my teaching days. She had fun holding the stamps on the ink pad and than transferring the image onto the paper. She enjoyed it -- but it lasted about 20 minutes. Then she was ready for something else.

The whole family joined her in playing board games. We played Clue and Headache, games that had survived intact from her mother's childhood. They were a success, and got us to lunchtime. After lunch we brought out the dollhouse that my daughter had played with all those years ago. It's a three-story house with lots of furniture and appliances in each room. Bingo! My granddaughter was entranced with all the possibilities it held. She took all the furniture out of the rooms and spent time rearranging the pieces in different spaces. No electricity or batteries -- just her imagination.

Just before she was ready to go home, she asked if she could play with my rubber-band ball. It's not really a toy, just a way to keep all my rubber bands together. She took each one off the ball and made a pile on the table. She was determined to discover how I had started the ball. She was having so much fun taking off each one that she didn't want to go home.

I said to my daughter, "No batteries, no electricity, no moving parts, just plain old-fashioned fun. You really don't need high-tech toys." My daughter then asked my granddaughter, "What would you rather have, the computer or toys like these?"

The answer was the computer.

I understand. And I will be ready. After we have all lighted our Hanukkah candles, and the little ones want an activity, I will have a computer game ready. But for Jenna I'm going to leave the dollhouse out in a prominent place, and for my grandsons Elijah, 10, and Bennett, 7, I'll have cars and trucks available.

I'm hoping that will tilt the playing field.

Reader Ellen Greenfield lives in Roslyn Heights.