Grandparents Day printables are the pages children complete for the occasion: an interview about a grandparent's life, a card, a memory page, a handprint keepsake. In the United States the day falls on the first Sunday after Labor Day; in Canada it is the second Sunday in September. Other countries mark it on different dates, so check locally before you plan anything.
The reason to print something rather than buy a card is simple: a card is from the child, but a completed page is about the grandparent, and that is a much rarer thing to receive.
Choose by the situation, not by the design
If the grandparent will be there
Use an interview page. The child asks, the grandparent answers, and the page gets filled in together. This is the only version where the activity itself is the gift — the finished sheet is almost a by-product of an hour of attention.
If they live far away
Post the page with a stamped envelope inside. It gives the grandparent something to do rather than something to receive, and it comes back in their handwriting, which is the part that matters. Allow two weeks — older relatives are not fast posters.
If it is a school activity
Do not use an interview page. A third of the class will not have a grandparent available, and the activity will single them out on the day. Use an "important person in my life" page instead and let each child choose who — a neighbour, an aunt, a family friend. The children with grandparents lose nothing; the children without are not left sitting.
If the grandparent has died
The memory page works and the interview does not. Let the child write what they remember, or what the adults remember, and let them draw. Families often find this easier to do on a day that already has a reason attached to it.
A plan for the day that takes an hour
- Print the night before. Not on the morning. Printers fail on the morning.
- Do the interview first, while everyone is fresh. Six questions, no more, with the child asking.
- Put a phone on the table and record it. Ask first. This is the part the family will still have in forty years.
- Take one photograph of them together holding the page. Not posed, not everyone lined up on a sofa. The two of them, with the sheet.
- Let the child colour or decorate afterwards. It gives them something to do while the adults talk, which is the other half of the afternoon.
- Date it, name it, and photograph the finished page before it leaves the house.
What to skip: a long craft that needs drying time, anything requiring glitter near an elderly person's carpet, and any activity where the child performs while everyone watches.
See both printables
There is a matching pair, one for each grandparent, so siblings or cousins can each take one.
View them on Etsy: All About My Grandpa · All About My Grandma — instant digital downloads.
For the questions themselves, and how to run the conversation, see family interview questions.
Printing for one child or for a class
At home: print two copies on 120 gsm paper. One goes to the grandparent, one stays in the family. The copy you keep is the one that matters in thirty years.
At school: black and white, one per child plus ten spares, single-sided. Plain paper is fine — these are going into bags.
For posting: print on ordinary paper so it folds without cracking, and put a stamped addressed envelope inside. The return rate roughly doubles when the envelope is already stamped.
Always add the date and both names. It takes five seconds and it is the difference between a keepsake and an unidentified sheet of paper in a box.
What grandparents actually keep
Worth knowing before choosing what to make. The things that get kept, in roughly that order: a page in the child's own handwriting, a hand or footprint with a date on it, a photograph of the two of them from that specific day, and a drawing with a caption explaining what it is.
The things that get quietly thrown away: printed certificates with no handwriting on them, crafts too large to store, anything that needs a shelf, and anything the child clearly did not make themselves.
The rule behind it is consistent. What survives is what carries a trace of the child at that age — handwriting, a hand outline, a spelling mistake. Neatness is not the goal, and a tidied-up page is worth less than a messy one.
This is also the argument against buying something. A grandparent who is given a gift says thank you and puts it somewhere. A grandparent who is handed a page about their own first job, written out in pencil by a seven-year-old who got two words wrong, tends to read it twice and then show it to someone. The asymmetry is large and it costs the price of a sheet of paper.
One last thing worth doing on the day, which takes no preparation at all: ask the grandparent to write one line on the back in their own hand — a message, a recipe, the name of the street they grew up on. Handwriting is the thing families search for afterwards and almost never have enough of.
Frequently asked questions
When is Grandparents Day?
In the United States, the first Sunday after Labor Day. In Canada, the second Sunday in September. Other countries use different dates, so check before planning.
What is a good Grandparents Day gift from a child?
A completed interview page in the child's handwriting, ideally with a photograph of the two of them taken the same day.
What can classes do if a child has no grandparents?
Use an "important person in my life" page rather than a grandparent-specific one, and let each child choose who they write about.
How do we include grandparents who live abroad?
Post the page with a stamped envelope, or fill it in on a video call with the child asking and an adult writing.
What age are these printables for?
Four and up. Younger children draw and dictate; from about seven they write it themselves.
What do I receive when I buy one?
A PDF, downloaded instantly and printed as many times as you need. Nothing physical is shipped.
More family keepsake printables
This guide is part of our family keepsakes collection.