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Family Dinner Conversation Ideas and Activities |
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Taking advantage
of regular family dinner time is a great way to enhance the time
you spend as a family and a simple way of establishing family
rituals. Here are some family dinner conversation ideas
and activities to help you get started.
Remember, these conversation ideas and activities aren't necessarily only for dinner
time. At Families with Purpose, we realize breakfast on
Saturday mornings or pizza on Friday nights works best for your
family, so don't hesitate to try some of these suggestions at a
meal that works for you.
Struggling with getting family dinners on the table? Try
using a
family meal planner to make
things easier. |
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Funny Hat Night
Activity- Have everyone in the family make or dress up existing hats and
wear them while you eat. Use the dinner conversation to
talk about the reasons for your hat or hat decorating choices.
Give an award to the funniest hat.
Take turns
picking a topic of discussion such as current events, vacation
plans, or school/work/church events. Use the topic choices
to encourage family dinner conversation and as a way of getting
the kids to develop opinions.
Have an indoor
picnic by spreading out a blanket in the middle of the family
room floor and packing a picnic lunch.
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Family Dinner Games |
For
older children and parents try this family dinner conversation
idea. Go around the table and ask everyone to name one
thing or person that either inspired or significantly affected
them during the past week. Be sure to ask them for the
reasons behind their choice.
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Try only eating
with spoons
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Change seat
nights - Have everyone switch to a different seat while they
eat.
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Dress up night
activity -
Have everyone dress up for the occasion and pretend it's a real
party. Use the dinner conversation to talk about the
reasons for your outfit decorations. Give an award to the
best outfit.
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Start a
giving box that will collect spare change for those less fortunate. Have everyone donate some spare change to the box and
use the family dinner conversation to discuss how the money should be used.
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Rather than a
picnic lunch, why not try a picnic breakfast? Avoid the heat of
the hot summer days, by heading to the park for breakfast. Keep
food simple by bringing things like muffins, fruit, and juice
boxes.
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Use family
dinner conversation to discuss the latest books everyone has been reading
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From our Visitors....
Once a month
each child gets to plan dinner. This helps with the fussy ones
as they get to plan every part from entree to vegetable to
dessert!
We have a "Celebration" dinner plate. Whenever someone has a
great day or something extra special that happened,
they get to eat off of that plate.
We always do a "Best" and "Worst" at dinner. Everyone shares
the best and worst parts of their day. This is where we often
hear about things we didn't know happened!
Marlo Moeller
lives in Troy, MI with her three daughters and husband, Jim.
When not taking care of her family, she is coaches basketball,
volunteers at her daughters' school and is a Creative Memories
Consultant. You can visit her website at
www.creativememories.com/marlomoeller
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