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Family Dinner Can Be All Fun and Games: Games & Conversation Starters for Family Dinner Fun

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Does dnner conversaton sometmes lag n your house? Do you need dstractons so that the battles don’t start over the food beng served? Or perhaps you just want to some deas to make famly dnners more fun? No matter the reason, we’ve got you covered! We’re sharng our favorte creatve and slly famly dnner games and conversaton starters that wll get everyone talkng and make dnnertme fun agan.

Table Of Contents
    Famly Dnners: A Tme for ConnectonFamly Dnner GamesFamly Dnner Conversaton Starters

Famly Dnners: A Tme for Connecton

Famly dnners offer a valuable opportunty to connect wth one another, share about our days, and teach socal graces. But f we put too much pressure on all that famly dnners are supposed to be, t can start to become a tenson-flled tme rather than a joyful one. Gven how mportant dnnertme s, we want to make sure that famly dnners reman a postve experence for everyone and that’s where games and conversaton starters can come n handy – they are a great, easy way to make dnnertme fun.

Whle famly dnner at our house s usually a tme of checkng n and sharng, there are evenngs when we play games or use fun conversaton starters to keep the chattng fresh and the dnner table lvely. Sometmes we use them just to break the ce and sometmes they wll last all dnner long.

Below are some of our favorte dnnertme games and conversaton starters. Some help chldren develop ther vocabulary, spellng, or countng sklls. Some buld ther socal sklls. And some are just plan fun.

Famly Dnner Games

Some of these famly dnner games are purely slly and fun, whle others can help to strengthen conversaton and speakng sklls, and even academc sklls, too!

Speech Club

Each famly member has to talk for 30 seconds (use a tmer) wthout preparaton on a topc someone else chooses wthout sayng “um” or “lke” or pausng for more than 2 seconds. Subjects can nclude anythng from eggs to Italy to autumn.

Progressve Story

Ths s a great one for large famly gatherngs. The famly tells a story wth everyone at the table gong around and addng just one word.  When someone wants to end the story they can say “perod.”  The stores can be hlarous (especally f you do what we’ve done and ban “potty talk” at the table, lest all the words nvolve a bodly functon).

“Made You Say”

Scramble founder Avva Goldfarb’s husband Andrew developed a slly famly dnner game that really gets the kds talkng about ther days.  You ask them dfferent questons that all begn wth, “Tell me somethng that happened today that made you say…”  The last word ranges from “huh?” to “cool!” or “darn!” or “that’s werd.”  It’s amazng how ths smple game nspres them to share stores about ther day and chme n on dnner table talk. 

Name the Move or Book

Famly members take turns rectng a lne from a favorte chldren’s book or move (that everyone at the table s famlar wth) and others have to guess where t came from. Sometmes we throw n song lyrcs to.

Would You Rather?

Take turns posng unappealng (but approprate) choces to each other. Here are some deas to get you started: Would you rather walk across hot pavement n bare feet or hold an ce cube for 30 seconds? Would you rather brush your teeth wth soap or drnk sour mlk? Would you rather lose your sense of taste or your sense of smell?

Famous Person Game

One person secretly decdes on a famous person (everyone needs to be famlar wth who t s) and then acts lke that person durng dnner untl someone guesses to correct famous person. Then t s someone else’s turn!

Two Truths and a Tale

Everyone takes turns sharng three thngs that happened n ther day. Two are true and the thrd sn’t. The rest of the famly then has to decde whch one s not true.

The Mysterous Dsease Game

One person s selected as “The Doctor” and they leave the room whle the rest of the people at the table agree on a mysterous llness (e.g., they thnk they are cats, they can only sng lyrcs to songs, they wnk every tme they talk, etc.). When “The Doctor” returns, s/he asks questons of the “patents” who answer accordng to ther llness but wthout sayng what t s. The game ends when “The Doctor” dentfes the mysterous dsease (or close enough to t) or when they have asked 20 questons, whchever comes frst. Then someone else becomes “The Doctor.”

I’m Gong on a Pcnc

Ths s a classc memory game. You take turns gong around the table addng tems to the pcnc basket and repeatng all of the tems that have already been added to the pcnc basket n the correct order. For example, “I’m gong on a pcnc and I am brngng an apple.” “I’m gong on a pcnc and I am brngng an apple and a sandwch.” “I’m gong on a pcnc and I am brngng an apple, a sandwch, and a rado.” “I’m gong on a pcnc and I am brngng an apple, a sandwch, a rado, and a blanket.” A player s elmnated when they can’t remember the tems or put them n the wrong order.

Alphabet Game

“We have young kds – so we do alphabet games. Everyone goes around (n order) and names a word that starts wth A, the next person wth B, so forth. As they get older, they can also spell the word.”  –Beverly Cook Halpern, Plano, TX

Guess the Anmal

“We do an anmal guessng game, knd of lke twenty questons but wth actual answers to keep thngs easer for the lttle ones. Ths works great untl my husband pcks an anmal no one knows, lke a wallaroo.” –Trud Benford, Washngton, DC

Spn the Dredel

“We spn a dredel to get my almost 4-year-old son to eat. He eats the meat, vegges, starch or drnks water based on what letter the dredel lands on. My 6-year-old daughter came up wth ths dea last wnter, and t works well.”  –Trace Cohen, Sngapore

Food Mash

“We play a game we call ‘Food Mash.’ It works best wth three people. Everyone thnks of a basc ngredent (preferably unprocessed, but certanly no more complcated than a condment) but keeps the tem to themselves. Then we all announce our tems and collaboratvely try to thnk up a dsh that would be somewhat palatable featurng all of the ngredents (we allow the addton of other mnor ngredents). More often than not, we can thnk of somethng we’d all eat.”  –Molly Thompson, Bozeman, MT

Famly Dnner Conversaton Starters

Want a great conversaton starter at your next famly dnner?  Here s a lst of some of our favortes:

    What was a hgh pont of your day and what was a low pont? What s the worst food foul you can thnk of? (Examples mght nclude, eatng all of the M&Ms out of tral mx, leavng less than a servng of ce cream n the carton, leavng only one ce cube n the ce cube tray) If dogs could talk, what do you thnk they would say? If you could pck only one treat to enjoy for the rest of your lfe what would t be? If you could meet any storybook or novel character who would t be and why? What s a skll you would lke to learn and master and why? What was somethng beautful that you saw today? What was somethng knd you dd for someone else today? What are you grateful for? What s your favorte thng about our famly? If you could do any job for a day, what job would you do? If you couldn’t watch TV or go onlne for a month, what would you do wth that tme? What s your favorte famly tradton and why? What s the one food you wsh you knew how to cook? If you could desgn your dream treehouse, what features would t have?

There are, of course, some meals where the kds just don’t feel lke talkng much, and others where they won’t stop nterruptng each other and us. But we fnd the meals where we all happly engage n conversaton to be some of the most memorable tmes for us as a famly.

By the way, f you’re havng too much fun at the table to end the meal, extend t by servng these delcous Pumpkn Chocolate Chp Cornmeal Muffns for dessert.

Want another way to make famly dnners more pleasant? Check out The Scramble’s famly-frendly meal plans to see just how smple gettng dnner on the table can be.

What famly dnner games and conversaton starters keep your famly happly seated and engaged at the table? I’d love to hear your deas n the comments!

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