These dinner table topics for kids will help you bond with your children during dinnertime. If you are looking for a way to get the entire family engaging, this is an easy way to do it.
Dinnertime is my favorite part of the day – literally. But sometimes, the children are so preoccupied or disengaged that they only provide my husband and I with one worded answers.
The truth of the matter is that my family has 5 very distinct schedules which pulls us all in very different directions. Thankfully, when that dinner bell rings, we come together. It’s our total reset. I am so thankful for it! Fun questions for kids are a big part of that!
Table Topics For Kids – Get Your Children Talking
Growing up, it wasn’t like that for me. I come from a family of divorce and spent many nights eating alone in front of the TV while my mother ate dinner with my grandmother.
Family conversation starters ensure that we pull back in together whenever we start to drift apart. It’s the gem in my back pocket that I pull out when I feel like I need a little surprise for the kids.
Related: Weekly Family Meal Planner Download
Dinner Conversation Starters For Kids
Getting the kids to open up can be challenging. More times than not I usually get one of three answers:
- Good
- Fine
- Everyone
And to be honest with you, it doesn’t matter what question I’ve asked my child – the answer is always one of those three. Even if the answer doesn’t make sense.
Related: 100 Never Have I Ever Questions For Kids
Conversation starters for kids are the ultimate ice breaker and seriously – I know what you are thinking. WHY DO I NEED AN ICE BREAKER FOR DINNER? But it is so fun! We all look forward to whipping out this book. I swear!
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We use the Q&A a Day for Kids: A Three-Year Journal to get us started and then have the kids record their answers. What a beautiful memory collector we are creating while we are at it, right?
When we use this book, the questions for kids usually help our little ones remember other fun things that happened during their day which – in turn – gets us rolling on a fun journey.
No more silent nights. Table topics for kids are exactly what they need to independently take the stage and recreate entire moments. And we just love sitting back and watching it all.
Questions To Ask Kids
If you are looking for ideas or ways to start the conversations at home and are not ready to purchase the above-mentioned journal, start off with these simple questions for kids:
- Tell me something “good” that happened during the day.
- Tell me something “bad” that happened during the day.
Maybe nothing bad happened and that’s always great to hear – but we give the option to share. More times than not there’s always a bad. The parents share as well. I think that’s very important! Parents should always participate because children need to see everyone involved to fully engage in the activity.
You can also vary the questions slightly with these table topics for kids:
- Tell me your favorite part of the day.
- Tell me your least favorite part of the day.
- Tell me what you hope happens tomorrow.
- Tell me what you wish you did today that you didn’t.
You catch my drift. It’s just a prompt.
- Tell me something hilarious that happened in school today.
- Tell me the most active thing you did in school today.
- Tell me something fun you did with friends.
- Tell me something you plan on doing with your friends tomorrow.
These are just the beginning of the story. You can then ask for more details based on your children’s answers. I’m telling you, it’s the only way to truly get my kids to SPEAK.
I have to be honest with you though. I highly recommend that you get the actual Q&A a Day for Kids: A Three-Year Journal because like I said, it also acts as a memory maker. A keepsake that you can reference for years to come. We love to look back at what our kids wrote many years ago. It’s so much fun.
And if you miss a few days, it doesn’t matter. We don’t go in order with our dinner conversation questions. We sort of skip around as we see fit. Work this tool however you’d like.
Need some more tips?
Don’t worry, I won’t leave you hanging. I have more ideas for you to consider.
Question of the Day Jar: This is so much fun and SO easy to do. Have everyone in the family jot down question prompts that you can reference during mealtime. Then simply grab a piece of paper and discuss! I love how one question can lead to a story filled with memories!
Family Journal: This is such an easy idea! Keep a family journal in the kitchen and make it accessible to everyone in the house. When something great happens, encourage the kids to jot it down. Then, if someone wrote something, allow them to bring it up during dinner. What a perfect time to talk about greatness!!
Dreaming About Dessert? Play a Game!! This is something we do and it’s pretty fun for the kids. We usually have dessert a few times a week and we play a game to decide who gets to choose what kind it is.
It could be anything! Card games, board games, Hot Potato! You name it! Ice cream seems to always win out and hey – no one is complaining about that.
During the game, there’s a lot of conversation about anticipation, competition, smack-talking, laughs – it’s a GREAT TIME TO BE HAD BY ALL!!! When cookies are on the line, everyone is IN.
Hopefully, this table topic list of questions will help you and your family begin a great conversation during dinner time! Do you have any table topics questions or prompts that you ask your children? This is something we plan on doing forever and I have a feeling you will be doing the same for the rest of your life.