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Did you know that sharing meals with your family is good for you and your kids? This round up 10 Fun Family Dinner Games and Ideas will help you make meal times more fun while you make memories together, too!
These days, we’re spending a lot more time eating at home. And all that together time may start to feel a little monotonous. Someday we’ll get back to our busy lives of being on the go but either way, I think connecting around the dinner table and some fun family dinner games should be a priority. Whether it happens once a week or every day, it matters!
Whether you’re cooking from scratch or not, it’s the time together, with the electronics tuned off or put aside, that can truly make the difference. (P.S. one bonus of home-cooked meals though is spending more time in the kitchen making it!) What is important is to be together, not who prepares the meal or what is being served.
Benefits of Family Dinners
Some of the biggest problems facing families today are childhood obesity and
accompanying disease, teen substance abuse, and the erosion of family
connections due to the ever-increasing intrusion of electronic devices.
But recent studies have shown that when families eat meals together more often:
- Families have healthier eating habits
- Better academic performance
- Teens are less likely to engage in risky behaviors (like drinking, drugs and sexual activity)
- Kids and teens have closer relationships with their parents
- Lower risk of depression and higher self-esteem
All this from something as simple as eating family meals together, even if it’s just one or two times a week! For more information and links to additional research, visit The Family Dinner Project.
Some families find it challenging getting conversations going at the table, especially with a variety of ages. Maybe not everyone is a talker. Or maybe one person IS the talker and talks the whole time.
Providing opportunities for everyone to participate in the conversation will make for even deeper connections in your family.
Today, I’m sharing with you 10 Family Dinner Games and Ideas to help you get started. Many of these are games and conversation starters that my own family enjoys. Every day is a little different so mixing things up every so often is ok!
DIY Games
Highs and Lows (or Thorns and Roses)
This is super easy to do! Everyone takes turns sharing one high point of the day and one low point of the day. some people call this game Thorns (the lows) and Roses (the highs).
Allow time for questions and extra sharing about what made those moments notable. This is not the time for criticism, rather it’s a good way to provide feedback–if wanted–in a helpful or positive way!
How Well Do You Know Me?
This is a super simple game to play—it’s just a fun question and answer game to see how well you know each other!
Kids test the adults with fun questions like these:
This is a super simple game to play—it’s just a fun question and answer game to see how well you know each other!
Kids test the adults with fun questions like these:
- What is my favorite class?
- What do I usually play at recess?
- Who are my two favorite friends or teachers at school?
- What is my favorite TV show?
Now the Adults get to test the kids with questions, too:
- Where was I born?
- What was my favorite subject in school?
- What activities did I play when I was a kid?
- What cities have I lived in?
Thankful Journal
The Thankful Journal is something we started when my kids were both in elementary school. I just purchased a simple journal at the (used to be) dollar section at Michael’s but you can use any notebook or journal. The point is for each family member to take a moment and think about something they are thankful for that day. We’ve not been as regular about using it more recently so I pulled it back out of the drawer to start using again.
Remember, no judgement about what someone is thankful for. Maybe a younger member of the family may be thankful for a new toy or game or perhaps another is thankful they got a good grade on a test they were nervous about.
Don’t forget the adults! They might be thankful for reaching a big goal at work or simply getting all the housework done earlier than usual! It is fun to go back over the months and years to read about what was important to someone at the time and see how things change.
More Family Dinner Games
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If you need a little help with conversation starters, I’ve gathered up some games and cards you can purchase to get you started. My family has a couple of these ourselves and they are fun!
Family Time Fun Games This set is a lot of fun. Sometimes the questions encourage taking an extra bite of food while others are just for fun like, A, B, City where the first person starts by naming a geographic location that starts with the letter A, the next starts with B or the Acronym Challenge where the person who’s it names their favorite foods to spell out their name. The version I bought is for kids ages 6-12 (and adults of course) while the other version is for kids ages 3-5.
The Chat Pack: Fun Questions to Spark Conversations setis a little more grown up and might even make a good hostess gift I’d think! Now that my kids are older, we have really enjoyed this set. Normally, we only end up pulling out a couple of the questions because they lead to further conversations and tangents–which is kind of the point don’t you think?! Some of the questions include:
- If you were asked to create the ultimate vacation destination, where would it be located and what would it be like?
- If you could see the front page of a national newspaper dated January 1, 2100, what do you imagine that the main headline might say?
- If you were completely deaf but were somehow able to hear for one hour each month, what would you most often want to hear for that hour?
There are several different Chat Pack versions that are good for younger ages, adults only and a few in between!
The Our Moments Family Conversation Starters are great for families to connect at any time of the day, not just dinner time. The handy package makes it easy to take them on the road too for all those days in the car or even on road trips.
The Eat, Laugh, Talk: The Family Dinner Project book not only provides lots of great ideas for family conversation but also simple family recipes! I’m a contributor over at their website so be sure to check out their website too for even more ideas!
These After Dinner Amusem*nts are mini decks of conversation cards that are fun to play at home but also take on the go. They come in a variety of themes but this one includes 50 questions to share memories with each other. Great for multi generations to play together too!
The Around the Table Games Family Talk packs are fun for on the go too. The deck of cards comes with a clip that makes it easy to hook onto a bag when heading to the beach or a picnic. Of course, they can be played at home too!
The Tabletopics Family cards are specifically geared towards families but like some of the other sets, they come in a variety of themes for other groups too like for grandparents, girls night out, teens or couples and more. They’re a fun way to get to know each other better!
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