15 Easy & Fun Family Dinner Activities to Embrace Your Time Together

How do I Make Family Dinner Fun?

Whether your kids are big or little, family dinners are at the heart of keeping our most important relationships strong.

In fact, they’re so important, they cite differences in kids’ language development, depression rates, relationships, weight, and how kids perform in school (source). No small potatoes here!

The problem, of course?

Family dinners are not always FUN.

Parents, you know what I’m talking about.

Within five minutes, the kids are bickering, you’re shoveling food to the baby before she explodes, and someone reminds your son to use his fork (and stop eating like an animal) for the five millionth time. It can be downright exhausting.

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So, today is all about fun family dinner activities. How can we foster connections in small, meaningful ways? And smile a little doing it?

15 Easy Ideas for Fun Family Dinner Activities

1. Share Your Good and Grit

First, the most surefire way to get kids (and grown-ups) to open up is to create a ritual at dinner that highlights their day.

In our home, we like “good and grit.” Each person tells

something good about their day
something they did that was hard.

Other creative options are “sweet, sour, & service” or the straightforward “high and low” of the day.

Dr. Jamie Donnelly, school psychologist, suggests “high, low, cheer.” “Cheer takes it a step further and it can be someone you are rooting for or someone who has helped you that day.”

Use one of these or create your own! After a few times, the kids will come to the table ready to share.

2. Try the Gratitude Alphabet

This easy game is also great alphabet practice for young ones.

Use the letters to come up with things the family is grateful for. This can be as simple or complicated as you want!

Examples:

A = we love the taste of APPLES
A = we’re grateful for the love and warmth ANIMALS bring to our lives.

Check out these gratitude practices and thankful ideas for kids for more ideas like this!

3. Compliment Others to Lift Everyone

Have each member give a compliment to another person. It sets the tone for a peaceful and kind dinner.

4. Tell Hilarious Jokes

My son gets a kick out of telling and hearing new jokes. And we’ve found dinner time perfect for trying out fresh ones.

Related Post: How to Become a More Playful Mom

5. What Are You Proud of?

Help raise self-esteem by asking kids to share what they like about their actions.

6. Utilize Epic Conversation Starters

These conversation cards do an amazing job of guiding your family into discussions you wouldn’t think to create on your own.

They are quick and easy to pull them out. And different cards are perfect for different ages. As a result, you know you’ll be able to use the cards for years.

Questions include:

Is it more fun to be a parent or a child?
Would you rather have no rules to live by or the rules you have to live by now?
What do you remember about your first day of school?
How are you different from everyone else?

7. Create a Silly Story

This easy game requires no supplies!

One person starts a story with a sentence, then you go around the table all adding once sentence to the story. Before you know it, you’ve got a very exciting and slightly confusing tall tale the kids are dying over.

8. I Spy With My Little Eye

This simple, but entertaining game works every time.

Pick something around the room and say “I spy something ______ (choose a color).” Then, members of the family take turns trying to pick the object based on your color.

9. Laugh With Would You Rather

family dinner games as fun family dinner ideas

Next, kids (and adults alike) love discussing scenarios and silly situations.

So, find simple cards or make up your own “would you rather” items. Watch the ridiculous and often silly discussions unfold.

Examples:

Would you rather fly or be invisible?
Would you rather have one wish granted today, or three wishes granted in ten years?

See this great list of would you rather questions for kids! Or check out:

This awesome list of Never Have I Ever Questions for Kids
23 Best Family Game Night Ideas for additional games!

10. Share One Thing You Are Grateful for

Research tells us that grateful kids are happy kids (source).

So, spend a moment or two starting dinnertimes with what you’re thankful for today.

11. Tap a Song Melody

If you love music, this is one of the best ideas for your fun family dinner!

Each participant knocks a melody of a favorite song on the table. Then, the group has to guess what song it comes from. Find out more at Anchored Women.

12. Use After School Questions

This set of questions to ask kids is great for using at the dinner table to liven up the same old conversation.

13. Start a Book Club

Do you have older kids that love to read?

Pick a book for the whole family to read, then spend a few dinners discussing what everyone thought of the book!

14. Who’s Coming to Dinner?

Add this little activity to your fun family dinner ideas!

Each family member picks a person they’d invite to dinner (living or not).

What would you do with this person? What would you talk about? How would the dinner table look and feel? Check out more about this activity HERE.

15. Do an Interesting Taste Test

Finally, make a game out of trying new things for dinner! Cook something, then blindfold the kids to let them taste. Next, discuss what everyone thinks of the texture and flavors.

For older kids, try a meal from a different culture. Learn about the food, find the place of origin on a map, and look up interesting facts about the cuisine.

See:

my BIG list of regular family traditions
and check out these 30 fun family bonding activities
Or grab the free pdf of 25 awesome family nights below

3 Key Tips to Make Family Dinner More Relaxing

Get Outside For Less Mess

Getting outside can be a fun family meal game-changer for two reasons.

First, kids can be as messy as they want, and no one has to clean it up! (It’s a rockstar move for any parent.)

And two, isn’t everything better outside? Enjoy the fresh air, nature, and more space for everyone to roam.

Make Good, Good Enough

The truth is, we could spend all of dinner correcting the kids’ manners and worrying about how healthy or tasty the food is. OR we can chill and enjoy the company of those around us.

So, do yourself a favor and lower the expectations.

And remember that the goal here is the connection. Even if that’s only an imperfect minute in the chaos of your day.

Make Dinner Easier

Finally, most of us are lucky to get a reasonable meal on the table when six o’clock comes knocking. And if you’re burnt out before dinner begins, it’s very difficult to have a good time with your family.

So, ease up on food prep or ask for help if dinner is a struggle.

Then, use resources to your advantage! Double meals and freeze one for later, get takeout, use your awesome crockpot, and become an expert in one-dish wonders.

What’s Next?

Empower your kids, connect more deeply, and take better care of yourself as a mom through the Family Connections Newsletter. Plus, you’ll get instant access to the free resource library.

Need Easy Family Dinner Recipes?

Check out these awesome family dinner ideas:

21 Healthy Weeknight Dinners in Under 45 Minutes
12 Crockpot Dinners for a Healthy You
The HUGE List of Dinner Ideas for Moms (I use it every week for meal planning!)