As a family of 6, comprised of three children with diverse needs and a toddler, you can imagine just how challenging it is sometimes to have dinner all together. Add in extracurricular activities and we often have to eat in groups where a couple of us eat first, and then another group of us eat later on depending on the night.
Spending time together around the dinner table has become sacred for us when we're all together, no one is crying, there's no one fussing about their food, and we as parents actually have a chance to take a breath and/or a bite of food!
It's in these moments that we've determined it's the perfect opportunity for creating 20-minute memories, and also has given us the time to come up with games to play.
One game we've loved playing as a family is what we affectionately call "Alphabet Soup". In an attempt to boost our kids' vocabulary and awareness of the world around them, we choose a category like 'Food' and then work our way around the table and the alphabet, letter by letter naming foods that begin with our letter. It's a great way to generate discussion, facilitate fun organic learning opportunities, and often will lead to laughter or outbursts especially if a family member names something very unique or obscure! It's a fun way to learn and engage with the alphabet, and it opens up the door to some interesting conversations.
As a result of this dinner game, we've created printable sheets for you and your family members if you want to take it beyond the dinner table and make it into a competition similar to the game 'Scattergories'. Each round can be just one letter and whoever comes up with the most answers for each letter is the winner. The options are only as endless as your creativity!
Check out our Alphabet Soup printables for your family-coming soon!