I realize that this isn’t necessarily kitchen related but it’s something we love to do together as a family while we’re eating dinner. It’s from my family blog. Enjoy.

Even though there are a lot of families that don’t eat the dinner meal together, we try to every night of the week (and weekends, too). As you can imagine, having 10 people in one room for a meal can get pretty loud with the “Please pass the…”. To keep everyone busy –yes, eating keeps them busy enough but they still find time to raise a ruckus — we came up with what we call the “Dinner Time Quiz Show”. Daddy is usually the host unless he’s not home, then Mommy is the fill-in. We start with the youngest because we like to hear their answer that’s not swayed by an older sibling’s answer. Daddy will ask the question of everyone, youngest to oldest. Even the adults. While one of the goals of this game is to keep them occupied, the main goal is to get to know their likes and dislikes and to implicitly remind them that each person in the family is important. It might go something like…”Eli, what is your favorite Star Wars character?” Everyone waits on his answer. Even if he takes a bit of time thinking (or chewing)! Then we move on to the next person. Following are a few topics we use…

Favorite…
Star Wars character (Eli’s always asking for this one)
Little House character
Season
Seasonal activity (depending on the season we ask them what they like to do in the summer, etc.)
Color
Place to go during the week
Vacation that we had in the past
Book
Movie
Game
Food
Dessert
Drink
Meal that Mommy makes

Not-so-favorite…
Star Wars character (again…Eli)
Little House character (usually Nellie Olsen!)
Movie
Meal that Mommy makes (I know…I cringe when I hear answers that contain some of the adult’s favorite meals, but they’re allowed to share!)

I think you get the idea…what are some quiz topics you might use? I like new ideas…please share!