Alphabet Soup Theme Dinner
Our first theme dinner for young kids is Alphabet Soup! During your planning period/week, you will work with chosen letters and center your final dinner around those letters. Activities are planned for each day that your children can do while you prepare each meal. It's a great way to keep the young ones out of your hair with very little set-up.
Keep in mind that every plan can be alloted to fit the time and needs of your family. You can make these steps span a 5 day week, bi-weekly or dates chosen throughout the month. For some families, it is impossible to meet up each night at dinner. The main goal is to gather your family. Get your family working as one, talking to each other to achieve a common goal together.
This can be done on any level of intricacy. Below are the items you'll need to use throughout the week (or during your alloted planning period) and during your actual dinner on the last day. The instructions to use these items are broken down into 5 days of dinner activities.
Keep in mind that every plan can be alloted to fit the time and needs of your family. You can make these steps span a 5 day week, bi-weekly or dates chosen throughout the month. For some families, it is impossible to meet up each night at dinner. The main goal is to gather your family. Get your family working as one, talking to each other to achieve a common goal together.
This can be done on any level of intricacy. Below are the items you'll need to use throughout the week (or during your alloted planning period) and during your actual dinner on the last day. The instructions to use these items are broken down into 5 days of dinner activities.
Dynamic Detail: TAKE BREAKS when needed according to the attention span of your children and your own. When this endeavor becomes a chore, the positive aspects of learning are lost. This is why I would keep theme dinner conversation to a minmum during at least one of your evening meals. The point is to bond and learn surprising things from, and with, your family.
Props
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Recipes/Food
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Language/MusicUse as many words as possible that begin with your chosen letter
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Peripherals
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View our Letter Dinner How-to Video!!
Monday/Day One: Brainstorm & Puzzle
The letters that I am highlighting this week are A, S and K (the first letters of my girls' names). Use those or choose your own letters for your week. Depending on your kids' ages, you may either pick 1 to 3 letters ahead of time or let them choose. Here are some methods:
- Select letters from their name(s)
- Put several letters in a bowl and let them pick (if they can write, have them write any letters they know
- Use the first letters on your street sign where you live
- Keep it simple, go with A, B & C
- Lay out the letters you have chosen and have the kids do a puzzle based on their age (see above in peripherals--hidden letter/word or crossword puzzle) while you finish up dinner.
- During dinner, brainstorm foods that begin with your letters that you will eat for your final dinner. Also, choose one side dish to eat days 2-4 that correspond with one of your letters. (ex. apples for A on Tuesday, strawberries for S on Wednesday, knishes for K on Thursday).
Dynamic Detail: If your kids can write, let them list all the foods you come up with. Then, vote or tear into pieces and draw from a bowl, which ones you will try. Write your choices on the Team Tasks Worksheet.
Tuesday/Dinner Two: Placemats & Task Worksheet
- Block off a piece of paper for placemats into 3 squares (or as many squares as you have chosen letters) and write a letter into each square. Instruct the kids to practice their letters and/or draw pictures that start with the letter in the appropriate square. If the kids are very young, simply draw the letters at the top of each square and then draw dot letters underneath and let them practice tracing the dots. Get dinner together while they are occupied. (Don't forget to include your letter side dish in your dinner!)
If you're really MOTIVATED, you can let them help prepare the letter side-dish... - During dinner, have the kids brainstorm names of accessories they could wear for the final theme dinner that start with their letters. Record these on your Team Tasks worksheet and if anything needs to be "made," record who is to get it done. Keep tasks reasonable for age and available time! Remember, this is supposed to be FUN not stressful.
Wednesday/Dinner Three: Centerpiece & ASL
- Begin work on your centerpiece. Provide similar size cut outs from cardboard or posterboard of each letter. Allow the kids to decorate a letter. If you have more letters than kids, you might have to jump in too! Or, you can let them do more than one.
Depending on how messy you want to get...you could keep it simple and let them decorate with crayons, perhaps step it up a notch and pull out the washable paint or let them rip tissue paper into little pieces (I always save the tissue paper from gifts), ball it up and glue it all over their letter. The tissue paper method tends to eat up more time allowing you a little more "peace" in the kitchen. For the not faint at heart, mix and match!
Let their art dry overnight. The next day, attach the tops of the letters at an angle together (glue, strings poked through holes, staples, tape etc.) kind of like a letter pyramid...to use as your centerpiece on theme dinner night. (Click here to see our final product!) - While the kids focus on their project, make something that requires a dipping sauce (i.e. ketchup, mustard, dressing) so that you can create letters on their plates with it. For our dinner, we had chicken nuggets, strawberries (for S!) and squash fries (click here for recipe). On the edges of the plate, I made letters with the dipping sauces (click here for picture). If they're old enough, the kids could decorate the plates under your supervision!
- During dinner, go over the hand signs for your letters. Here are ASL hand signs.
Thursday/Day Four: Shape Letters & Alliterative Worksheet
- Cover the dinner table in newspaper. Set out store bought play dough or make your own (click here for recipe) and help the kids shape letters. If you want some free time, let them play with the dough while you get dinner together, then shape into letters after you finish eating. If you made your own dough, follow the recipe directions and bake the letters to use as props for your Day Five Final Theme Dinner! The Cinnamon Mom has some great ideas for extra crafts creating letters as well.
- During dinner, come up with nouns, active words (verbs) and descriptive words (adjectives) that start with your letters. Use the Alliterative worksheet to make silly sentences.
- If you have any energy left after dinner, read from your Sound Box Books, play a letter game on the internet or try your hand at Kids' Scrabble. Or, you could save that activity for the dinner you've been planning for--your Final Theme Dinner!!
Dynamic Detail: Use the newspaper as a table cloth. During dinner, have the kids point out their theme letters. When dinner is over, scoop up the paper, shake it outside and recycle it!
Friday/Day Five: Final Theme Dinner!!!
Congrats--you made it to your Dynamic Dinner!!
From the time you enter the kitchen, you are in your theme. Go over the things you have learned, your hand signs, recite words that start with your letters, play Alphabet Music, etc. This is the time to let the kids get their hands dirty in the kitchen too. Yes, it requires more effort and their "help" is often the antithesis--but hey, it's worth it. One day they'll be cooking for you!
The menu for this evening is:
Props:
Cooking Help (be sure to use proper supervision for each task):
If you had fun, check out our new book Dynamic Dinners filled with healthy meal plans, theme dinners and party ideas.
From the time you enter the kitchen, you are in your theme. Go over the things you have learned, your hand signs, recite words that start with your letters, play Alphabet Music, etc. This is the time to let the kids get their hands dirty in the kitchen too. Yes, it requires more effort and their "help" is often the antithesis--but hey, it's worth it. One day they'll be cooking for you!
The menu for this evening is:
- Scrabble Cheez-Its
- Letter Shaped Breadsticks
- Alphabet soup
- Foods that begin with your letters
- Ketchup and sauces to "draw" letters on plates
- Soft fruit to carve letters out of (banana, ripe canteloupe/watermelon)
Props:
- Use your homemade placemats
- Put out your centerpiece
- Read over your Alliterative Allegories
- Dress in objects that start with your theme letters
Cooking Help (be sure to use proper supervision for each task):
- Stir Soup
- Shape breadsticks into letters
- Lay out crackers on tray
- Carve letters in soft fruit with plastic knife
If you had fun, check out our new book Dynamic Dinners filled with healthy meal plans, theme dinners and party ideas.
Order Your Theme Dinner Goodies!
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