Table Talk: Conversation Prompts for Little Kids (with list of ideas!)

We're normal parents, and we use screens. We use iPads to entertain our kids when we're out at restaurants. But at home, we try really hard not to have screens at the dinner table.

As any parent knows, it can be pretty hard to have a real conversation with small kids. Unless you find a topic they're interested in - which may not be that interesting for you - it's difficult to keep the conversation going.

About six months ago, I created a simple game called Table Talk (disclaimer: I’m sure I’m not the first person to create this game!)

I put a large jar in the middle of the table filled with rolled-up pieces of colored paper. Each piece has a conversation prompt written on it.

Some of the prompts are:

- What is your favorite place in the world and why?

- What is your favorite place in Greystones and why?

- If you could have a superpower, what would it be?

- What's your favorite food and why?

- If you could be any animal, what would it be?

- Who would win in a race - Spider-Man or Superman? And why?

It's a simple solution that works for us. Sometimes we only need one prompt to get a conversation started. Other times we might use several. The colored paper makes it more appealing to the kids, but any paper would work.

Here are more prompts we've used:

- What's the best thing that happened today?

- If you could have any pet in the world, what would you choose?

- What do you want to be when you grow up?

- What's your favorite thing to do at the playground?

- If you could design your perfect bedroom, what would be in it?

- What's the nicest thing someone did for you this week?

- What's your favorite memory from last summer?

- If you could take a class to learn anything, what would you learn?

- What's your favorite book and why?

- If we could go on holiday anywhere tomorrow, where would you want to go?

- What's the most interesting thing you learned at school this week?

- If you could have dinner with anyone in the world, who would you choose?

- What's your favorite thing to do with our family?

- What's the hardest thing you've ever done?

- What are you most looking forward to this weekend?

- If you could make up a new family tradition, what would it be?

- What's your favorite season and why?

- If you could instantly become an expert at something, what would you choose?

- What's the best gift you've ever given someone?

- What makes you feel better when you're having a bad day?

It's not a perfect solution, and it doesn't work every time. But it helps us keep screens away from our dinner table and often leads to interesting conversations with our 6-year-old and 4-year-old.

All you need is a jar, some paper, and a few minutes to write down questions that would interest your family.