These conversation starters are great for help during dinner to keep the conversation going with your kiddos! My hubby and I often fall into the trap of talking to each other about our day and failing to purposefully engage the kids during meal times. I love this! Our jar of 99 Conversation Questions is not an “original idea” one of my daughter’s good friends was gifted a jar of “Family Preserves” for Christmas one year. The majority of the questions listed come from her collection. Thanks Melody for letting me borrow your jar, copy your questions and add a couple dozen more. Thanks also to the QM facebook participants who helped add to the the list!
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What you’ll need to make your own Jar of Talking Fun:
- Printed 99 Conversation Starters Pages
- Shaving Cream paint (if you want to be colorful)
- Scissors
- Pencils, knitting needles, etc.
- A clean jam jar
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Some of our kids favorite conversations are:
- What is the yuckiest thing you ever smelled?
- When was the last time you were silly? What did you do that was funny?
- What is your favorite thing that _________ does for or with you?
- Where do you like to go in the car?
- What type of super-hero would you want to be?
…and there are dozens more!
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First, we printed up our questions. The link should open a massive list of 99 different conversation starters. We painted the backs of our pages with shaving cream finger paint, then cut them into long slips. Emily, a friend, inspired us to swirl our slips or fold them into springs. Anything to make them fun to open. Then stuff them into the jar and – viola! You have a simple gift that keeps giving! Hours of family chatter!
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Other Posts you might be interested in:
Thank You Notes for the kids to create – love how participatory these are!
101 Gift Ideas that your kids can make for others.
A collection of homemade Christmas ornaments.
About Rachel
Such a great idea! Thanks for offering the printable. I just tweeted this and posted about it on facebook.
What a great idea! You will have endless interesting conversations with this jar.
I just blogged about it too. Hope it’s ok that I used your picture.
Of course! Glad another family will enjoy it as much as we have!
This could even get my tween talking at dinner I think! HAHA
Happy Friday from a fellow MomLooper!
What a great idea! This would make such a cute homemade holiday gift.
I’m even thinking maybe I could make some in cute drawstring bags to send to family on the other side of the world (save on shipping jars). Thank you for sharing the printable.
This is super cute. I may have to bookmark this one and use them for when the boys are a little older.
I love the presentation of this – what a fun centerpiece! I think we’ll do these for holiday gifts this year! Fantastic, thanks!!
Thanks so much for sharing. I am planning something like this for holiday gifts this year,and you justfinakized my presentation and questions for me.
Such a neat idea. Your jar looks so inviting and festive – that’s a talking point in itself. Thank you so much for sharing your list.
I agree with Jersey Diva Mom above- this is an awesome idea for tweens too- they can be really hard to talk to
Hi! I really liked this idea and though I don´t tend to run out of conversation subjects at dinner I MUST admit I tend to speak more than my kids, trying to get some “information” of their school day as if I were pulling a soft string that not always is willing to come to me. Husband and I appreciate this idea full of love and creativity. And I´ll give it a try with my games and creativity groups of young children too, so they can take their own “conversation jars” to their homes. Thank you Activity Mom for posting a link to this beautiful idea!
Great idea! We’ll definitely be doing this.
This is such a great idea. I think the girls in my Bible Class will have fun making these as a take home gift to share with their parents.
Awesome! I just added this as one of our features in tomorrow’s ABC Show and Tell post.
I love this idea. Thank you for sharing it will be a great idea for one of my parent night trainings. They always love to do make and take project.
What an awesome idea! Our family time at the dinner table is so very important over here and this will add a nice twist. Thanks so much! I too will share and may even make some for holiday gifts =)
What a great idea….. a easy (frugal =))meaningful gift to friends and family. I have had so many compliments from families we gave these to. Each family has said that their kiddos never let them forget to choose a question from the jar at dinner each night. Many, many thanks!
Brigit
http://amomspassion.blogspot.com/2010/12/family-preserveshomemade-christmas.html
Hi Rachel,
Would it be possible to get your permission to use questions from your “99 Conversation Starters” to make a modified handout for a Family Wellness program we are doing here in South Dakota? I would like to make a handout called “Fun Talks for Dinner and Walks” to promote parent communication, family physical activity, dinner time, etc. and i didn’t want to recreate the wheel if questions were available online. I would like to use some (not all) of your questions and develop a few of my own to tailor to our program. I can give you credit, such as “Adapted from ’99 Conversation Starters,’ Copyright, 2010, by QuirkyMomma.com.” Please let me know if this is possible and contact me if you have any questions/concerns. Thanks!
What a great find. We had a ‘talking tables’ box (dinner conversations starters that we let our 6 year old be in charge of) but we have finished those now. We can use them again but we would need to leave it for quite a while until the kids have really forgotten what the questions were. Thanks goodness I found your site
We have really been missing doing these type of questions at dinner time. Thank you so much for your generosity is sharing your ideas via a free printable. Our family will really appreciate this.
I love this topic, my family loves this so much we burn through our questions really quickly. I have to keep coming up with more and more. I just shared a free printable with 108 questions on my blog. I also included a link to your post. Thanks for sharing!
http://momhascooties.blogspot.com/2013/01/family-dinner-conversation-starters.html#