Tic-Tac-Toe
Dots

I Spy
20 Questions
Who am I? (20 questions for people/characters)
Rhyming game
ABC game - Progress through a category starting with letters of the alphabet (names, animals, places, foods, etc., ex. apple, banana, cherry…)
Buzz - a verbal math game
You pick a pattern and then start counting, substituting the word buzz for words that fit the pattern. If you mess up the pattern, you’re out. To make it more interesting you can combine rules.

Ex. Numbers with 2s:
1, buzz, 3, 4, . . . , 11, buzz, 13, . . . , 19, buzz, buzz, buzz, . . . , 30, 31, buzz, 33, etc.

You can combine rules. Ex. Odd numbers and numbers with 2s:
Buzz, buzz, buzz, 4, . . . , 10, buzz, buzz, buzz, 14, . . . , 18, buzz, buzz, buzz, . . . , 30, buzz, buzz, buzz, 34, buzz, 36, etc.

As your child gets older you can use other patterns for buzz: multiples, perfect squares, primes, Fibonacci numbers, etc.

When my kids come home from birthday parties with junk like tiny games (etch-a-sketches or whatever) or fidget-type things, I put them in the restaurant bag to add some variety to our lives. Think things like little water games where you push a button and it goes on a hook (like this https://www.michaels.com/product/blue-water-game-by-creatology-10752167?srsltid=AfmBOop-RjjEREM6hZgPfcIHa4wcrXN1REncqWt6wXyD1iqSpoZDlaWeYT0). If you don't have anything like this, I suggest finding a few. They also love coloring books, obviously.

Other ideas:
-- The little plus-plus things (Target usually has a knockoff version in the dollar spot).
-- Small cubed magnatiles.
-- Go fish
-- A few matchbox cars/trucks

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I Spy is a good one.

We also do the hand raising game, where someone calls out yes/no questions and everyone at the table raises their hands. Ex: “who went skiiing today?” “Who is wearing a hat?” “Who is excited about the pool tomorrow?” “Who is sleeping in a bunk bed?” “Who slept super late today?”

We also don’t do any leisurely meals. Order basically as soon as you sit down, get the check quickly, don’t linger. If I’m out without my kids, I love a 2 hour meal, but with two kids under six? We try to be in and out in 60 min. We don’t use screens at all though.

This is the way! If your kid needs games at age 5 to behave at the table, then you are there too long. My oldest has always been well-behaved, but my middle kid, what a nightmare. My kids are old, we never had any electronics to keep them occupied.

We approached eating out like a tactical operation. Review menus online ahead of time so you know what you want to order. Sit down, order food and drinks immediately. When food is brought out, ask waiter for check. Pay for meal as soon as waiter brings you the check. If you know there is likely to be food left over and you want it to go, ask for a to go box when you ask for the check. If things are going well, you can still have a leisurely meal. If they aren't going well, you have paid so can leave whenever you need to.

Same! We eat out a lot, ever since my kid was young, and have never had a bad experience. But we plan, don’t have 2+ hour meals, and have lots of activities: coloring, stickers, books. If all else fails, iPad. It happens.

A book, crayons, and order fast.

Reading books, etch a sketch, coloring, eating?

Agree with the recommendation on ordering kids food immediately and getting the check early. We do guessing games about things on the menu and keep score (ex. Is salmon found on land, sea or sky? Is spaghetti from Australia, Italy, or Mexico? Does entree start with an A, O or E?). We practiced sounding out words with the dessert menu.

I love 20 questions! Also hangman (but not many 5 year olds can read ).

My mother in law once randomly pushed a sugar packet into the middle of the table while making sustained eye contact with her grandchild….then said 1,2,3….GET that packet! I swear, we played that at many restaurants after that.

We play 20 questions

Mini etch-a-sketch. We went to a restaurant and they were out of kids menus and crayons, but had a few etch-a-sketchs for whatever reason. My kid loved it so much that I bought a mini one (from Target, I think) to keep in my purse. He loves playing with it in restaurants, doctors offices, in the car, anywhere the requires waiting and sitting relatively still

Anonymous wrote:we make a little still life w the forks/sugar packs/spoons and then have the kid close their eyes take one thing away and try to guess what's missing

Name songs with Different words in them

I have some tiny purse games that I bring sometimes.

Lot of great ideas here!

PP I want to know more about the tiny purse games!

I would venture that my 4.5 year old is actually on the high end of the scale as far as being chill at restaurants but it can swing wildly depending on hunger and tiredness.

Top tips:
Look at the menu before hand so you can order as soon as a server comes to your table. Also so both parents know what the other wants in case they have had to step away with kiddo. When the food arrives, ask for the bill when the food comes if you’re not going to order more. Waiting for food and waiting for the bill are the hardest periods and you can just eliminate a lot of it.

For breakfast, give them a little something before. A banana from the lobby yesterday, crackers, anything but an empty tummy waiting at a restaurant.

I like to bring some little toys and drawing stuff.

When that fails, take turns taking kiddos for walks. If you’ve done the order planning and have phones, you won’t miss the food coming or anything.

I have a tote bag of small restaurant toys for my kids. Coloring pads, crayons, magnetic rubics cube type thing, little Elsa/disney figurines, wiki stix, water wows, matchbox cars etc.

If you do screen time, please use headphones.

Teach them table manners at home and they will know how to behave in any public place.

We never did screen time at restaurants. We do screen time elsewhere. So tix tax for, playdoh, and always had crayons/pencils and little notebooks. Now that the youngest is 5 we all just chit chat, tell jokes, play word games without bringing too many extra things.