Questions · Kids at dinner
Dinner table questions for kids that keep everyone sitting
Dinner questions for families with kids: food opinions to start, then the habits of your own house, then easy ways into their day, and one wild question for dessert.
- 16 questions
- EN + TL on every card
- Free in the app
Kumustahan is a bilingual conversation card app: 1,200 questions in English and Filipino across 7 decks, with a short reflection on the back of every card.
Think of someone who makes simple meals more fun. What do they do?
Isipin yung taong nagpapasaya kahit simpleng kain lang. Ano yung ginagawa niya?
A meal does not need to be fancy to feel full of life. Sometimes one person's energy changes the whole mood.
Hindi kailangang fancy ang kain para maging masaya. Minsan energy lang ng isang tao, nag-iiba na yung mood.
The questions
16 dinner table questions for kids
Every question in English and Filipino/Tagalog, word for word from the Kumustahan decks. Open “Back of the card” for the reflection printed on the other side.
While the plates are filling
5 questions
Food opinions. Everyone has one, including the four-year-old.
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Pick one snack you would still accept even when you're already full.
Pick one snack na tatanggapin mo pa rin kahit busog ka na.
Back of the card
Some cravings stay charmingly powerful. The snack you still make room for usually knows exactly how to find your soft spot.
May cravings talaga na malakas pa rin kahit busog. Yung snack na yan, alam kung saan ka mahina.
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Which would you want free for life: breakfast or dessert?
Pumili ng libreng pagkain habambuhay: breakfast o dessert.
Back of the card
Make your first order. You can choose something familiar or invent a dish.
Piliin ang unang oorderin mo. Puwedeng paborito mo na o pagkaing iimbentuhin mo.
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What food is hard for you to say no to?
Anong pagkain ang hirap mong tanggihan?
Back of the card
Food answers can be light, but they usually carry a little story: comfort, habit, craving, or someone who introduced it.
Light lang ang food answer, pero madalas may kasamang kuwento: comfort, habit, craving, o taong nagpakilala nito sa'yo.
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Tell us a food combo you like that people might question.
I-share yung food combo na gusto mo pero baka kuwestiyunin ng iba.
Back of the card
Questionable does not always mean wrong. Some pairings just need one brave person to admit they work.
Hindi porket questionable, mali na agad. Minsan kailangan lang ng isang brave person na umaming masarap siya.
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Choose one food that tastes better when it’s left over for the next day.
Pumili ng isang pagkain na mas masarap kapag tira siya hanggang kinabukasan.
Back of the card
Some food needs an overnight plot twist. Leftovers can be humble, practical, and somehow better than round one.
May pagkain talaga na mas gumaganda kinabukasan. Simple lang siya, practical, pero minsan mas panalo pa.
About our house
5 questions
Kids love naming the family’s little rules and who breaks them.
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Share one food rule your household still follows.
Mag-share ng isang food rule na sinusunod pa rin sa bahay niyo.
Back of the card
House rules around food can be funny, practical, or oddly sacred. They carry the flavor of how people grew up.
Yung food rules sa bahay, minsan funny, minsan practical, minsan oddly sacred. May flavor siya ng kinalakihan natin.
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Think of someone who makes simple meals more fun. What do they do?
Isipin yung taong nagpapasaya kahit simpleng kain lang. Ano yung ginagawa niya?
Back of the card
A meal does not need to be fancy to feel full of life. Sometimes one person's energy changes the whole mood.
Hindi kailangang fancy ang kain para maging masaya. Minsan energy lang ng isang tao, nag-iiba na yung mood.
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At home, who usually notices the chores, mess, or little things first?
Sa bahay ninyo, sino yung madalas unang nakakapansin ng chores, kalat, o maliliit na kailangan gawin?
Back of the card
Every home has someone who notices first. That kind of attention can be quiet, but it keeps many things moving.
Sa bawat bahay, may taong unang nakakapansin. Tahimik minsan yung ganung attention, pero marami siyang napapaandar.
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What food is too messy for you to eat while chatting with friends?
Anong pagkain ang mahirap kainin nang maayos habang nakikipagkuwentuhan sa friends?
Back of the card
This meal may need a pause button for the conversation.
Baka kailangan munang i-pause ang kuwentuhan habang kinakain ito.
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Who do you enjoy eating with, even if the food is simple?
Sino yung masarap kasamang kumain kahit simple lang ang pagkain?
Back of the card
The company can change the meal. Some people make even ordinary food feel warmer.
Iba ang pagkain kapag okay ang kasama. May mga taong kahit simpleng meal, gumagaan yung moment.
Into their day, sideways
4 questions
Stories about people being kind or helpful, without the school report.
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What is a recent act of kindness that caught you by surprise?
Anong magandang ginawa sa'yo lately ang hindi mo inaasahan?
Back of the card
Keep names private if you like. Picture the instant you realized what they had done for you.
Puwedeng itago ang mga pangalan. Balikan ang sandaling naisip mo kung ano ang ginawa nila para sa'yo.
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What small task would you happily ask a friend to help with?
Sa anong simpleng gawain mo gustong magpatulong sa friend?
Back of the card
Would their help save time, make it more fun, or simply give you company?
Makakatipid ba ng oras ang tulong nila, mas magiging masaya, o magkakaroon ka lang ng kasama?
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Who taught you a useful skill or habit you still use in daily life?
Sino yung nagturo sa'yo ng useful skill o habit na gamit mo pa rin sa daily life?
Back of the card
Practical lessons are easy to overlook, but they stay close. They show up in the small ways you move through a day.
Madaling ma-overlook ang practical lessons, pero dala-dala mo pala. Lumalabas sila sa maliliit mong galaw araw-araw.
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What useful skill did someone patiently teach you?
Anong kasanayan ang matiyagang itinuro sa'yo ng isang tao?
Back of the card
Imagine you are teaching the skill now. What would you show a beginner first?
Isipin na ikaw naman ang nagtuturo nito. Ano ang una mong ipapakita sa baguhan?
One for dessert
2 questions
A big imaginative question to end on a laugh.
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Make one harmless rule that the whole world follows for a day.
Kung may isang rule na susundin ng buong mundo nang isang araw, ano iyon? Dapat walang masasaktan.
Back of the card
Imagine everyone following it at once. What small scene would be funny or helpful to watch?
Isipin na sabay-sabay itong ginagawa ng lahat. Ano ang nakakatawa o helpful na makikita mo?
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If you could remove one tiny daily inconvenience forever, what would you remove?
Kung kaya mong tanggalin forever ang isang tiny daily inconvenience, ano ang tatanggalin mo?
Back of the card
Tiny inconveniences can be louder than they deserve. Removing one forever would feel like a quiet luxury.
Minsan ang ingay ng tiny inconveniences. Kapag natanggal forever yung isa, quiet luxury na agad.
How to use them
Before you ask
Kids talk at dinner when the questions are about things in front of them: the food, the family, the people they saw today. Food opinions are the easiest door. A five-year-old who won’t describe recess will happily defend which snack they’d eat even when full.
The trouble with family dinners is rarely silence; it’s that the same two people do all the talking, or the meal turns into homework check-ins. Pass the question around the table in order, youngest first, so the quiet kid gets a turn before a sibling fills the space.
Keep it short. Three or four questions over a twenty-minute meal is plenty, and ending on a silly one means the kids leave the table in a good mood instead of escaping it.
Good for
Tips
- Go around the table youngest to oldest so little ones answer before they get talked over.
- Keep phones, including yours, off the table for the length of one question round.
- Save school questions for later. Dinner works better as a break from being evaluated.
- Let the kid who answered pick who goes next.
- Keep one card by the salt shaker so the habit doesn’t depend on remembering.
Decks for this
Dinner table questions for kids
Frequently asked questions
What are good dinner table questions for kids?
Questions about food, home and people: a snack they’d still eat when full, a house rule about food, a kind thing someone did today. They’re concrete, quick to answer and easy to argue about in a friendly way.
How do we start a dinner conversation with kids who don’t want to talk?
Start with a food opinion and give your own silly answer first. Kids who won’t talk about their day will usually argue about food, and once they’re talking you can ask about the people in their day.
How many questions should we ask at dinner?
Three or four over a meal is enough. Let the good answers run long, and end before anyone gets restless.
Bring a better question to the table.
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