A DIY Game for Awesome After School Conversations

This post is sponsored by Welch’s® Fruit Snacks. I am being compensated for this post. All comments and opinions are my own. Please see my disclosure policy.

Since I’ve always been a stay-at-home or work-at-home mom and we did homeschool preschool, it came as a huge shock when my oldest started Kindergarten and had a seemingly new other life during those school days I knew nothing about. Sure, the teacher sent newsletters home and I volunteered for the occasional holiday or field trip. But getting my 5-year-old to answer anything but “Okay.” to “How was school today?” seemed impossible. And honestly, if I had it my way, we would have had after school conversations with a detailed play-by-play of his day from hesitant drop off to anxiously awaited pick-up.

Can I be real with you? My oldest is now 10 and his two younger siblings are in school now too, and I still have that feeling that I’m missing out on their other life during the school day! While every kid is different, none of mine are willing to offer the detailed review I’d love. I’m lucky to get more than a one-word answer most days. But I’ve come up with a plan, inspired by Welch’s Fruit Snacks, to make those after school conversations with the kids better and hopefully more fun, too. 

A DIY Game for Awesome After School Conversations

First, I made a super simple conversation starter game that will get the kids talking about their school day without it feeling like mom’s nagging them. It’s seriously easy to make and can be customized with any talking topics or themes. Plus it’s perfect for taking on the go, so the kids can even play it in the car on the way home from school.

My “plan of attack” is definitely during snack time on the ride home from school. The only thing my kids are thinking about when they first get out of school is what they are going to eat! I’ll offer some Welch’s Fruit Snacks on the car ride home since they’re so delicious, convenient, and mess-free. Plus, they have fruit as the first ingredient and 100% daily value of Vitamin C and 25% daily value of Vitamins A & E. #momwin! You can learn more and get a great coupon here. While they’re snacking happily, I’ll sneak in some conversation with our new After School Conversations Game.

Now, let me show you how to make one for you and your kids…

DIY Dice After School Conversations Game

Supplies:

• small (1.5 to 2 cup size) clear plastic food storage container with lid
• colored paper
• white paper
• pen or fine tip marker
• pencil
• glue stick
• clear tape
• scissors
• one dice
• craft adhesive (optional)

Steps:

Trace the shape of the container lid onto the colored paper. Cut out the shape just a bit smaller than your tracing so that it will fit nicely on the lid.

Trace that colored paper shape onto the white paper. Cut the white paper shape about a 1/4 of an inch in from where you traced so that it is a little smaller than the colored paper shape. Glue the white paper shape centered onto the colored paper shape.

Using a pen or fine tip marker, write numbers 1 through 6 on the white paper shape and a word or phrase conversation starter by each number. It could be any word related to school or their day. Here are some examples:

• Subjects/Classes: math, science, reading, music, art, gym, recess
• Social/Emotional: friend, happy, kind, grumpy, helper, bully, challenge
• Misc. School Words: teacher, lunch, seat, computer, class pet

Use clear tape rolls or double-sided tape to attach this paper shape to the lid. Put the dice in the container, and put the lid on the container. You can play the game with the lid on or with it off. (See below for gameplay directions.) But if you plan to take the game on the go (with your Welch’s Fruit Snacks, of course), use some craft adhesive to glue the lid on permanently.

 

How to Play the After School Conversations Game:

• Holding it upside down, shake the container. (Or if playing at a table with the lid off, just roll the dice into the container.)
• Look at the top of the dice to see what number you got.
• Flip the container over and find that number and the corresponding conversation starter word/phrase on the lid. Read the corresponding conversation starter word/phrase.
• Tell something about your day related to that word/phrase. (It might help, especially with younger children, for the parent to ask an open-ended question related to the word/phrase. Example: The child got SCIENCE, so the mom asks, “What science experiment did you do today?”)
• Pass the container to the next person and repeat!

If you make an After School Conversations Game, make sure to stop back and let me know how it goes! I hope it gets your kids revealing those secret school day lives of theirs so you can feel connected to them, too.

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This post is sponsored by Welch’s® Fruit Snacks. I am being compensated for this post. All comments and opinions are my own. Please see my disclosure policy.