Creative Lunch

Schedule a lunch meal when the family can have a meal that will be memorable. You can serve foods and eat them with a different utensil such as forks for soup. Serve hot dogs and eat them with corn skewers instead of a bun. See who can eat most of the hotdog and still have it held together with the skewers. Have open-face Peanut Butter sandwiches and provide all kinds of goodies for making a face on the sandwich such as raisins, mini-marshmallows, cheese curls, or whatever they can think of. The same can be done with open-face lunchmeat sandwiches. When the meal is over, talk about the importance of creativity when approaching a task, a need, or a problem. Brainstorm some of the problems that the family faces on a routine basis – sharing a bathroom, getting out the door on time, chores, etc. Can you come up with some creative solutions to these problems? Brushing teeth in the kitchen, create a “launchpad” by the door so everyone has a place to stage everything for the morning, etc.

To process this activity, ask these or similar questions:

• How fun was it to be creative with lunch foods?
• Did you eat anything new?
• When you spend time thinking about a specific problem, were you surprised at the many ways it could be solved if you used your creative muscle?
• Will this activity help you to remember to focus on a solution and challenge yourself to think creatively?