Restaurant Menu Detective

About 30 minutes, indoors, for ages 5 to 7.

Where it works

Works in any indoor space

Who it's for

ages 5 to 7

Try this adventure now:

  • a food you have never heard of
  • the most expensive item on the menu
  • a food that is a color you like
  • a strange or funny-sounding word
  • a food you could make at home

Today's Challenge

  1. 1.What food sounded the most interesting?
  2. 2.Would you ever try the strangest item you found?
  3. 3.What food would you add to this menu?

Quick Start: What you need

  • 1Nothing at all. Just go outside and look.

The Goal

A quiet observation game using nothing but the menu already on your table.

How to start

  1. 1

    No supplies needed. You can start from wherever you are.

  2. 2

    Head indoors and see how many you can find: a food you have never heard of, the most expensive item on the menu, a food that is a color you like, a strange or funny-sounding word.

  3. 3

    Talk about what you are seeing. Start with "What food sounded the most interesting?"

  4. 4

    Print the worksheet to check things off as you find them, and keep it afterwards.

Invent A Dish

Invent your own menu item below: name it and describe what is in it.

Some restaurants redesign their whole menu based on what ingredients are freshest that day.

If you want to push it further

  • Guess the price of something before checking
  • Find a food that starts with your first initial

Print it and go

The worksheet has the checklist, the prompts, and a space to draw in. One page, ready for a bag or a glovebox.

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