Things to do with a child while you wait at a restaurant
The food is twenty minutes away, the cutlery is already on the floor, and everyone at the table can feel what is coming.
Restaurant waiting games sheet
One printable sheet with dots-and-boxes grids, tic-tac-toe, a squiggle box and a small maze. Fold it into the bag and forget about it.
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Games that need nothing but a pen
Dots and boxes. A grid of dots; take turns drawing one line between two; complete a square and it is yours. Scales from a four-year-old to an adult.
Squiggle. One person draws a meaningless squiggle, the other turns it into something. Endless, and better the worse you draw.
The menu game. Find a word starting with each letter. Count how many things come with chips. Pick what you would order for someone not at the table.
Guess my rule. Sort the salt, pepper and sugar into two groups by a secret rule; the others guess it.
Why paper beats the phone at a table
A phone ends the wait for the child but not for you. It has to be taken back, and the taking back is louder than the waiting was. A game on paper finishes when the food arrives, without a negotiation.
Keep it in the bag, not the moment
A folded sheet lives in the bag permanently. Deciding what to do once the child is already melting is the actual problem — and it is solved by a piece of paper you packed a month ago.
Questions people ask
What age do these work from?
Squiggle and the menu game work from about three. Dots and boxes lands around five, once turn-taking with a rule is comfortable.
What if I have two children of very different ages?
Dots and boxes handles a wide gap well — play on a bigger grid and let the older one take two lines a turn.
Part of our guide to Waiting & travel.