Image credit: Amy Peters
We are always excited to see the many unique ways partners across the country are sharing The Family Dinner Project with their audiences. In 2021-2022, a grant from the Tracy Family Foundation made possible several fantastic and creative programs, including a series of events in the Quincy Children’s Museum in Quincy, IL. Check out their innovative ideas!
The families:
Families in Quincy, Illinois had access to events and exhibits at the Children’s Museum that reflected the Family Dinner Project and the importance of family meals. 60 families attended a community dinner where they prepared meals, while many others were able to interact with family meal content through ongoing outreach exhibits as part of the museum’s mobile programming.
![](https://thefamilydinnerproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/IMG_0781-600x750.jpg)
Image credit: Amy Peters
The events:
Working with another local company, Dinner is in the bag, the Children’s Museum hosted community events to empower families to learn, share, and prepare meals to take home. The events were created to follow both The Family Dinner Project model and the museum’s core values: Curiosity (inspiring families to try something new); Connection (Enabling Families to Develop Intentional Relationships); Creativity (discovering new materials and concepts together); and Discovery (Creating meaningful opportunities to learn something new).
In addition to the dining events, the Quincy Children’s Museum expanded on the family meal theme by offering exhibits and activities centered around the concept of connecting and discovering through food, fun, and conversation. They have set up an interactive mini-market exhibit for children to play, explore and create with (pretend) food. They also offered community giveaways with our Eat, Laugh, Talk book, gift cards to help with family meals, and board games to put on the table for family game nights.
![](https://thefamilydinnerproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/IMG_0768-600x451.jpg)
Image credit: Amy Peters
Throughout the summer of 2022, the museum has also incorporated some family dinner activities and ideas into their community programming. A highlight was hosting dinner-themed programs with children attending summer camp in the Quincy Park District. The museum staff visited and talked to the children about meals in their families, played games and helped them make ice cream. The mini-market exhibit was also integrated into the museum’s summer pop-up events.
“It has been so nice to carve out some dedicated time to intentionally flow into families, develop meaningful conversations and relationships, and share our heart and mission with the community through this initiative,” said Amy Peters, director of the Quincy Children’s Museum.
The takeaways, next steps and the best part
Amy shares that the museum plans to expand the learning and fun of the family dinner in Fall 2022 through an expansion of exhibits and programming ideas. In mid-September, the museum participated in a Family Fun Day in collaboration with local dietitians from both care and food distribution centers. The museum also plans to reach out to children and families in October through several trunk or treat style events, sharing parts of The Family Dinner Project.
![](https://thefamilydinnerproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/IMG_0770-600x452.jpg)
Image credit: Amy Peters
What was the best part about dedicating some of the museum’s efforts to family dinners? “What stands out is the gratitude families had after the event for the intentional time we spent making this a priority,” says Amy. She also points out the many connections between family meal-themed playtime and real life academic and life skills. “The kids loved the mini market we created for the event and we hope to expand it. The conversations it has sparked, the connection to math, sorting, coloring, food identification, dramatic play and real life skills have been so valuable!
We are so impressed with the creative thinking and deep commitment to family relationships of the Quincy Children’s Museum and its community partners. Thank you Amy and team!
Want to learn more about how you can bring The Family Dinner Project to your community? Contact us.