The Best of Call Me Grandma: Table Manners for Kids

By Grandma Sandy | July 30, 2025 |

I started “Call Me Grandma!” on June 10, 2019. We’ve covered a lot of ground in six years with ideas for crafts, food, fun, and even how to encourage good table manners in kids. I’ve posted every Wednesday (minus vacations), even during the pandemic.

Child at 10 and the same child at three, setting the table for a family dinner to encourage good table manners.
Setting the table: Miss T at ages 12 and 3.

The grandkids are 12 and 9 now. And looking back, I can add more input to previous posts with the advantage of greater insight and experience, gleaned over the past years.

So today, I’m reliving the time I started Miss T setting the table when she was just three. It may seem like an inconsequential thing to do, but teaching kids good table manners can start with this simple step. And there are at least five life lessons kids can learn from this activity.

Collage of three-year-old setting the table.
Setting the table on tiptoes.

In this post, you’ll discover how I induced a three-year-old to set the table, how I added an incentive, and how her table setting capability has progressed since.

Check out the updated story HERE.

Occasionally, in future posts, I’ll look back on what we did and provide additional ideas, fresh thoughts, and possibly, more effective techniques. And I’ll report on how the blog posts have held up over time and their impact on the grandkids.

Resources for this Post:

  • Trader Joe’s–a great place to buy flowers inexpensively for the dinner table.
  • Clafoutis–a source for the place card stamp kit we use.
  • Easy family dinners–some of my favorite, easy recipes for our weekly family get-togethers.

More Ideas about this Post:

  • Flowers on the table elevate any everyday meal. No need to buy fancy bouquets. Use what you have in your yard–small snippets of a few blooms arranged in mismatched, inexpensive glass vases are perfectly fine.
Assorted flowers in mismatched glass vases decorate the dinner table.
Snippets of annuals and perennials from my yard.
  • A surprising lesson I learned: when I couldn’t buy flowers during the pandemic lockdown, I found I could cut geraniums from my potted houseplants to decorate the table. The flowers are long-lasting. If they root, you could plant the cuttings to make new pots.
Geraniums cut from houseplants can be used to decorate the table.
Geraniums from houseplants dress this table.

Sign up to Get Grandma’s Favorite Recipes–Free

A cover copy of Grandma's Favorite Recipe.

Sign up here for my email newsletter. Every Wednesday, I’ll give you a new idea for an activity or insight to nurture the little ones in your life. And once you subscribe, I’ll send you a link so you can download your set of quick and easy recipes as my thanks to you.

Related posts:

  1. Good Table Manners for Kids: Setting the Table
  2. Grandma’s Guide to Thanksgiving Table Setting
  3. It’s a Great Kids Summer Party at Camp Grandma!
  4. The Best Environment to Inspire Imagination
Posted in Grandma Says and tagged , , , ,

2 Comments

  1. Anna Gershenson on July 30, 2025 at 1:35 pm

    Dear Sandy,

    You are doing a super job sharing your invaluable grandma tips.
    My older grandchildren are 16 and 18, but our younger daughter had a late baby who has just turned two. And we moved and live closer to them now.
    So your tips will come in handy.
    They do not have a dining room with a table there. So teaching this skill is not relevant for now. Maybe when she visits us, I can teach it to her.
    But your table looks gorgeous and I remember learning all these skills from my mom who was a very special woman.

    Wishing you continued creative sprit.

    Best,
    Anna



    • Grandma Sandy on August 6, 2025 at 5:57 am

      Thank you so much for your kind words and encouragement, Anna!