There are just some days when dinnertime becomes a daily drag, especially for families with picky eaters. Below are some advice on how to spruce up family meal times:

1. Enlist your little sous chefs
Plan ahead of time and pick a simple recipe where your kids can help you with simple mixing or stirring. Better yet, get them involved in preparing and cooking the vegetables that they love to hate. Oftentimes, kids who help in meal preparations become more willing to eating what they’ve cooked.

2. Create a folder of pre- (or post-) meal activities
If you’re busy preparing dinner and need the kids engaged, print out some coloring pages and activity books to keep them busy. You can even double up the coolness factor and let them pick one of the pages as their place mat for the evening.

3. Play a word game or tell a story over mealtime.

Pick a simple word game and make them work for every bite. This works for the really picky eaters who won’t even notice that their plates are empty

4. Be spontaneous!

Have fun. A few ideas: eat without plates, make a taco party, eat with your hands, and just enjoy! (Extra tip: Make sure to pick up some botanical wipes to clean up the tables pre- and post- dinner. See below for more!)