Home Diner: Reading Spot

Literacy in our Home Diner:
Our kitchen is decorated as a diner. We call it our ‘Soda Shop.’ Having a diner in the home has been so fun for our family. We try to teach our kids good restaurant manners and it offers a variety of literacy opportunities.

The kids read our custom snack menu and use a waiter notebook to take orders.

Our snack menu has 15 items I always have on hand (chicken nuggets, quesadillas, grilled cheese, tomato soup, chips and salsa, french toast, green eggs and ham and more). I found pics on Google of each item then put it in Microsoft Word and labeled each. I printed it and put it inside a plastic sheet protector. The younger kids love the visual menu. The older kids love to write down the order.  We also just got a dinner bell they can ring and say “Order Up!”

They can write on the menu chalk board which also becomes a message board for special days.
 

We do homework together sitting at the booth every day after school. Notice the menu hanging on the chalk board.
When friends visit they sign our Graffiti Wall. The kids love to write on the wall and leave their mark.
 
Then there are all the fun signs to read. I collect vintage signs and have found some reproduced vintage looking metal signs.
We have two booths and a bar that can seat a total of 16 people. I found both booths in our local classifieds. We eat dinner at the black one. The kids do crafts and have snacks at the smaller red booth and we eat breakfast at the bar.

The kids love to watch PBSKids on TV during breakfast. Chrome lined bar, Bread Box and Bar Stools. Napkin Holder and Straw dispenser. We put crayons in the little red striped bucket. We are planning to add a chrome plate (diamond plate) to the wall below the bar so when the kids kick the wall it will be easier to clean.
I love the Juke Box CD player I found in the local classifieds for $20. I found the neon clock at Checkers Auto store. 
We just recently put an IKEA Expedit book case under the window to hold all the kids crafts and some toys to keep them busy while I’m baking.  See the Mr. Potato Heads on the floor? Also notice the new indoor awning I sewed last month. It makes such a difference.
It’s all in the details. Click here to see smaller items we’ve added to decorate the diner.

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Our ice cream glasses were found at a vintage consignment store in Salt Lake City. I like to stick apples in them for display. Our beta fish and dwarf frogs like to hang out on our vintage pie closet. This holds all our cook books, including Diners Drive-ins and Dives on top.

These are pics I took at Ruby’s Diner in Newport Beach, CA and at the Road Island Diner in Utah. I printed them on canvas and hung them in our diner.
I grew up eating Grits (ground up corn boiled and soaked). I remember my mom quoting the waitress Alice from the TV show ‘Mel’s Diner’. She would always say “Kiss My Grits.” So I found this board with hooks and the checkerboard tile and stuck her picture in the middle. It makes a great hot pad holder next to our old fashioned phone from Pottery Barn I found at a DownEast Outlet for $5.00.
Here are a few more pics of the room including making the indoor awning curtain valance.

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See more 50's ideas at our Sock Hop Party.

Listed this project at:
Tatertots and Jello's Weekend Wrap-Up Party.
Home Stories A to Z, Tutorials & Tips


BOOKS FOR KIDS: Linking Literacy to Life
Try this book: What Happens to a Hamburger? What happens to food after you eat it?
Amazon Review:
This book is about a diner cook who loves to eat healthy food and we find out what happens to that food in this well written and illustrated book by Paul Showers and Edward Miller. There are little experiments and up close photos of digestive organs which can delightfully gross out your child while one reads and learns about this important system of the body. My 4 year old daughter wants to be a doctor when she grows up so I am always on the look out for books about the body. I love all of the "Let's-Read-And-Find-Out Science" books and they have several very good books available regarding how the body works. – by Moon Dancer, Reviewer

What Happens to a Hamburger? (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2) (See all Children's Diet & Nutrition Books)


Diner Picture Books

Diner Recipe Books