Keeping Kids Entertained at the Table: Kits, the Wait, and the Tablet Debate

There’s a precise moment, in every meal with children, when things can fall apart: the wait between ordering and the food arriving. For an adult it’s ten minutes of conversation. For a bored four-year-old, sitting still, it’s an eternity — and from boredom to a meltdown is a very short trip.

Covering those minutes is one of the highest-impact, lowest-cost moves a restaurant can make. It takes no investment, no space (though space helps), just a little thought. In this article we look at the basic at-table entertainment kit, ideas for those with room, and the debate that divides restaurateurs: tablet, yes or no.

If you want the big picture on welcoming families, start with the guide on the family-friendly restaurant.

The basic kit: three things that cost very little

It doesn’t take much to radically change a child’s experience at the table. The minimum kit is three elements.

1. Something to colour. A placemat or printed sheet with pictures to colour, plus a little pack of crayons. It’s the classic for a reason: it keeps hands and mind busy. Cost: a few cents per cover. Bonus: if the placemat carries the venue’s logo in a corner or a little themed game (the maze to reach the kitchen, spot-the-difference between two dishes), it becomes a small souvenir the child takes home.

2. A simple toy. A mini-puzzle, a few interlocking blocks, a small box of bricks. Nothing expensive or bulky: stuff that lives in a drawer near the till and that the server brings with a smile. They wash, they get reused, they last for months.

3. Something to nibble right away. This is the most underrated and maybe the most effective. Bringing something for the children to the table immediately — breadsticks, some bread, vegetable sticks, a few olives for the older ones — fills the physiological void of the wait. A child with something in hand and mouth is a calm child. It’s also the first move of a service that, for tables with children, starts with the little ones and speeds things up.

These three elements together cover the vast majority of situations. They’re not “kids’-restaurant stuff”: they’re common sense applied.

If you have space: the play corner in sight

Those with the square footage can take the next step: a small play corner. But beware, because two mistakes are common here.

The first mistake is hiding it. A play corner in a separate room, out of sight of the tables, puts the parent in the impossible position of choosing between eating and supervising. The play corner should be positioned so it’s visible from the tables: that way parents relax, children play, everyone eats.

The second mistake is overcomplicating it. You don’t need a huge area with expensive structures. A soft mat, a few toys suited to different age ranges, a bounded and safe corner. Safety comes first: no sharp edges, no small parts for the youngest, clean materials.

For venues that do a lot of family covers at weekends, there’s also the events move: some entertainment on peak days — a magician, bubbles, face-painting — during the hours when food runs slow. It’s the same logic as themed nights, tuned for families: it turns a Sunday lunch into a small event worth coming back for.

The tablet debate: screen, yes or no?

Here’s the dividing line. More and more venues offer tablets with games for children, and more and more parents arrive with their own. The question is: how do you position yourself?

The case for yes. The tablet works, no point denying it. It “switches off” the child, gives parents a break, sharply cuts meltdowns and noise. For a venue that wants to maximise the calm of the room — and for parents who simply want to finish a meal in peace — it’s an effective solution.

The case for no. There’s a school of hospitality, well represented by Will Guidara’s thinking and his Unreasonable Hospitality, that sees the meal as a moment of connection, not digital anaesthesia. In this view, offering analogue activities — colouring, paper games, something that involves the whole family — is consistent with a restaurant that brings people together at the table rather than isolating them behind a screen. It’s the difference between service and hospitality: service solves the problem (the child sits still), hospitality creates a memory (the child had fun with the family).

The sensible middle. You don’t have to pick a religion. The most balanced position, and the most respectful of the guest, is: offer the best of analogue, and don’t judge whoever chooses the screen. Put out a colouring-and-games kit so well thought-out that many parents will spontaneously leave the tablet in the bag. But if an exhausted parent pulls out the phone, the last thing they should feel is a judgement. Real hospitality never judges the guest.

From this angle, the truly smart “digital entertainment” for a restaurant isn’t the tablet on the table: it’s the system behind the scenes that tells you in advance a family is coming, so you prep the kit and the right table before they even walk in. The best technology, on the floor, is the one you don’t see.

Match the age: there’s no such thing as “the child”

A frequent mistake is treating “children” as one block. A two-year-old and a nine-year-old have opposite needs.

• 0-3 years: the goal is calm survival. Speed of service and something to hold matters more than an elaborate game. A stable high chair, something to nibble, a simple object.
• 4-7 years: the golden age of the colouring kit and small toys. This is where at-table entertainment delivers most.
• 8 and up: they often want to feel “grown-up”. A menu with a few fun facts, a small quiz, being involved in choosing the dish work better than colouring sheets.

Knowing the children’s ages in advance — information you can gather at the booking stage — lets you calibrate the right gesture. It’s the same personalisation principle you apply to any guest.

In short

Entertaining children doesn’t require a playground: it requires covering the wait between ordering and the food well. The basic kit — something to colour, a simple toy, something to nibble right away — solves most situations at near-zero cost. Those with space can add a play corner in sight. On the tablet, the smartest position is to offer an analogue alternative so good it makes the screen unnecessary, without ever judging whoever chooses it.

Coperti is the system that gives you the right information at the right moment: knowing in advance how many children are coming and their ages, so the floor preps the kit and the table before they walk through the door. Want to see how it works? Write to us from the contact page — the trial is free for 30 days, no credit card.