Although this project is meant for youngsters, I think there are plenty of adults out there who don’t know exactly how to set the table correctly.  I know I have always had a difficult time remembering which way the knife faces.  I guess the answer is that you should face the sharp edge in towards the plate so no one gets hurt grabbing for their utensils!  Now this arrangement does leave out the salad fork and the soup spoon, but you may add those if you set your table with them on a regular basis!

In fact, get out the dinnerware and flatware that you do use daily, because they are the templates for the pieces you’ll be cutting out.  Also, when you are choosing your papers, select colors that either blend or accent the color of your dinnerware or kitchen so they look nice on the table and don’t distract from the food and conversation!!

Materials List:

• 4 or so large pieces of colored  construction paper
• Scissors
• Straight edge ruler
• Pencil
• Double stick tape
• Your dinnerware and flatware

Instructions:

1.  Start by selecting the colors you want to use for each piece of the placemat.  We decided to make our napkin and cup match, then the plate was a color, all the flatware matched, and the placemat was color 4. We created a couple of mats, using the same four colors on each, but we used them for different pieces so the placemats worked well together but didn’t exactly match.

2.  To start, we traced around our dinner plate, cup, knife, fork and spoon, and then cut out all the pieces.  We created a pretend napkin, not from any real dimensions, just one that seemed the right size. 

3.  The last thing we did was to determine the size of the placemat so we were sure all of our cut-outs would fit onto it.  A little double stick tape and a trip to the local office supply store for lamination……

….and our placemat was ready for use!  Turns out our paper napkins are a bit smaller than a cloth one would be, but the concept still works!

Have fun with this one, add a funny face to the plate, make it into a pizza, or put your home state on it with the capital and other fun facts.  We might as well make learning fun, and this project is definitely one that makes it fun for all ages!

Shari

 
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