Posted: February 10, 2026
Programs are often looking for new family engagement ideas. And wintertime in much of the United States is cold and dark. How can you bring some warmth and build community in the winter? As inspiration, one program shares its story of hosting an annual "Warm-Your-Heart Soup Night" each February. It is one of the favorite nights of the year for some staff.
An image of vegetable soup.
Here's how it worked: Every classroom supplied one soup that the teachers and children made together. Teachers tried to accommodate everyone's tastes and dietary restrictions. Families could supplement the class-made soup with additional offerings of bread, crackers, or garnishes (think goldfish crackers!). There was no sign-up for this aspect of the event. The program wanted it to be very flexible and low-pressure for participants.
The gathering was held at the end of the day, and siblings or grandparents were included. Some families brought crockpots of soup from their homes to share. The soups were stationed at raised tables/counters safely out of the reach of curious youngsters. To be sensitive to individuals with food allergies, contributors carefully described ingredients that people might need to know about (this center was already nut-free, so those items were excluded automatically).
The program provided compostable bowls and spoons. The children made and decorated "tablecloths" from rolls of brown butcher paper. They specifically did NOT use individual placemats so that people didn't feel like they had assigned seats and children's contributions were throughout the tables. This made community mingling more likely. At times, teachers would be supervising children who were not yet with families. At other times, teachers would be enjoying relaxed conversations and stories with attendees.
Family engagement ideas are only as good as the teams and families who put them together and gather to experience them. The Warm-Your-Heart Soup Night gathering is not a formula to replicate, but an idea to consider, modify, and make your own. Ask YOUR families how they would tweak it to work best for YOUR program at YOUR facility.
Be reasonable with the logistics. Wise educators remind staff that the soup-making doesn't have to happen all at once, with all the children, on the final day approaching the event. Teachers can work with small groups of children at a time, a couple days in advance to do simple chopping or measuring of soup ingredients. Children can prepare table coverings. They can also prepare welcoming signs, invitations, and spaces for visiting. Be sure to document all these advance efforts so families can enjoy the days of work and learning that have gone into the preparations.
There are some great children's storybooks that support an event like this. For example, Lois Ehlert's Growing Vegetable Soup or Jorey Hurley's Every Color Soup. What are your favorite children's books about soup?
If resources are an issue, maybe the event could become more of a Stone Soup moment where people contribute an ingredient. Or maybe every family drops one bouillon cube in the community soup caldron and shares a story of a favorite soup recipe or memory.
Soup isn't the easiest thing for young children to enjoy. How can you make this a fun gathering for families with lots of little ones without the stress?
- Hold it open-house style at pickup time.
- Drink soup from a mug.
- Encourage children to crumble crackers into the broth to thicken it, making it easier to eat with a spoon.
- Have role-play areas set up where children can make pretend soup while adults visit.
- Supplement with bread cubes and cheese for easy finger food.
- Collaborate with a local vo-tech to be the servers or soup chefs.
- Have the movie "Ratatouille" on repeat in one of the common spaces.
The soup, while warm and nourishing, is not the end-all. It’s the catalyst for the gathering, for the connecting. People may resist name tags, but name tags are a good idea! Family engagement events are a great chance to connect people who would otherwise be unknown to one another.
Plan some intentional questions and write them on cards, placed strategically throughout the space. Appoint a few outgoing staff, board members, or long-time family members to initiate conversations. They could even wear name tags that say "Hi, my name is ___________, and I'm curious..." followed by the key words of the question they are planning to ask. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- When you think back to childhood, how did your family warm their home?
- For your kids, what’s more SOUP-er fun than the Super Bowl?
- For you, is it more soup or more salad?
- What's a gesture that you remember a neighbor doing in the past that will always warm your heart?
What questions would you like to ask to spark SOUP-er conversations?
And consider that it's possible "that to be happy is as simple as making stone soup."
