Hosting a Stone Soup Party is a great way to teach children about hospitality, friendship, sharing, and food insecurity. Whether it’s a group of Preschoolers, a Kindergarten Class, or a wild bunch of senior adults, Stone Soup is a great book to teach a valuable life lesson and gather people with food and activities. 

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Part of my accomplishments on my 40-somethings list was hosting preschool playdates with my mom friends. As far back as I can remember, one of the things I looked forward to most about being a mom was having a 3-year-old and hosting a Stone Soup Party.

My mom was a preschool teacher for more than 40 years, and one of her activities each November around Thanksgiving was a Stone Soup day with her class. They would read the book together, prepare a pot of soup and talk about sharing.

Maybe it’s my Enegram 2 heart, but hosting people for a party that teaches kids about hospitality and sharing just seems like the coolest thing. Fall and the holiday season are the perfect time to host a Stone Soup Party for kids.

If you are unfamiliar with the book Stone Soup, I encourage you to check it out the next time you are at your local library. There are several versions of the story, but the basic outline is the same regardless of origin.

A couple of animals (or people) find themselves hungry but without any food sources. So, they set a plan to host a party and invite people around them to bring what they have. The host animal only has a stone, but that special stone is the magical part that makes what everyone else brings come together. It was a genius plan. I provide the stone and stew pot, I invite the people around me to bring what they can, and together we all eat. 

Our Stone Soup Playdate was a fun excuse to get our kids together and play, learn lessons about gratitude and sharing and just chat and eat.

The main element of the Stone Soup Playdate is reading and making Stone Soup together. Soup is a weird food for kids, so it becomes the menu element for the adults, but bringing something to the party that they get to use is a fun activity that gives the kids some buy-in, and frankly, they may want to try the soup since they made it together. 

This is an easy activity to do in a Kid’s Day out or Daycare class as well. Start the day with the Stone Soup experience and put the soup in a crockpot during morning playtime. 

Tips for hosting a Stone Soup Playdate

• Let others help you with the food and activities
• Sent out a text to invite others to join you, it doesn’t have to be anything formal – just make sure to include your instructions about bringing an item for the soup.
• Get a good copy of Stone Soup and know which version you are reading before you read out loud to the kids.
• It may not be perfect, but if the kids get the point, that’s what matters
• Getting together with mom friends and getting your kids together is the main point
• Move what you can outdoors if the weather allows.
• A bigger flat rock works better for this experience. We found a rock on a walk the week before and washed it well – run it through the dishwasher several times. 
• If you are the host – pay attention as people ask what they can bring so you have a variety of items to put in your soup – the point is to have people bring something they already have. 

Menu for Stone Soup Playdate

• Stone Soup
• Cornbread or crescent rolls
• Kids – chicken nuggets and veggie straws or chips
• Veggie tray
• Fruit
• For dessert – dip bananas or apples in sugar-free jello powder
• Juice pouches and canned drinks for moms
• Charcuterie or dips and snacks to just have out as people arrive

Activities for Stone Soup Playdate

• Include in your invitation the instructions about bringing something to make stone soup. Give hits about bringing canned food or something to add to a stew. Suggested items could include – corn, mixed vegetables, beans, stewed tomatoes, cooked macaroni, cooked ground beef or turkey, hotdogs, or smoked sausages; frozen vegetables can also work. The goal is to encourage people to bring something they have although many will get something specific from the store. 
• Collect items brought by the children. Have a basket or bucket where they can put the canned foods when they arrive. They will be excited to show what they brought. 
• Read Stone Soup – emphasize the points of the story or get the kid’s attention as you read, based on their age groups. 
• Pour together your Stone Soup – have a grown-up open canned item while you are reading the story. Have the host child place the big stew pot in the middle, on top of a towel or tablecloth.  Have the host child add their stone to the bottom of the stew pot. Then, ask them to ask each child to bring the soup ingredients that they brought. Have the host child stir the soup ingredients together. Place the stew pot on the stovetop on low or in the slow cooker to cook while you complete the rest of your activities. As a host, let me encourage you to have a few things on hand that can help make the soup better – tomato juice, sauted onions, cooked meat and a beef stew seasoning pouch will go a long way to add a little seasoning to your final meal. You can throw these in at the end when you have the stew pot in the kitchen.
• Get on Pinterest or Teachers Pay for some classroom ideas with stone soup, but one I love is, Stone Soup Song, sung to the tune of the Farmer in the Dell – The <stone> goes in the soup. The <stone> goes in the soup. We’ll stir, and stir, and stir some more. The <stone> goes in the soup. Change out the word for all the ingredients you brought or could bring to add to the soup – carrots, peas, beans, macaroni, meat, corn, etc. This lets all the kids hear that the thing they brought is important for the group.
• Make placemats for your dinner – pre-cut food out of a magazine. You could separate the food into categories and use this as a lesson about the food pyramid. Or, put all the food in the middle and have the kids pick out a certain number, like 5, of items they would want in their meal and glue them on a piece of legal-sized cardstock. These are fun tools to help set the table later. 
• Depending on the season, fall, thanksgiving, or Christmas, complete a seasonal craft 
• A deer corndigging station is a fun activity that kids love. Any type of sensory bin station is fun for kids.
• Let kids run and play outside or in a playroom with just unstructured time they can play together. 

Extra ideas and craft projects for a Stone Soup Playdate

• Food pyramid activities are fun to incorporate. 
• Making woodland creature masks on paper plates is very on theme.
• Doing a gluing activity using spice shakers or a cheese grater. 
• Paint with plastic forks – paint a table setting picture or something to the seasonal theme, it just gives a new way to see a fork as an art tool. 
• Paint or make shapes with potato mashers or a basting brush
• Glue kosher salt in shapes or designs – a great activity for letter making.
• Stamp with fruits and vegetables – apples, lemons, or oranges

You really want to let people bring what they have, but some will reach out and ask what kind of items they could bring; here is a list of basic ingredients to make a soup – think beef stew or your grandma’s vegetable soup. This will never be the same recipe two times in a row.