This activity has been revised and was originally created by Mary Jane Clark and published in the Perkins Activity and Resource Guide (1st edition, 1992). The second edition is available for purchase.
This activity will teach students how to prepare for and plan to eat out at a restaurant, using reading and listening skills, money management, estimation and sequencing. Lessons include Independent Living and Math.
Braille menus from local restaurants
- Talk about the different components of a menu, e.g. appetizer, main course, dessert, soups, side orders, drinks. How can a balanced meal be planned?
- Have the student play a word-search game using the menus. For example, ask the student to find the word “chicken,” then have her identify where she found the word, such as in the appetizer section.
- Practice ordering a meal, identifying the proper sequence of the meal. For example, the dessert is not the first item to be ordered.
- Prior to going to a restaurant, have the student read the menu and make a selection. Have the student estimate the amount of food she should eat. Once she has made a selection, have her determine the cost of the meal and decide if she has enough money to cover the cost of the meal, including drinks, tax, and tip.
- Menu cards may be helpful for the student who cannot read. These can be made prior to the outing by selecting pictures of the student’s favorite foods and drinks and attaching one picture to a card. Cards should be brought to the restaurant, and while other members of the group are choosing their meals, the student can make his selection by choosing the appropriate cards.
You may want to role-play ordering at a restaurant before actually going, by playing the role of the waiter to the student’s customer.
