My kids are often interested in running a little business of their own, and summer is the perfect time! A lemonade stand is the classic kid business, but I’ve seen kids advertise roses and wallets made from duct tape for sale too.

Whatever your kids want to sell, keep it simple. Decide how much financial support you’re giving and how the kids will pay it back if they make money. It’s best for kids to understand that running a business has costs, learn how to keep them under control and how to pay off startup expenses. Depending on your neighborhood and ages of your kids, you may have to supervise more or less. Try not to get too involved – it’s their business.

Older kids may want to so something online, design an app, stuff like that. If they’re up for it, see what you have to do to let it happen. You may have to be the official account holder for anyone under 18, which can complicate online options for kids.

The post Set Up a Lemonade Stand/Other Business – Day 30 of 30 Days of Keeping Kids Busy During the Summer appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

Summer is a wonderful time for kids to indulge their creativity. Mine like to work on plays with their friends. If they like acting, encourage them to make a play.

They can write it down or not. My kids prefer to do it all from memory – I’d get a lot of resistance if I wanted them to write it all out. But let them go about things their own way and they’ll work it out.

One of the great parts is how much cooperation making a play requires. There may be arguments, but if the play is going to work out, they have to come to agreements or learn to improvise around each other. Either one can be interesting.

Just be ready to be an appreciative audience at some point. If the kids are happy with what they’ve done, they will need an audience.

The post Make a Play – Day 29 of 30 Days of Keeping Kids Busy During the Summer appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

Don’t keep your kids at your house all summer – send them off to play with friends. If you’re lucky, their friends are close enough you can just send the kids off, but even if you have to drive them over, it’s a pretty good deal. Either you get some time at home to do whatever you need to get done on your own, or you get some time visiting with another parent. If the other parent is a friend of yours, this can be nice.

Of course, you should reciprocate and have your kids’ friends over to your house too. Depending on how the kids play, this can be better for productivity than having your kids alone. Other times it’s more work, but that’s all part of having friends over.

The post Visit Friends – Day 28 of 30 Days of Keeping Kids Busy During the Summer appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

Lunchtime, dinner time or snack time, it doesn’t matter; kids love a picnic. Just spread out a blanket, choose appropriate dishes for outdoors and let the kids enjoy.

My kids especially enjoy evening picnics as the sun gets lower on really hot days. It’s nice to get out of the house when it isn’t so hot outside anymore.

The post Picnic – Day 27 of 30 Days of Keeping Kids Busy During the Summer appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

Tag and hide and go seek are lots of fun for kids. No supplies necessary, just a few rules required, such as boundaries. Some consideration has to be given for players significantly younger than the others too.

These are best with a crowd of kids, not just a couple. Three is pretty much a minimum, all the way up to however many can agree on the rules of the game.

Indoor hide and go seek requires some extra rules, of course. Sometimes we’ll limit it to downstairs only, so there’s no one running down the stairs; other times the rule is just “stay out of mom and dad’s room.

The post Play Tag/Hide and Go Seek – Day 26 of 30 Days of Keeping Kids Busy During the Summer appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

Some kids really express themselves well in writing. They may enjoy writing their own book over the summer.

Let your child pick the subject or plan the story. It’s their book after all, although you can give advice. Depending on age, they can write it all out by hand or type it on the computer. Writing it out by hand is great practice for kids, especially those who need to improve their handwriting. Don’t forget the illustrations.

For kids too young to write, you can have them dictate the story to you. You won’t get free time for yourself this way, but your child will appreciate it.

Binding the book can be as simple as holes punched in each page and some yarn, or you can do a better job. You can even consider having your child write it in a journal so that it’s already bound.

The post Write a Book – Day 25 of 30 Days of Keeping Kids Busy During the Summer appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

My oldest daughter loves fairies, and sometimes she likes to make fairy houses. You can buy fairy houses for the garden, but I think it’s more fun when kids make their own.

This can be very much a found items kind of project. My daughter usually selects a shoebox or other small box, and decorates that. Small rocks or bits of wood can make a path. She used to make traps for them too, until I convinced her that one should not attempt to trap magical creatures unless prepared to take the consequences of annoying that creature. Better to treat them well.

The post Fairy Houses – Day 24 of 30 Days of Keeping Kids Busy During the Summer appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

Here’s how you handle things when the kids say they’re bored and want you to help them figure out what to do. Take a bunch of popsicle sticks, and write a chore on each one, and place in the jar. Have the kids draw a chore stick from a jar when they say they’re bored.

The idea here is to encourage your kids to find their own way to keep busy. If they can’t find their own way to play, you make it less fun.

These don’t have to be big chores. All you need is enough work that kids don’t want to complain of boredom to you. Most will quickly learn to find something to do other than chores.

And of course, the chore sticks are also good when you actually need the kids to get some chores done. You can have them draw their assignments or have them compete to see who can complete the most chore stick assignments in a given amount of time. Some kids love to compete on stuff like that.

Here are some age appropriate chore ideas to get you started. The ages are approximate and the list is just ideas. You can probably think of more things your child can do at each age.:

Toddler (ages 2-3)

• Pick up/put away toys
• Pick up dirty clothes and put in hamper
• Unload the dishwasher (unbreakable items, nothing sharp)
• Dust with cloth
• Help move clothes from washer to dryer
• Make bed

Preschooler (ages 4-5)

• All previous chores
• Set/clear table
• Wash dishes with supervision
• Load dishwasher
• Help sort laundry
• Match socks
• Sort trash vs recycling
• Weed (after teaching what weeds are, supervision recommended)
• Water plants
• Feed pets

Early Elementary (ages 6-8)

• All previous chores
• Assist with meal prep (make salad, find ingredients, etc.)
• Help cook
• Vacuum
• Help put away groceries
• Fold laundry
• Put away laundry after folding
• Take out trash/recycling
• Get mail
• Read to younger siblings
• Rake leaves
• Clean up after dog or cat

Elementary (ages 9-11)

• All previous chores
• Make simple meals
• Take dog for walk
• Wash car
• Take garbage/recycling to the curb
• Mop floors

Middle School (ages 12-14)

• All previous chores
• Make full meals/meal plan
• Clean out fridge/freezer

High School (ages 15-18 or until they leave home)

• All previous chores
• Any chore they haven’t learned yet but will need to do as an adult

See, Mom? I TOLD you chores would be part of the list!

The post Chore Sticks – Day 23 of 30 Days of Keeping Kids Busy During the Summer appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

I like to keep my kids’ minds agile over the summer. It should be more fun than what they did in school all year if possible, however. Having your kids work in workbooks, on crossword puzzles or sudoku can help them keep up some of the skills they learned in school.

There are always plenty of books out there for kids of all ages. Online educational games and such too, but sometimes it’s best to have the kids stick to the books.

The post Workbooks/Crossword Puzzles/Sudoku – Day 22 of 30 Days of Keeping Kids Busy During the Summer appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

What kinds of games do you have that can be played in the backyard? We have a bocce ball set, and the kids have expressed an occasional interest in a croquet set. Whatever sort of backyard game equipment you have, it could be just right for keeping the kids busy.

These can be simple things that take only one person, such as a hula hoop or a jump rope, or complex enough to keep a number of kids busy. I tend to favor things that take a few kids, in part because I have three, but also because a group of kids often plays longer… so long as arguments don’t derail things.

The post Backyard Games – Day 21 of 30 Days of Keeping Kids Busy During the Summer appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.