Seven Fun, Career-Focused Activities to Do with Your Kids This Summer

Even though school is out, summer is full of opportunities for learning. Good news: keeping your kids engaged doesn’t have to feel like work. In fact, we encourage play — especially when that play involves exploring options for their future. To help you make the most of family time this summer, we’ve compiled a list of activities you can do to have fun, make memories and inspire your children.

1. Camps and Classes

The first activity that often comes to mind is camp. You’ll find a lot of camps for various interests — tennis, art, you name it. Did you know some camps can also provide exposure to different career skills and fields like STEM, health care and nature? To see what’s available in your area, check out programs at your community’s Parks and Recreation Department, schools, library and even community colleges or universities like Washburn University, which offers camps and classes for children from elementary through high school.

Keep in mind, finding a camp program often requires advanced planning and can cost money. If you’re late to the game, check out these free virtual summer camps offered by the University of Kansas in June and July, 2021.

2. Family Career Tree

Wondering what to do on a rainy day? Create a family tree with your kids, only keep the focus on what each family member did for a living. Talk about different jobs and discuss the skills required for each. You can present these to your kids in a way that will make your family’s history come to life: What made Grandpa Jones so good at farming? Why did Uncle Jeff want to serve in the military? What things does Aunt Jane do every day as an ambulance driver?

Encourage your kids to interview living relatives to find out more about their careers. Also, ask your children which jobs sound interesting to them and why. These conversations can strengthen family connections and spark ideas. Chances are, you’ll walk away with a new appreciation for your family tree, too.

3. Alphabet and I Spy Games for Careers

An easy game to play anytime, anywhere is the alphabet game — only in this version, think of a career for each letter. A is for accountant, B is for baker, and so on. You can take things a step further and talk about the skills required and tasks performed in each profession. A is for accountant, who is good at math and helps people understand money.

If you’re going on a trip, play I Spy with professions in your destination or places along your journey. This can shine a light on professions in hospitality, culinary arts, transportation (especially if you’re on a road trip) and more.

4. Take Your (or a Friend's!) Child to Work

Although Take Your Child to Work Day is officially recognized in April, there’s no reason you can’t plan a day to bring your kids to the office/lab/school/kitchen/salon or any other place of business during the summer. You’ll want to coordinate with your employer to make sure they’re comfortable with such an arrangement and that there are no concerns. Fellow employees might be interested in participating, too.

For extra fun, consider job shadowing/swapping among families. Have a parent from one family take the kids one day, then a parent from another family take them for another day. This will introduce your kids to careers they might be less familiar with and open the door for future conversations. Bonus: Each parent will get a break for a day!

5. Dramatic Play

For those carefree days of summer, encourage kids to step away from mobile devices and gaming consoles and engage in some imaginative, dramatic play. You can help set up a play area that represents a different environment like a school, garden, toolshed or kitchen. Kids can role-play solo or with friends. It’s amazing what kinds of scenarios, environments and interactions they can dream up when given the opportunity.

While role-play is well-suited for younger kids, you can engage kids of all ages for hands-on exploration. Garden together. Cook in the kitchen together. Do laundry together. Many of these activities draw on different skills while providing quality time. For example, baking cookies requires STEM skills (math for measuring, chemistry for mixing and cooking) and results in a delicious treat!

6. Field Trips

Kansas has plenty of museums and activity centers where kids can explore a ton of industries and skills. Some have wonderful hands-on play areas. A few of our favorites include:

• Science City at Union Station (Kansas City) 
• National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame (Bonner Springs) 
• Kansas Children’s Discovery Center (Topeka) 
• Flint Hills Discovery Center (Manhattan) 
• The Cosmosphere (Hutchinson) 
• Kansas Underground Salt Museum (Hutchinson) 
• Exploration Place (Wichita) 
• Kansas Aviation Museum (Wichita)
• Mid-America Air Museum (Liberal)
• Hugoton Natural Gas Museum (Hugoton)
• Kansas Oil Museum (El Dorado)

But field trips don’t necessarily mean big trips. With a little creativity, even a trip to a local business like a salon or supermarket can create an opportunity to talk about careers.

You can ask workers about their jobs:

• “What do you like about your job?”
• “How did you get started working here?”
• “What do you do every day at work?”

You can also use errands as an opportunity to brainstorm with your kids. For example, in the produce section of your local grocery store, talk about where and how various fruits and vegetables are grown and how they get from the farm to your store. See how many people you can think of who are responsible for putting food on your table: farmers, harvesters, processing plant workers, truck drivers, store inventory stockers and so on.

7. Volunteering

Last, but not least, make a positive difference in your community by volunteering together as a family. Local nonprofits or special events can provide ongoing or one-time opportunities to connect with your community while helping others.

If your child is interested in a certain cause, call around to see if any organizations have volunteer opportunities for kids. Be creative! Maybe your child can run a lemonade stand to raise money for a local nonprofit. Some organizations might even let you visit on a mini-field trip.

The great thing about these activities is that they can let your kids “try on” a career in a fun, engaging way. Whatever activities you try, keep the conversation going. Activities can lead to great discussions about what your kids like to do, what they’re good at and what their interests are. By keeping things fun, they won’t even realize how much they’re learning!