Get Your Child Involved in One of These Unique After-School Activities

Finding after-school activities for your child can be frustrating, especially if you’re looking for something different from the run-of-the-mill options such as sports teams. Fortunately, there are lots of activities your child can engage in online or at home that will help them find their creative side, learn more about STEM topics, or even learn how to become an entrepreneur. Sit down with your child and talk about a few of their interests and how they might translate to an after-school activity, starting with these ideas from Supermoms.

They Can Start Their Own Business

With so many online tools available these days for would-be entrepreneurs, it’s easier than ever for young people to start a business and learn skills that they can take into adulthood. Show them a few options and resources they can utilize, such as drop-shipping or selling their handmade items on an ecommerce platform. 

They might also think about starting a business locally. There are the more traditional kid-friendly options, such as lawn care or snow removal service. Or they could use their creative sides to create 3-D printed items for sale, illustrate their own comic books, face paint at local events, or even design their own greeting cards. 

Show your child some examples of a professional business plan, talk about how to market a business and find customers, and go over the basics of creating a website or social media page so they can advertise and communicate with their audience.

Test Their Idea

If you think they may have hit upon a really good idea for a business, it can be worth doing some market research to learn more about its viability. Fortunately, it’s easier than ever to incentivize research participants with this free solution. You can create an account and begin organizing your research campaign in as little as 30 seconds.

They Can Learn How to Code

If your child is more into technology than entrepreneurship, they might consider learning to code. With so many tech careers exploding these days, your child will benefit from this type of education for years to come, and there are plenty of sites that offer expert coding tips as well as help with troubleshooting problems. Take a look at a few examples of how coding can be both fun and lucrative and talk about your child’s options to learn more skills as they get older, which might include working for a video game company or a major site like Google.

They Can Volunteer Their Time

If your child is in a scouts program, they may already know the benefits of helping others, which, as Of The Hearth notes, include an elevated sense of self-esteem and the ability to gain empathy and leadership skills. If they don’t already participate in a scouts program and want to help out in your community, SignUpGenius suggests taking a look at a few options that will allow them to volunteer their time after school. 

Animal-loving kids can look into volunteering at local animal shelters. They always need help cleaning up after the animals, and often look for volunteers to help walk and play with the animals. If the shelter is in a walkable area, your child might even be able to help socialize the dogs by walking them around more people and public places. Socialized pets are far more adoptable, so your child would be helping the dogs on multiple levels.

While the skills your child will learn by assisting seniors, helping unhoused individuals, or cleaning up the neighborhood are very different from the ones she would get from a coding class, they’re still extremely beneficial and could lead to your child starting a nonprofit someday.

They Can Make a Movie

Most kids love movies, especially animated ones, and there are lots of resources and tools available online now that allow people of all ages to experiment with creating everything from animated films to stop-motion shorts. With these tools, your child can create a storyboard, write a script, make props and backgrounds, and film a movie from their own imagination. This is a great project to try either alone or with friends, making it perfect for those long summer days or cold winters when the weather keeps them indoors.

Help Your Child Find Their Passion

Helping your child find interesting, outside-the-box after-school activities doesn’t have to be stressful. Take a look at all of the resources you and your child have access to online, including coding classes and tutorials, and consider joining your child in whichever project they choose for even more added benefits.

To join or support an organization giving back to the community of moms of all backgrounds, visit Supermoms today!

This resourceful blog was written by Loly Rich.