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Save Money During This Economy Crisis With 3 Kid-Friendly Fun Summer Projects
Kids love summer camp, but during an economy crisis, the cost to send a child could be astronomical! This is especially true if your child has numerous interests that would require that they attend multiple camps. The cost of which could tear a family's budget into shreds.
But your kids can still have a fantastically fun summer without you parents having to spend money on expensive summer camps. You will just need to do some planning and coordinating to come up with alternative activities that will take the place of those summer camp times that they may be wondering about. Try one or all of these three summer activity options that could help parents save money even in this economy crisis:
Try matching up arts and crafts with your child's summer time reading. Of course, you want your child to make plenty of times for exploring books and using their imaginations this summer, and with a new school year approaching, most educators usually tell parents to make reading a summer time priority. Instead of buying expensive books at the big stores, try the thrift stores and local discarded book sales where you can buy for cheap a busload of books that your child can enjoy. Plus, you could always go to the library where there are mountains of free books waiting for your child to grab.
Once they read the book, then develop extension activities from the book's theme. A perfect example might be that they make green cupcakes after reading a book about an ogre like Shrek, or that they try to come up with "fashion" ideas that would be appropriate for a talking donkey. Let the kids develop the ideas and watch the fun unfold. People need moments of happiness during this economy crisis, so use this to be a springboard for a good time. Just remember to keep your costs down by using frugal recipes and items that you have around the house.
Second, have them try their hand at some type of entrepreneurial endeavor. They could take one of their interests and expand to an online venture. It could be something as simple as reselling on Ebay or coming up with a new idea like a local kids' book review site. Let them figure out what they like, buy for cheap a domain name through a site like Yahoo, and run with it.
Taking their company to the streets could work for kids also because they love to be out. The key to their success will be their drive, making sure that they keep their costs low by teaching them to buy for cheap, and helping them to learn the importance of business acumen like good customer service and time management. Do this right and they could spend their whole summer creating the business and bringing it to life.
Last, plan a video game tournament, a doll fashion show, or some other event that multiple children can participate in. An event works well because the children have to actually prepare for the event. Work with your child to create guidelines for the event, stages of competition, and even figure out how to buy for cheap prizes or get them donated if possible. By opening up to the whole neighborhood or community, your kids will have the opportunity to do some marketing which could include making flyers and other things to promote the event. In the end, fun should be at the center of what you do. It should take a little bit of time getting it all together, but the result will be lots of kids enjoying something different this summer and lots of parents enjoying saving, cost-cutting because their kids will be occupied or have something to work toward.
Summer is a great time for projects like these. It doesn't have to be just about summer camp. There are so many alternatives to camp that families can find to do, even in the midst of an economy crisis. Just be creative, get the kids heavily involved, and watch the summer time roll by while you enjoy this learning process and the fruits of your labor! Plus, everyone will enjoy all of the money that you will save from not sending the kids to summer camp!
About the Author As a recognized connoisseur on saving money in daily life, Alexandra Vrugt has written many articles on how to manage on less. You can receive a free copy of her Ebook '15 Top Ways to Save Money' by going to her MakeEndsMeetOnline.com site.
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