Fun Business Games for Kids

Restaurant

• A restaurant is a game that a group of children can play to have fun and to help with math skills. The children can create a menu, with prices, and each child can take turns playing a different character (waiter, customer, chef, host). Each child can then pretend to create the food and serve guests. At the end, waiters can total a bill and use fake money to receive payment and deliver change to the customers.

Teacher

• Playing “school” works for a single child or a group of children. A single child would come up with lesson plans and play with stuffed animals or other toys. Multiple children could come up with an entire scenario based on a real day of school. Lesson plans, spelling bees, field trips, including teachers and principals, helps the child use his imagination.

Baker

• For children with an Easy Bake oven (or food-related toy), creating a bakery game is easy. The child can bake treats, wrap them, price them and sell them to other children. The customers can come up with special orders, such as having a birthday message written on a cupcake with icing.

Fashion Model

• Playing “dress up” can be turned into much more, like the business of fashion and modeling. One child (or group of children) designs outfits, using a step-by-step process beginning with drawing sketches of what the outfits will look like and ending with a final, tangible design. Other students will model the designs on a pretend runway. Children can take turns doing both aspects of the game.

  Children don't have to actually create clothing with sewing machines or needles. They can combine different items from Mom's closet for new outfits. If children want to make real, unique designs, using Velcro and felt fabric is safe for children and inexpensive for parents.

Chef/Market

• With the use of real foods or plastic toy foods, playing supermarket can help with math skills, writing and reading skills. Working from a recipe, children can make a list of items they’ll need to buy from a grocery store. Give the children a budget to stick with. Have other children price certain items and pretend to work at the grocery store, in the butcher, dairy and produce sections. The shoppers will ask questions of the children workers and try to stay within budget to get the food they need for their recipe.