Take Kids to Work Day Activities

Take Our Daughter and Sons to Work Day is a nonprofit national campaign, started in 1992 that is operated by the Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day Foundation. It occurs yearly on the third Thursday of April and encourages parents to bring their children to their workplace. Have your child do activities such as shadowing, interviews and a tour at your workplace to make the experience worthwhile.

Have your child pretend to be a reporter, asking you and your employees different questions about their work such as, "What is your favorite thing about your job?" or "How do you balance work and home life?" This will give children insight into what it is like to be a working adult and what to expect. Help younger children come up with a few questions to ask. Afterward, discuss with them what they learned from talking to the workers. Older students may want to jot down the answers they receive or use a tape recorder like a real reporter.

Plan a tour of your workplace for your child. If fellow employees have also brought their children in for the day, you can do this as a group activity. Show them the different areas or departments of the workplace, explaining the roles that everyone plays. If the work environment is a factory, discuss how the machinery works and what it does.

Have your child shadow you for the day to get a first-hand, one-on-one look at exactly what your job consists of. Allow your child to observe you and help you with some of your work tasks to get a feel of what it is like to do that job. Answer questions they may have about your work or the environment.