Bring Your Child to Work Day – April 24, 2025 – promises to be a lot more exciting this year with many having the opportunity to bring kids to the office. If you’re working remotely and don’t have the option, you can still provide your child a glimpse into your working world and make them feel involved. As a parent, you are your child’s greatest inspiration. Exposing children to your work builds interest into what you do and improves the parent-child connect.
Here’s how you can do to make the best of the day.
Take time to reflect on what work has looked like the past couple years, what your child learned about your career, and what they hope to do in their future. Ask your child, “What are you interested in?” or “What problem in the world do you want to solve?” Thought-provoking questions can lead to wonderfully rich conversations.
As you take your child through your workplace, introduce them to your colleagues across departments so they get an idea of what’s available to them in the future. If they’re old enough, let them explore the workplace on their own and consider keeping them with you for the entire day so they get a real sense of ‘a day in your life at work’.
Plan engaging activities: Organize a scavenger hunt around the office to make the day interactive and fun. Create a list of items or tasks related to different departments that your child can find or complete.
Showcase your work: Set aside time to explain what you do in a way that’s easy for your child to understand. Use visuals or demonstrations to make it more engaging. For example, if you work in marketing, show them an ad campaign you worked on.
Involve them in simple tasks: Let your child help with age-appropriate tasks. This could be organizing files, making copies, or even attending a meeting with you. It gives them a hands-on experience of your daily responsibilities.
Discuss the importance of teamwork: Explain how different roles and departments work together to achieve common goals. Highlight the value of collaboration and communication in the workplace.
Encourage questions: Create an open environment where your child feels comfortable asking questions about your job and the workplace. This can lead to insightful discussions and a deeper understanding of your work.
Reflect on the day: At the end of the day, take some time to talk with your child about what they learned and enjoyed. Ask them what surprised them the most and if they have any new interests or ideas about their future career.
For those at home, pick out a few of the activities below to try together the day of, and explain how the same skills are used by adults every day in their careers. We hope these activities inspire your child’s imagination about how they can contribute to the world — both now and in the future.
- For the future natural scientists, biologists, and chemists, explore water, create a geyser, discover osmosis, make raisins dance, create a lemon volcano, or think about weather changes.
- Does your child want to be a town manager or city planner? Play a game of Red Light, Green Light, create a roadway/hiking path, or try to build a box city.
- Learning about animals and how to care for them can lead to a career as a veterinarian or zoologist. Start by learning how to be kind to animals, play animal pretend, and go on a virtual trip to a farm in springtime.
- Future computer programmers will enjoy coding their own traffic sign.
- Practice the skills of a teacher or human/social services worker by being a helper, creating paper doll friends, and talking about how families work and play together. Visit Doing Good Together for more ideas on community service activities to do with your child.
- Budding CEOs will need strong leadership and communication skills. They can practice with a cooperative game of Flip the Blanket.
- A future healthcare worker can play doctor’s office or read a story about being brave and caring for others.
- Discuss careers in gardening or agriculture while you make an easy window garden or after watching a video about planting from food.
- Future CFOs, bankers, economists, or accountants can sharpen their math skills with egg carton math and then play a math card game or skip count hopscotch.
- Let your future artist try out lots of different mediums by doing an acrylic pour, creating homemade finger paint, learning painting techniques, or building a sculpture.
- Musicians and composers can make their own box guitar or tambourine and compose a song of their own.
- Aspiring attorneys, judges, politicians, and other civic leaders can learn how words can make change.
By incorporating these tips, you can make Bring Your Child to Work Day a memorable and educational experience for your child, fostering a greater connection and understanding of your professional life.
