Beat summer doldrums by having your children put together a lemonade stand with these ideas from Kathryn Daniels, author of Common Sense Business for Kids. They’ll learn, and they’ll love it. To have them profit even more, donate the cash to a favorite cause.

Draw up the plans.
kids can perform a simple market analysis to yield potential customers. Ask them to think how far people would be willing to walk to buy their lemonade. then they can decide where to post flyers, and finally the best time and date to hold the sale.

Prepare the recipe.
Have the young entrepreneurs write down the amount of each ingredient they’ll need for a pitcher of lemonade. Then they can divide the pitcher into cups to see how many they can sell.

Let them be the boss.
With an adult’s help, kids can be in charge of collecting money and giving back change. counting money is a great way to learn math skills.

Tip
Sell favorite snacks like pretzels and homemade brownies to attract more customers—and boost the bottom line. Smart!