Career Day is a perfect occasion for school kids of all ages to explore their dreams and understand the role some professions have in our society. The event can be anything but boring if you put some effort into it and come up with interesting activities for the students. These great career day ideas will encourage them to think about the kind of work they are interested in doing later in life:
Asses your audience
Before choosing the best career day ideas, it is important to asses your audience, their level of understanding and potential interest in the activities or speakers. The easiest way to do this is by taking a survey of student interests. This will help you ensure a positive response, thus their participation. If the children are too young, you can ask them to make posters or drawings that illustrate the careers they like best. Either they use magazine clippings or their own drawings, the project will engage their imagination.
Invite guest speakers
Inviting guest speakers is one of the best career day ideas, because the effect real-live people have on children cannot be surpassed. You can ask parents to talk about their work of make calls to local businesses. Make sure the speakers understand the age group of the students and tell them what you would like to achieve. Invite guests from a variety of fields and ask them to think of ways to impress the kids. For example, workers from the police department can come to the school with sirens blaring and light flashing. A banker can bring a stack of $100 bills or a change counter. Doctors can enhance the experience for the students if they show them how to operate on dummies. Limit the speech to 10-15 minutes, then encourage the children to ask questions.
Organize interactive activities
If you invite a police officer, firefighter or EMT, organize educational activities. Have the children pick up a fire extinguisher, crawl under a blanket and stop, drop and roll or touch a fire hose. They can also make a 911 call on a toy phone to the police officer. Other great career day ideas involve having a zookeeper, petting zoo owner or veterinarian bring animal cages, fishing nets and other tools that are safe to handle. The students can help them take care of stuffed animals. Nurses can teach them how to wrap a broken arm and dentists can show them how to brush their teeth correctly.
Homework
For homework, ask your students to describe the job they liked best and why it is important to the community. Tell them to write about what they aspire to be and why they want to pursue this path. To test their knowledge, give them specific questions like: What kind of education will you need? What is the most interesting aspect of this job?
