Cafe McMommie

Here are two great ideas for "fast food" eating at home. This idea works especially well if you are grilling hamburgers, hotdogs etc at home. Anytime you can save some cash, learn and have at the same time is a GREAT idea.

Fast Food Alternative:
When scrounging for dinner, why not make it fun without heading for fast-food. Have “McMommy’s” night. You can make up a menu of things you know you have on hand. The kids can select from the menu and place their order as if they are ordering at a fast food restaurant. My employee (typically Daddy) and  the waitress (typically Mommy) get the food together and serve it to them in a paper bag. You can also put a little toy in each bag (Simply grab a pack of party favors up at the dollar store). The kids really enjoy this.

Learning about money game:
If you’re the parent of a school-aged child, you know that a major skill most children struggle with is learning how to make change.  This is also a challenge for some teachers to teach.   

What you need to play:
Small empty shoe box and paper/markers/crayons etc to decorate - FREE
Cafe' McMommie menu printed up from your computer -FREE
Play Money (you can print some from HERE if you don't have any - FREE

Directions:
1.  Have your child decorate the outside of a small shoe box to look like Cafe' McMommie.
2.  Place Cafe McMommie menu inside with fake money.
3.  Assign roles of waitress and dining guests.  You can have as many guests as you like and you can rotate the roles.
4.  Take turns ordering off the menu and then “paying” for your meal.  The wait staff will need to make change from the money that the dining guest pays with and the guest will need to double check the change they receive. This helps everyone involved practice their change making skills and also reinforces double checking your work.
It’s a simple but effective game.  Be sure look at the prices in the menu so they don't all end in .00, .99 or .49. The kids will catch on fast what amount of change needs to be given.  This game also reinforces reading skills as there are sure to be some words they need to sound out while selecting their food.

Adaptations for younger children:
You can begin working on money skills by teaching them to count different sets of items and eventually counting by 2′s, 5′s, and 10′s.  After that you can begin working on simply identifying different coins and paper money.

Game pulled from Budget Savvy Diva, Cafe Mommie idea pulled from Debt Proof Living