As summer begins and school falls to the wayside, it’s important to remember that learning shouldn’t stop when that final bell rings. It may be cliche, but it’s important that your kids keep their minds as active as their bodies this summer.

So what kind of summer learning are we talking about? There’s of course the typical summer reading (see Girl Power: 8 Books to Entertain and Educate Summer Readers for some great book recommendations), but it’s time to think beyond that and encourage your kids to pursue their interests and hobbies in new and fun (and educational) ways.

Not sure where to start? Let me tell you about one of my many summer endeavors as a kid. During my early middle school years, my sister and I decided to start our own baking company. We selected what we would sell (cinnamon swirl bread, rolls and French bread that we made from scratch) and named our company: The Chef’s Apron. I even got on Microsoft Word to make a little clipart logo (so fancy, I know).

We started by going around our block and selling to neighbors and soon moved on to include church members in the weekly orders. People were usually surprised to see two tweens selling homemade baked goods, but we made more than enough sales to keep us busy.

And then some serious summer learning came into play.

We made spreadsheets with all of the orders and customer and payment information each week (a great lesson in management and organization). We also calculated the cost of goods for each product (a serious summer math lesson) so that we could pay our parents back for ingredients every week.

But the most important lesson we learned was in responsibility. When we told a customers they would receive their orders on a certain date, we had to make them by then whether we felt like it or not.

The endeavor only lasted a few months, but we learned so much during the process and filled our piggy banks up quite a bit. I don’t even think we realized what we were learning while we were in the midst of it — it’s only now as I look back that I realize what an educational experience it really was.

So think outside the box this summer and make learning fun. Will you help your child write his own book of short stories? Make an at-home art gallery? Start a trash take-out business in the neighborhood? Produce and edit a family film together? The options are endless.

Happy learning!