Make Your Own Mom Dollars and Dad Dollars

Who doesn’t want to print their own money?

Lots of parents like to use point systems instead of money to reward younger kids for certain tasks or achievements. Those points can typically be redeemed for some fun activity with Mom or Dad — like an outing to the movies — or extra computer or gaming time.

If you like that approach, you might like this fun site I stumbled upon while reading the comments in an article about chores. It helps you create fake money with your picture on it — instant Mom/Dad dollars! Hand out Mom/Dad dollars for completed tasks or achievements or just as a random act of parental kindness. You might want to create a rewards chart with your kids indicating how they can be redeemed.

Here’s how you do it:

1. Visit http://www.festisite.com/money.
2. Make sure “Money” is selected in the upper left.
3. Select your desired currency in the upper right.
4. Click the “Photo” button in the lower left to upload your favorite mug shot.
5. Click the “Download” button in the lower left to download an image of your custom money that you can then print from your computer.

Tween Tip: if your kid is getting to the far edge of that precious Mom-And-Dad-Are-Still-Cool stage, try Justin Bieber’s photo instead of your own.

The FamZoo Piggy Bank Challenge by 9 Year Old Game Designer, "Mr. Q"

Do you worry about the number of hours your child is frittering away playing online games? I know we do. But what if your child was spending that time designing and writing games instead of just playing them? That sounds a lot better, doesn’t it? It’s a creative challenge, and coding is a terrific skill for kids to learn in today’s software-driven world.

Too hard you say? Not necessarily. Try a game-building tool like GameMaker from YoYo Games. Unleash your child on it (there’s a free “Lite” version), and see what happens. You might be very surprised. I know I was. All I did was give my 9 year old son, “Mr. Q.”, a FamZoo piggy image, and he did everything else on his own. Try your hand at his FamZoo Piggy Bank Challenge game below (if you can’t see it or it isn’t working for some reason, visit http://famzoo.com/games/piggyv1).

Check out how fast your little piggy’s legs move when you bag a speed boost, and watch out for the bombs! Let us know your high score in the comments — it’s the honor system!

Note: if you want to put your kid’s game up on the web like I’ve done in this blog post, you’ll need to buy the HTML5 version.

Has your child tried building any games? Tell us about it in the comments. Be sure to provide a link if it’s available online.

How to Keep Your Kids on Task Without Hovering

It’s almost the end of summer.

You’ve got lots to do. Your kids have nothing to do.

Camps and summer leagues have stopped. Schools haven’t started.

Your kids are in limbo. Arrghh!

The thought of them sitting around watching TV or fooling around on the computer all day is driving you a bit nuts, even if school is right around the corner. You can think of a list of productive things they could be doing, but you’re too busy with your own work, errands, or chores to be constantly prodding them along.

So, how are you getting something done without letting your kids turn into complete couch potatoes behind your back?

Here’s what I’ve been doing:

Make a checklist together each morning. I’m sitting down with my 9 year old son each morning and making a checklist of meaningful things to accomplish during the day. It includes:

• a little math (30 minutes in a workbook and 15 minutes of math flashcards on FactMonster.com),
• some music (30 minutes of piano practice),
• some physical activity (lacrosse in the backyard with the big bro),
• occasionally a paid job, like washing the car.

Here’s our list from today (of course, we keep it in FamZoo, but paper works too!):

We both like this because the rules and expectations are very explicit and clear from the beginning. It really cuts down on the whining and the nagging.

Check off and notify on completion of each task. My 9 year old son gets to set his own schedule (for the most part), but he is responsible for checking off the tasks and notifying me via text whenever he completes a task. I only go into the dreaded nag mode if I haven’t seen a text in a while. He seems to appreciate the autonomy. I’m able to stay more focused.

As for notifications, my 9 year old can’t text directly (no cell phone yet), but since we’re using online checklists in FamZoo, I can just set up an automatic alert to text me whenever he checks an item off his list. Here’s the Alert setting for his Checklist (my wife gets a notification as well, so she can feel connected while away at work during the day):

And, here’s what my text notifications looked like yesterday:

Yes, he’s still playing computer games, watching a little SpongeBob, and assembling Legos throughout the day, but at least I know he’s getting a nice balance of other activities in as well. I’m getting more done too. Win-win.

Do you have any tips for keeping kids on task during the end-of-summer doldrums? Share your techniques in the comments.

Teach Your Child Money and Business Skills with Roller Coaster Tycoon

Are you looking for an engaging, violence-free computer game for your youngster? As an added bonus, would you like your child to learn the basics of money and business along the way? Check out Roller Coaster Tycoon.

Here’s a quick review from my 9 year old who started playing the game when he was 6:

Roller Coaster Tycoon is a fun game and also explains the meanings of profit and money managment. For example, if you start off by taking a lot of loans, you will have negative money later on, unless the rollercoaster/ride has a VERY good profit. If you start off simple, it’s better. One of my tips is that I don’t put in food/drink stalls until I get a message saying the guests are hungry or thirsty. If you put food/drink stalls in too early, their profit will be negative and take away some of your money. That’s why I like Roller Coaster Tycoon

Here’s a screenshot of the Financial Summary from one of his parks:

I think he needs to renegotiate the interest rate on his loan!

As a parent, I highly recommend Roller Coaster Tycoon. It’s fun. It’s educational. Win-win.

Can Your Bored 9 Year Old Help You Run Your Business?

Ahhh, summertime...

9 year old son: “Dad, I’m bored. Do you have any jobs for me?”

Dad: “Ummm, not unless you’ve got some Internet marketing skills I don’t know about.”

9 year old son: “What’s Internet marketing?”

Dad: “Nevermind...”

Hey, wait a minute. My son can read, he’s savvy on the computer, and he’s pretty darn smart (if I don’t say so myself). Maybe I actually can use him on some of my Internet marketing tasks if I factor the work properly.

For example, one of my more routine tasks is to scan a daily automated Google alert for decent articles related to teaching kids good money habits. I add the good hits to our library of bookmarks and leave comments if I think I have some value to add to the article. Finding the good ones means sifting through the alert and filtering out hits that aren’t truly relevant or ones that are just blatant instances of nonsensical keyword stuffing. My 9 year old is certainly capable of making those judgement calls.

All I have to do is devise a simple system for him to identify the good matches and relay them to me. So here’s what we’ve come up with:

• I copy the contents of each Google alert I receive into a Google Docs document.
• My son reads the title and summary for each hit and, if necessary, drills down to the full article to determine whether it’s a good hit.
• If it’s a good hit, he highlights it in yellow for me.
• He let’s me know when he’s done, and then I just concentrate on the handful of highlighted entries for further curation.

Here's what it looks like when he’s done:

It’s been a win-win-win-win-win:

• He isn’t bugging because he’s bored
• He’s saving me time
• He’s exercising his mind
• He’s earning some dough (so he can blow it on Crowns for Wizard 101)
• He does quality work for a very low wage

Maybe summer isn’t so bad for FamZoo after all.

How about you? Can you find a clever way to put your kid to work on something you’re trying to accomplish this summer?

Legos Meet Social Media: How to Share Your Creations with the World

Legos are unquestionably one of the greatest, most imaginative toys ever invented.

Sure, the increasingly intricate pre-packaged sets are cool (I guess). But, the real magic emerges from the inevitable rubble of mixed-up pieces. There’s nothing quite like seeing a kid rummage through a random collection of lego bricks for hours on end to assemble a unique creation straight from their own imagination.

That basic magic hasn’t changed since my brother and I were assembling our own creations back in the 60s and 70s.

One thing that has definitely changed though: the way kids share their creations with others. It used to be that your audience was confined to a handful of admiring parents and siblings. Easy access to the Internet and social media technologies have completely changed that game. Now kids routinely share their creations with thousands of other kids across the globe. It’s truly inspiring to watch kids proudly post their unique creations and riff on each other’s designs — one big global, collaborative, iterative refinement process.

For example, a couple of weeks ago, our 8 year old stumbled upon some Lego designs for little mock soda vending machines on Youtube. Since then, he’s been busily cranking out his own variations on the little machines. This weekend, he asked me if I could help him post his favorite design modification for the world to see. You bet!

We had a grand time. The perfect father-son project!

A Flip camera, Screenflow for the Mac, Garage Band, Youtube and a couple hours later, here it is:

No doubt, the world would be a much better place if every kid had the opportunity to play with Legos!

Kids: Make Your Own Secret Code Font

Can you read this message?

Of course you can’t! That’s because it’s written in a secret code. One created by my very own little secret agent.

What kid doesn’t like passing messages around in secret code? My 8 year old is no exception. A few months back, he created this secret code:

The problem is, writing coded messages by hand takes a loooong time. But yesterday, he had a brilliant idea: “Dad, let’s create a special font so I can just type my messages in on the computer and print them out.” Yeah, that would be awesome! Then he could crank out tons of secret messages!

How the heck did he come up with that idea? And, how do you pull it off anyway? A while back, I stumbled upon a site called Fontifier that let’s you turn your handwriting into a custom font. Then you can install your custom font on your PC or Mac and use it in your favorite writing and drawing programs. Really cool.

The steps are straightforward — download a template, fill it in, scan it, and upload the scanned image. Fontifier will show you a preview of your font right there in your browser. If you like it, you can pay 9 bucks to download the custom font file, which you can then install on your computer. The steps are all well documented on the site. Also, here’s an old review on lifehacker.com with some good tips.

Here's a sample of the font we created with my son’s decorative lettering:

So how do you create the secret code font? Just follow all the same steps for creating a regular handwriting font, but when you download the template, just have your little secret agent fill in a secret symbol in place of each letter. The template will serve as the key for the code. Here’s my son’s:

By the way, I highly recommend creating a custom font out of your youngster’s handwriting as well. It’s a wonderful way to capture some memories, and it’s fun for writing notes to grandma and grandpa, making custom cards, making custom T-Shirts (here’s one of my favorite examples) and any number of other digital art projects.

So, did you crack my son’s code and figure out his secret message at the top of this post yet? (Hint: use the new key in the fontifier template above)

Have fun!

Teach Your Kids About Charitable Giving With DonorsChoose

I've posted before about DonorsChoose.org and how it’s a wonderful site for introducing your kids to charitable giving.

Well, I happen to have two $25 DonorsChoose giving cards that I'd be delighted to hand out. If interested, just leave a comment here or on our FamZoo Facebook page about any thoughts you might have related to kids and philanthropy.

I’ll pick the two most interesting ones by 9pm Pacific Time tonight (6/2/2010). I'll send the winners the redemption codes by email (which you can send to us privately via our Contact Form).

The cards expire June 15th, so you'll want to sit down with your child and select a project right away.

Teaching and Bonding with the "Big Project"

Last summer, I blogged about an Alienware gaming PC purchase experience. These machines are indeed cool. In fact, so cool that the boys have been saving up for another Alienware for months, but progress has been very slow for them given the lofty price tag. This got me to thinking about the comment/challenge left by my buddy Paul on the original post:

"Bill, you gotta check out newegg.com. What better project than to build your own kick butt gaming computer for half what you'd pay dell/alienware for."

As I mulled over the challenge, fond memories of my college days with Chris in the digital electronics lab swirled in my head. Yeah, this could be fun! On the other hand, I can just imagine sparks and plumes of smoke streaming out of a poorly assembled home-built rig upon plugging it in for the first time. I can vividly picture the dejected looks on the kids' faces and my wife shaking her head in the background as I initiate the humiliating call to the Geek Squad to bail us out. Yeah, this could get really ugly if things go awry...

But... building a killer gaming PC with my computer enthusiast son could be a great bonding and learning experience. It's an opportunity to learn some basic project skills: planning, problem solving, "disaster recovery" and collaboration. It's a tangible way to learn the importance of patience and perseverance. It's a unique opportunity to experience the pride and satisfaction that comes with building something with your own hands to your own specifications. It's a chance to learn that the journey can be as gratifying as the result. Yes, the potential upside is huge.

Well, several weekends ago (with my wife safely out of town I might add ;-) my son and I decided to go for it. The week beforehand, my son carefully culled together a list of components from the NewEgg catalog to match his gaming requirements while abiding by our budget constraints. Those who are interested can see the bill of materials in the spreadsheet at the bottom of this post. Armed with my son's list, we made the purchase swiftly online thereby enjoying another benefit of this approach: no annoying in-store Fry's experience (don't get me started!).

Paul was right: we were able to assemble a set of components at about half the cost of a comparably equipped pre-made machine. In fact, (assuming it actually works) our machine would be more powerful. It would also be outfitted with just the capabilities we wanted and valued. This goes for hardware and software. No more annoying pre-loaded promo software from the manufacturer cluttering up a substantial portion of your hard drive - nice!

Our excitement mounted with each new box that arrived throughout the week. By the time the weekend rolled around, we were ready to rock.

To guide our efforts, we Googled on "build your own PC" and used a collection of articles like this one to provide the high level recipe. This experience reaffirmed what an amazing resource the Web is. Every time we were confused or stymied, a set of well considered Google queries always (ultimately) led us to an answer - no matter how seemingly obscure the issue.

Almost 48 elapsed hours later (we were being super cautious and working in sporadic blocks of time - aka, "family mode"), we were ready for the moment of truth. As I reached for the power button, my son looked so anxious I thought he was going to toss his cookies. He wanted to wait out in the hall while I flipped the switch, but I convinced him that, being lab partners, we needed to witness the moment together...

It's working! Huzzah! Our machine whirred to life. We clapped each other on the back and grinned. We worked through the relatively straightforward task of installing the operating system (Vista). No problems. After lots of self-congratulation, we moved on to the next big acid test: installing and running the graphics intensive game Battlefield 2.

Somewhere in that process, our DVD drive suddenly "disappeared" - the operating system just no longer recognized it and, as a result, we could not perform any more installs. After poking around on some manufacturer web sites and browsing online manuals with decent sized pictures, we determined that we (ok, "I") had attached the cables incorrectly to the DVD drive. After a little dissassembly and minor surgery, we were back in business. The drive reappeared. We were able to proceed with the install and get to the Battlefield test. More self-congratulation.

That's where we ran into roadblock number 2: the game would start to come up and then crash. Doh! More googling and some diagnostics later, we determined that our graphics card was not Vista compatible. By this time, we were anxious to be done, so it was off to Fry's (sigh) to get a Vista compatible Graphics Card. (Note: we were able to return the original card to NewEgg without hassle.)

A little more disassembly and minor surgery later, we were back to the gaming test. This time: success! Battlefield worked like a dream: better performance and sweeter graphics. High fives all around!

The victory was short lived. Moments later after installing some unrelated piece of software, it happened again: the DVD drive mysteriously disappeared. Roadblock #1 was back again. Bummer! The cycles of euphoria and disappointment were starting to wear thin. Back to Google. Ultimately, we found the culprit and the obscure solution here. A little lesson in Windows Registry hacking and we were ready to reboot and try again. Success! Our DVD drive was back and working. Low fives this time (our twice-burned irrational exuberance was giving way to cautious optimism).

Well, it has now been over a month of smooth, satisfying operation, so we think it is safe to declare victory and launch this post. The project was everything I hoped it would be: a great bonding and learning experience for both of us. If you are a parent, I urge you to find a meaty project within your sphere of comfort (building PCs is not for everyone!) and go for it with your child. You'll both be glad you did.

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Appendix

Here is the final parts list:

DonorsChoose.com: A Neat, Convenient Way to Introduce Kids (and Others) to Philanthropy

In my last post, I spoke briefly about my interest in engaging children in philanthropy - the earlier the better. Of course, there are many effective ways to do this, but one that I find particularly intriguing given my interest in the Internet and online marketplaces is a site called DonorsChoose. Quoting from their homepage, the nutshell summary is: "Here, teachers submit ideas for materials or experiences that their students need to learn. Individuals like you can choose a project and make it a classroom reality." Really cool - a philanthropic online marketplace that matches teachers with donors to fulfill a wide variety of educational needs that would otherwise probably go unfunded.

I first heard about DonorsChoose last year when I spoke on a panel at a Kleiner Perkins venture capital event. In return for speaking, KP gave each of the panelists a coupon to DonorsChoose that could be used to fund (or partially fund) a project of our choosing. Since my own children are very involved in music and I have become very passionate about supporting programs in that area, I selected a project entitled "Piano Keyboard for Our Classroom". A kindergarten teacher in a predominantly low income school district of San Jose, California with no money for drama, art, gym or music instructors, was seeking donations to fund a digital keyboard to use in his classroom. You can view the original project proposal here. I used the KP coupon to fund a portion of the $420 request.

I was very impressed with how easy, smooth, and gratifying the whole process was. A few months later, I received a hand-written "thank-you" note from the teacher describing the impact in the classroom. Included in the thank-you packet was a set of photos showing various students playing on the new keyboard in the classroom - fantastic!

This struck me as a very simple and meaningful way to start engaging your children in philanthropy. A way that allows them to perform their own research, use their own funds, make their own decisions, and see a very tangible, near term impact.

Here's a thought: the next time you feel the need to give your child a project (they're bored, spending too much time in front of SpongeBob, too wrapped up in themselves, etc.), try the following (assuming you have set up your own account on www.donorschoose.com):

• Show them the site and the basics of how to get around
• Tell them to search for and make a list of 5-10 projects that they think are particularly meaningful to them (I prefer this to choosing just one - it overcomes the initial temptation to hastily pick any old one without getting engaged and forces a deeper critical evaluation).
• Have them sort the list from "least deserving" to "most deserving" with an explicit comment about why each is more deserving than its predecessor in their opinion (of course, they are all likely to be "deserving" projects - the point is to get them to think more deeply about what they want to donate to and why).
• After some discussion, fund the chosen project (or typically a portion thereof). Ideally, the funds would come from the child (perhaps built up in a "philanthropy account" over time by deducting a percentage of weekly allowance - you might consider matching contributions as well).

See how it goes - I'm trying this myself now.

I'm hoping to be able to create some linkage between my new venture and DonorsChoose or sites like it. We'll see if that pans out. If you know of similar sites, feel free to leave a comment - I'd be interested to hear about them.