Jobs for 3rd-6th graders?

[Gil]

What are ways that your upper-elementary aged kids earn money outside of the home? If they have their own mini-business than please elaborate.

[Erica in OR]

My fifth grader recently started assisting with child care at a mom's morning out twice a month at a local church. His older sister also helps. They're glad to get help during the school day.

 

One thing a young man used to do in our community was sign up customers to put up U.S. flags on flag-type holidays. He would install a tube-type thing into the ground in your yard, flush with your lawn. Then early on the mornings when it was a flag day, he'd make the rounds to all of customers and insert a flag (maybe 6–8 feet or so tall??) into the tube. He'd collect them at the end of the day. I thought it was such a patriotic thing that really added to the community, but also a novel, enterprising idea to make some pocket money. It would also require a parent with a car, I suppose.

 

Erica in OR

[Rachel]

My kids have dog sat for our neighbors, they get $10 per day to feed, water, and play with the dog.

[Rosie_0801]

My dd was set up with chickens for Christmas and is now selling eggs. So far she is only selling to her grandmother and I, but since we had to buy eggs anyway, that's fine.

 

She's saving her egg money to buy bee hives so she'll be able to sell honey. She might do queen rearing in the future. Over here, they sell for at least $30 each.

[Rachel]

My siblings and I had a lawn mowing business starting about that age. My dad helped us buy a self propelled push mower (a novelty at the time) we could start ourselves and printed up business cards. There were 5 of us and usually two of us would do a yard together. We had several yards (10-15 if I recall correctly). My one brother developed a relationship with an elderly widow and she would have him help with random things around the house. He was in 4th and 5th grade at the time.

[Rachel]

Family friends of ours had chickens so their kids could sell eggs. They also bought a couple vending machines they put in office building. The kids stocked it and planned what to buy. It did take a lot of help from their parents to do both of those jobs though.

[greenbeanmama]

My son has a traveling lemonade stand.  We have two two-gallon jugs that we make lemonade in (and make lemonade ice cubes to keep it cold and undiluted), and I make cookies for him.  He loads up our garden cart with napkins and cups, and walks around downtown for big events, like the Fourth of July and our town's annual spring festival.  It's not steady income, but he can easily make $40-50 in one day.

[Pen]

My ds's best friend made macrame bracelets and successfully sold a few hundred dollars worth at a summer crafts fair her father was also working at.

 

Ds got paid (not expected) for helping a neighbor dig a trench, and for some writing, and was offered money to pet sit, but was not able to do it due to other commitments.

[Ms.Ivy]

When I was 12, I tutored little kids in the afternoon.  I helped them with their homework and did extra phonics and math drills when necessary.  I started out at $2 per hour.  But that was a long time ago!  haha

[scoutingmom]

Well, not practical for most.... my Dad had a computer store in the 70s. My brother, age 13, contacted the Coke plant (or something?) nearby, and talked them into giving him a vending machine in return for him buying the pop to fill it from them. I guess Dad fronted the money to fill it at first. (Eventually he got the pop from a cheaper source...). I bought chips and chocolate bars to sell on an honour system in a box biside it. I eventually got paid by my brother to refill the pop machine, and eventually he owed me enough he sold it to me.

 

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[basketcase]

Our kids supply the snack bar at their dad's office. It runs on the honor system, so they just have to check in periodically to collect money and buy new snacks. Even such a simple venture has taught them about pricing and how to match supply with demand. They sometimes forego other fun things in order to take care of the store.

 

Owning a business as parents provides us a lot of opportunities for our kids to work. They can clean up the yard at the shop or check links when the website is updated. They can sharpen pencils or decorate the office for holidays.

 

Years ago, my mother-in-law had a series of small business ventures that her kids helped with - a goat dairy, building sheds, etc. Yes, the parent is paying the kid in that scenario, but the money comes from outside the home.

[Dmmetler]

My DD feeds snakes and cleans snake tanks for a ball python breeder. She loves it because she gets to cuddle all the snakes. I find it somewhere between annoying and humorous-because at home her bathroom could easily double for a microbiology project before she sees a need to clean it!

 

Also, not earning money for her, but DD sells toy snakes and other merchandise at reptile events to benefit her supporting non-profit and fund her education events. It lets her have to work with supply/demand and pricing.

 

Although sometimes it gets a little bit much. One of the common vendors she buys from had a big clearance sale in January, and she stocked up. Think we have enough snakes?

 

Edited January 24, 2016 by dmmetler

[SparklyUnicorn]

My son has a traveling lemonade stand.  We have two two-gallon jugs that we make lemonade in (and make lemonade ice cubes to keep it cold and undiluted), and I make cookies for him.  He loads up our garden cart with napkins and cups, and walks around downtown for big events, like the Fourth of July and our town's annual spring festival.  It's not steady income, but he can easily make $40-50 in one day.

 

You must have very relaxed rules for selling food and drink to the public.  That sort of thing would never fly around here.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Honestly, nothing.  Not one damn thing.  I often give my kids jobs/tasks that can earn them a few bucks.

 

My older kid has helped neighbors set up their computers.  He made a few bucks that way.  This is not steady income/business though.

 

 

[ElizabethB]

My DD feeds snakes and cleans snake tanks for a ball python breeder. She loves it because she gets to cuddle all the snakes. I find it somewhere between annoying and humorous-because at home her bathroom could easily double for a microbiology project before she sees a need to clean it!

 

Also, not earning money for her, but DD sells toy snakes and other merchandise at reptile events to benefit her supporting non-profit and fund her education events. It lets her have to work with supply/demand and pricing.

 

Although sometimes it gets a little bit much. One of the common vendors she buys from had a big clearance sale in January, and she stocked up. Think we have enough snakes?

 

You can never have too many snakes!! :lol: Edited January 24, 2016 by ElizabethB

[Farrar]

BalletBoy does a lemonade stand in the summer sometimes and makes maybe $10-20 or so. It's not a huge winner. He also makes money dancing as a super sometimes. He would like to branch out and be an opera super sometimes too. Shows pay $10 per performance. But he's mostly in that for the experience. I mean, the show he's in currently is a dancing show with a proper audition (not just a do you fit the costume audition, which is common too). He has to go to every single one, but he's in the B cast so he only performs half the time and will only be paid a little overall as a result. Oh well.

 

Mushroom is a mother's helper. He watches a baby at our yoga class in an adjacent room.

[Minerva]

My kids wash the car at my dh's business, and they run a magnet around the job site so that they pick up any stray metal to keep it from puncturing equipment tires. They do this (almost) every Friday. They usually make about eight dollars (to split) and are very proud of the work they do. 

[EndOfOrdinary]

My son put up a lemonade stand where if you bought lemonade for three dollars you got a free beer. The kayakers and tourists thought it was awesome, until the city shut him down. My boss is considering sponsoring Ds this year since he thought the idea was brilliant. Ds made a killing!

 

He writes grants for his non profit work and is paid to speak at events. An internship starts next year, though due to age he has to be paid in scholarship money.

 

He gets tipped out where I work for doing small jobs no one else wants to do, for going locally to purchase ans deliver back food for lunch, or running items to the bank/post office/other businesses.

 

Last year he dog sat for ten dollars a day. The owners would drop off the dogs or Ds would walk up and bring them to our house for the day. This morphed into large animal pet sitting where he feeds people's farm animals, lets them out to pasture and rotates where they graze. It was still ten dollars a day.

 

He was asked to be a tutor to an elementary schooled child (2nd grade) for math and reading. That paid twenty five dollars for three hours. It was a great thing for both of them, but the family moved away.

 

Ds has a friend (age 12) who is a skateboard instructor. He makes ten dollars an hour for his "intro/beginners package." You get six lessons over three weeks for sixty dollars.

[My3girls]

My dd has watered plants and fed/walked animals while neighbors are on vacation. She wants to start mowing lawns next summer.

[featherhead]

My siblings and I all had newspaper routes as kids. I started when I was 8. In summer we sold lemonade and apricots at the road. My oldest is 8 now, and I can't imagine delivering newspapers at her age, but I did.

[Rachel]

One thing a young man used to do in our community was sign up customers to put up U.S. flags on flag-type holidays. He would install a tube-type thing into the ground in your yard, flush with your lawn. Then early on the mornings when it was a flag day, he'd make the rounds to all of customers and insert a flag (maybe 6–8 feet or so tall??) into the tube. He'd collect them at the end of the day. I thought it was such a patriotic thing that really added to the community, but also a novel, enterprising idea to make some pocket money. It would also require a parent with a car, I suppose.

 

Erica in OR

I've been thinking about this idea ever since I first read your post, I think we are going to help our kids do this. We live in a small neighborhood in which it would probably work pretty well. My 8 year old is excited about the idea. I'm going to help him investigate flag costs and get prices for buying in bulk this week.

[Erica in OR]

I've been thinking about this idea ever since I first read your post, I think we are going to help our kids do this. We live in a small neighborhood in which it would probably work pretty well. My 8 year old is excited about the idea. I'm going to help him investigate flag costs and get prices for buying in bulk this week.

 

I think they did an article in the paper about him, too. You might suggest it to your local newspaper or submit a small piece when it gets rolling.

 

Best wishes to you and your kids in your project!

 

Erica in OR

[foxbridgeacademy]

Mine sold sodas and ice cream out of our garage to their friends.  We have a chest freezer and mini fridge we kept in the garage and they used their allowance to buy ice cream and canned pop on sale then sold it to kids for about 2X what they paid for it 9so $.50 for a can about $.75 for fudgecicle).  Which was still less than half the price the ice cream truck guy charged.  DD and her little friend got buckets, sponges and a hose with sprayer and went around the neighborhood and washed cars for $5.  We had a portable car vacuum that they would use for and additional $3.  Not a lot of takers but they would do an average of 3-4 per month during Spring to Fall.

[SounderChick]

My oldest DD and her friends have a jewelry business.   The oldest two had taken a Jewlery making class at their ALE they taught the youngers and made a business they make about $100 a month selling mostly on facebook. 

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

My oldest dd is buying chickens this spring and will sell the eggs.  She/we are hoping to branch out to other animals in the future, most likely goats and sheep.

[macmacmoo]

A friend of ours daughter who is middle school age has an etsy shop. She makes polymer paper clips.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

My dd bakes and decorates cupcakes, then sells them right by the public school when school lets out.  She does it about once a month and makes about $80, of which half is profit.  She puts out flyers a couple days ahead to let the kids know she'll be selling.  Because her brother helps with the sales (she is crazy shy) he also gets paid 1/3 of the profits.  

 

She hopes to get a sewing machine for her birthday and then to begin making and selling stuff with that, but that will be a while away until her skills are up to par.  

 

My son makes Harry Potter style magic wands and hopes to sell those, but they need a little perfecting.

 

Other ideas are doing chores for neighbors.  My brother and I used to earn some fixed amount for each bucket of weeds we pulled from her garden.  

 

Once they hit high school, they can tutor and babysit!   

[pehp]

My son is 8. He has earned money outside our home for pet sitting and flower watering for our neighbors. His biggest cash has been made by selling his artwork. He has several hundred dollars so far and is contemplating using it to start an egg business. We shall see.😉

 

We pay him a small weekly allowance and also pay for help....mostly in the garden and flower beds in summer. Sometimes if I need a mental health break I will pay him a few dollars to 'babysit' his sister while I hide in my bedroom!