Money Making Ideas for Kids, Ideas to Earn Money for Kids, Business Ideas for Kids

Student-faculty play-off. Sponsor a charity sports event (volleyball, baseball or soccer) between students and teachers. Sell tickets or charge admission at the door.

Talent show. Hold a talent show at your school. Sell tickets or charge admission at the door.

Neighborhood flea-market. Get neighborhood families to gather their old books and used clothes and household items to sell.

Art contest. Hold an art contest at school and with local artists as judges. Sell tickets or charge admission at the door. You could also sell this artwork and donate the proceeds to your favorite cause.

Poetry reading. Hold a poetry reading in your favorite cafe. Get students or friends to read their own or published poems related to hunger & poverty, discrimination or environmental issues. Pass the hat and ask for contributions.

Fasting. Give up one meal a week or give up junk food for one week and donate the money to a charity that feeds the homeless. Place large containers in each classroom in which students and teachers can place their change.

Party helper. Help harried parents set up, decorate, supervise, and clean up before, during, and after children's birthday parties and other social events.

Car washing. Car washing is a needed service in many communities. Have your child get together with a few friends to offer to wash local cars. See what other professional car washes charge in your area, and price the services competitively.

Animal caretaker. If your child enjoys animals, then try an animal caretaker business. This might involve walking dogs, dog washing, or general grooming.

Clown. Kids make great clowns and can hire themselves out to birthday parties, senior citizen groups, nursing homes, and other community gatherings.

Tutor. Is your child very bright in a school subject, such as math or history? Have them offer their services as a tutor to younger children. Teachers may even be able to suggest possible clients.

Grass cutting/leaf raking/snow removal. Whether summer, fall, winter, or spring, there is always something that needs to be raked or shoveled. This is another excellent opportunity for two kids to work together. While one child rakes, the other one can bag leaves, while one shovels, the other one can scatter sidewalk salt, etc.

Vegetable sales. If your family has a garden each year that provides tons more than your family ever uses, trade gardening help with your child for the excess produce. Your child can then sell these at a roadside stand for good old-fashioned greenery.

Seasonal celebration. Hold a seasonal pot-luck dinner. For instance, in autumn ask participants to bring a seasonal dish. Eat outside under colorful trees. Organize simple games and activities to attract children to the event - leaf rubbings, scavenger hunt and story-tellings. Charge admission.

Cleaning help. Everywhere, in every neighborhood, is someone willing to pay good money for cleaning help. Garages, basements, and attics are all areas that occasionally need some down to the bottom cleaning. These are also areas that people just seem to hate to clean. Children can offer to clean on their own, or as an aide to the homeowner.

Make pet greeting cards. If you are a good artist, good with computers or good at making things, try making greeting cards and selling them. You can make them by hand or even on the computer. Ask you local veterinarian and pet stores if you can display your pet cards there for a share in the profits.

Pet-sitting. A less stressful alternative to baby-sitting. This works well in the summer months when people go on vacation but don't want to put the pets in a kennel. Depending on your child's skill with animals, it can involve as much as feeding, walking, and grooming several dogs or as little as feeding some fish. For older children who know about horse care, this may be another option if there is a stable nearby.

Errands and Assisting. Your child can either offer a general errand service (pick up groceries, take letters to the post office) or offer their services as a party assistant, garage-sale assistant or other event-specific work. A lot of small jobs are overlooked when we are organizing something major and there is always room for a responsible young person who can pick up the loose ends.

Arts and Crafts. If your child is skilled in arts and crafts, they might be able to sell their work. They can set up a stand in a high foot-traffic area or if they are sociable, sell them door to door. They might also ask around at smaller craft shops to see if they can sell their finished crafts on consignment. If your child is a dabbler in crafts, look around together for a specific craft that might sell well such as beaded jewelry, hand-made greeting cards, candles, soap, etc.

Parents helper. A parents helper is similar to a baby sitter. However, if your child is too young to baby sit on their own, then a job helping parents is a good opportunity. They can help watch someone's kids, assist with the feeding, playing, or doing chores around the house. Later, once your child is older, they would likely have gained some references for regular baby sitting work.

Farm help. While this is not technically a business, for those kids that live rurally, hiring themselves out as farm hands is a good way to make extra cash. Many farms need help that do not require kids to be by machinery. Stacking hay bales, picking rocks, cleaning barns, grooming animals, picking vegetables, all seem like hard work, but many kids like to work at these jobs. Older teenagers often enjoy the work, as it is mostly outside and peaceful.

Lawn clean-up and outdoor services. A good prospect for those who dislike monotonous work. In the spring, this service usually involves pulling weeds, tilling, and planting and in autumn, raking leaves and putting down mulch. Winter may bring work shoveling snow. Your child will probably be able to borrow the garden-owner's tools, but it's best if they have a basic set of their own. Also in the home-care area, with some number stencils, a can of bright-colored paint and a brush and your child can go door to door and offer to paint house numbers on houses or driveways.

Take cute pet pictures. Kids can make money by simply taking pictures of peoples' pets. This is for people that like taking pictures and that like pets. There are many people out there that are crazy about their pets. You can provide a nice picture taking service for them. Get a good camera, a backdrop for the pictures, a stand for your camera, and possibly some photo editing software. Advertise yourself by making up posters and business cards and be sure to tell all of your friends.

Fixing things. Open up a bike repair shop in your garage. Most kids have bikes, and most kids will break their bikes sometime. Start a shop and charge to do simple things like filling tires with air or oiling the chain. If you have some money, you can do bigger things like replace the brakes.

Help elderly. There are probably a lot of old people in your town, and many can not do everything in their yard or house that they used to. They probably need help mowing, trimming, landscaping, raking leaves, shoveling snow, cleaning their house, organizing their garage, and many other things as well. Be very nice and make friends with them, and you will get paid quite a bit.

Cash-in on your hobbies. Are you really good at crafts? Try selling them at a local store or a craft show. You could even try selling them online. Are you good at typing? Try typing essays or letters for elderly or people who are poor typers. Fix people's computers if you are good with computers. There are ways to make money for most hobbies and talents, if you look hard enough.

Open a Web Store. Kids can open their own websites by creating a free blog online. Post pictures of the kid's art work, craft projects or their special recipe for tuna sandwiches. Create a PayPal link to your or your kid's bank account. Make sure to advertise on Craigslist and get the word out to friends and neighbors through social networking sites like Twitter or Facebook.

Yard Work. Yard work is an all time favorite of kids that are looking to make a little bit of extra money. The reason that this can be a great way for kids to make money is because a lot of people hate this aspect of owning a home. In addition, there are also a lot of people that are too old to get out in the yard and go to work. When it comes to yard work, there are many activities that kids can complete. One of the most common is simply cutting grass. This is a relatively easy job for most kids, and by getting a couple of steady clients they can make a lot of money over the course of a year. During the winter months, snow removal is also a great way for kids to make money. Again, most people hate doing this so they are more than happy to pay kids a couple of bucks to shovel their driveway and walk.

Buy seeds in bulk from the national seed catalogs to get lower prices, going together with other members of the school community or other schools, or local community gardens and then resell the seeds at a small profit to others in the neighborhood.

Use interesting, old discarded objects from your home, or from finds in the alley for containers (pots, tubs, bathtubs), beds (old stones or even broken bricks, lumber) or garden art (scarecrows, statues, fence hangings).

Organize a bus tour for gardeners, parents, residents in your neighborhood to some garden related destination (local community gardens, Botanic Garden, natural site like a forest preserve) and charge enough admission to cover costs and leave a little for a new garden project.

Organize students in your school art and science classes to design cards and games with a garden theme like Plant Bingo, Garden Maze board game, Garden Trivial Pursuit, etc. Then plan a 'Games Night' at school and charge admission.

When kids ask for money, we usually joke with them, telling them to go get a job. There are many odd jobs children can do to earn spending money for themselves as well as the cash they make. Kids are always complaining about being bored over the summer, so giving them things to do, such as a project painting the fence or cleaning out the garage, will alleviate boredome. They may also learn some lessons in the experience of having a summer job; discipline, the value of the money and the satisfaction of the job well done. Some of the ideas for summer jobs for kids include:

�Cooking meals
�Cutting lawns
�Landscaping assistant
�Bagging groceries at the local store
�Polishing silver
�DJ for parties
�Gift wrapping
�Face painting