Do you have a young child at home around the age of ten who’s not quite old enough to get a formal job, but wants to get some hands-on experience? Maybe you give your child a weekly allowance, but it’s time for them to learn how to make their own money. What are the best jobs for a ten year old? Although they’re a little young to seek out formal employment, there are lots of ways to earn some extra cash as a child through seasonal jobs and fun side hustles. If you take the time to look, there are many jobs for 10 year olds that pay out there.
From conventional jobs like working a lemonade stand and a paper route job undertaking online side hustles, there are tons of ways for your child to get some work experience, stay busy and have fun helping others. In this article, I’ll go over how to make easy money as a kid including setting up a small business, working for family members and helping out members of the community. Due to the vast array of choices available to kids these days, learning how to get a job at 10 years old and securing employment is easy.
Read on to learn about the best jobs for 10 year olds.
Jobs for Kids and Labor Laws
Before I get into the best jobs for 10 year olds, it’s important to keep the law in mind. In this article, I’ll talk about informal employment – jobs that kids can do without having a formal employer. With formal employment, due to the law, children need to be a minimum age to work at the company. While the jobs discussed in this article generally don’t have a minimum age, be sure to check with your local state and laws to ensure that your child is allowed to undertake these gigs.
Financial Literacy for Children Through Working
While a lot of schools have begun introducing financial literacy programs to teach kids about money management and budgeting, financial literacy for children is best taught with a hands-on approach. What better way to teach your child about money by having them advertise their services, pay for supplies and manage the cash they make? Even if it’s just setting up a lemonade stand, operating a driveway carwash or walking dogs (all fun and easy jobs for kids that I’ll discuss shortly), learning how to make money and run a small business will provide your child with invaluable experience!
If you’re looking to teach your child financial literacy, why not pair their work experience with some reading? Here are the top financial books for kids who are around 10 years old:
- How to Turn 100 Dollars Into 1,000,000: Earn Save Invest by James McKenna
- The Essential Money Skills Handbook for Teens by Scarlett Rivers and Richard Meadows
- The Four Money Bears by Mac Gardner
- Kid Start-Up: How YOU Can Become an Entrepreneur by Mark Cuban, Shaan Patel and Ian McCue
If you homeschool your kids or are looking for some materials besides books, check out this set of 52 financial literacy flashcards. They introduce kids to financial literacy in an approachable manner and have fun graphics to keep your child engaged!
Best Jobs for 10 Year Olds
There are many jobs that 9, 10 and 11 year olds can do. Aside from earning some extra cash, they’re the best jobs for the following reasons:
- Flexibility
- Ease of setup
- Development of interpersonal skills
- Use as a Tool to Develop Financial Literacy
1. Flexibility
The jobs I’ve included on this list are very flexible. During the school year, your child is busy going to and from school, doing homework and participating in extra-curricular activities like sports or music. Having a flexible job is important because your child can complete it on their own time and not have it conflict with other obligations.
During the summer, your child will have a lot more free time. However, I’m sure that with this flexibility, they’ll be excited to hang out with friends, play games and participate in some family camping trips! While you’ll want your child to be making an income and learning skills, having a flexible summer job will let them both work and also enjoy these limited warm and sunny days. For example, your child can set up a lemonade stand or pet sit on specific weekends when you’re not camping or up at the cottage.
2. Ease of Setup
What are good jobs for a 10 year old? Since your child is likely with school, recreation and other things, the best jobs don’t require too much setup. These tasks will require some basics like posters, cleaning supplies, gardening supplies and/or a computer with an internet connection, but that’s about it! Having a job with an easy setup process is also great in case your child doesn’t enjoy the particular job they’re doing. If you didn’t invest too much money or time setting up for this job, it’s easy for your child to try out another gig.
3. Development of Interpersonal Skills
It’s never too early to learn soft skills. When your child interacts with neighbors and customers, they’ll learn how to make a sale and build relationships! Additionally, a summer job in the community or online is low-risk way for your child to learn how to pitch themselves, speak up and build confidence. It might be a bit scary at first – especially for a child who’s a bit more introverted – but it’s well worth trying. The benefits of starting your kid on a summer gig at a young age cannot be understated!
4.Use as a Tool to Develop Financial Literacy
When your child starts up their own summer business, they will handling any costs to start up and run the business. Additionally, your child will be responsible for all the cash that comes in. What will he or she do with it – spend it all, invest more into advertising? If your child spends money, what will he or she spend it on and when? Your child will need to learn how to save money for needs versus wants while still ensuring that they have enough money to keep their business running. What better way to teach your child about money than letting them handle their own?
Now that I’ve covered the four main benefits of getting a job, what are some good ways to make money as a kid? Let’s get into the best gigs that 10 year olds can do!
Best Jobs for 10 Year Olds in the Summer
Here are the best summer jobs for 10 year olds. Choose from a wide variety of possibilities. Regardless of which job you and your child chooses, he or she will learn all about money management, working with people and entrepreneurship!
Lemonade Stand
What jobs can 10 year olds do that teach financial management, responsibility and entrepreneurship? Operating a lemonade stand is still the top way to develop these skills. Additionally, if you have multiple children, it’s a great way to introduce your younger children to setting up and running a business. When your younger daughter or son sees your older one working a job, it’ll inspire your kids to start working hard from a young age!
While you might think it’s cliche and overdone, think again! A lemonade stand is one of the best summer jobs for kids. Depending on where you live, you’ll likely have lots of foot and road traffic. People are out and about quite a bit in the summer and are in need of a cool, refreshing drink on a hot day!
Purchasing Supplies
To get started, bring your child to the store to purchase advertising and booth supplies. If your child doesn’t have any cash handy, you can front the expenses for them. Want to teach them about lending money? Create an agreement that they’ll pay you back for the supplies by a certain date. You can create an agreement to receive payment each week – even $5 or $10 a week will teach your child about the importance of making payments on time.
Setting Up Shop
Next, help your child decide on a location and when they’ll sell. If you live in a suburb with enough foot or car traffic, you might want to set up on your driveway. Another great option: go down to the local park and set up shop. Just check with your municipality to make sure you’re allowed to do this. Although it’s not a formally registered business and it’ll likely be okay, it’s important to make sure you aren’t breaking any laws – however how small!
Tip: try selling on Fridays and Saturdays in the late morning or early afternoon. Lots of families tend to go out shopping and walking. Since this is the hottest time of day, your child is a lot likely to make a sale!
Let your child create the posters and booth. They might need some help with deciding what price to charge – outside of that, let your child go ahead and get selling!
Lawn Care
Aside from lemonade stands and pet sitting, lawn care is one of the other most popular jobs for 10 year olds – and for good reason! It’s easy to get started, your child can advertise their services in your own neighborhood and can complete it on their own time. While operating a lawn mower might be a bit too advanced or dangerous for a 10-year old, how about gardening?
If your child is new to gardening, spend some time with them teaching the basics about pulling out weeds, watering and trimming plants. Maybe your neighbor even has a garden, so your child might have an opportunity to learn how to plant seeds. Your neighbor or customer may even be willing to show them before they get to working – all your child has to do is ask!
Car Washing
Another tried-and-true business venture that’s a great job for 10-year-olds. Just like making and setting up a lemonade stand business, your child will need to source customers and advertise. One great benefit of car-washing: there is less setup required than hauling a lemonade stand around town. All you need to do is show up with a bucket, soap and sponges – and have access to water.
While this job requires more skill than pouring lemonade, it’s a job that 10-year-olds can do – if they’re trained. Before your child sources their first customers, set aside some time on a weekend to show them how to wash a car properly.
Best Jobs for 10 Year Olds in the Fall
While most of the jobs in this article entail summer employment and gigs that can be done year-round, what jobs can 10 year olds do in the fall? Even if your child is in school, there are some great opportunities to take advantage of the crisp fall air and make some spare cash. Let’s review two of the best fall jobs for 10 year olds to make money: raking leaves and baking and selling pies.
Raking Leaves – A Great Job to Stay Active
Autumn is a season that comes and goes very quickly – and with that, there’s a limited opportunity to rake leaves. Therefore, if your child is interested, be sure to gather some leads right before the leaves start falling. Once the leaves start turning colors, head out and ask your neighbors if they’re in need of someone to rake the lawn! Raking the lawn is also great exercise for you and your child. Additionally, spending some time outdoors is great for your mental health. Meet people as they walk by while enjoying the fall breeze and the beautiful colors of the leaves!
Baking and Selling Pies
Does your child love cooking? Are you flexible and willing to allow your 10-year-old access to your kitchen a few hours a week? If your child loves baking, creating baked goods is one of the top easy ways to earn money as a kid. It’s also a great way for your child to learn how to:
- Make and bake delicious treats
- Market and advertise their baked goods
- Decide on a price point
- Manage profits and expenses from baking and selling
If baking pies is a bit too complex, why not try selling chocolate chip cookies? You can sell these year-round – and who doesn’t love a chocolate chip cookie dunked in a cold glass of milk?
Year-Round Jobs for 10 Year Olds
Babysitter – Best Job for 10 Year Olds Who Like Working With Kids
What are some good jobs for a 10 year old to build interpersonal skills and responsibility? You must start your list with babysitting. Sitting other kids is a great way for kids to:
- Determine whether they like working with young children or not
- Develop interpersonal skills by interacting with parents and children
- Handle cash they receive for a job – will it be saved, spent or a combination of both – and what will it be saved or spent on?
Since10-year-olds are a bit young to supervise other children for extended periods of time, babysitting jobs might be limited, so you may need to tag along during these gigs. If you’re willing to tag along with your child or host someone’s children for the afternoon, babysitting is a great job for 10-year-olds! Babysitting jobs for 10 year olds can be found by asking family or friends if they’re in need of a sitter – ask around!
Dog Walker
What jobs can 10 year olds do who love pets? If you know someone who has a dog, why not have your child try out dog walking? These days, people are busy – singles, couples and families included. Walking the dog at least twice a day is a non-negotiable for the dog’s mental and physical health. However, some people are busy and don’t mind having someone do it for them.
On an evening after work, take a walk with your child around your neighborhood. Knock on doors and ask if the homeowner owns a dog. If so, are they in need of a dog walker? Additionally, you can stop people walking their dog and ask them as well. Take it one step further by having your child design some posters and hand them out to potential customers.
Walking dogs as a part time job is a wonderful job for 10 year olds. Why? By caring for an animal, it’ll teach them responsibility. Additionally, it’s great for mental health. When your child is around a cute pup, they’ll be in a good mood – and so will you!
Pet Sitter
Does anyone in your neighborhood go away during the summer for a few days and is in need of someone to tend to their pets? Why not get your child to ask them to pet sit? Your child can simply knock on a few doors and ask your neighbor if they’re in need of help.
If you don’t know anyone who is in need of a pet sitter, why not help your child advertise their pet sitting services? Help your child make posters and put them around the neighborhood. Posters should provide essential information like the rate per hour, area of services and contact information. When pet sitting, you’ll want to supervise your child. Just like babysitting, 10-year-olds are a little bit too young to supervise animals on their own for extended periods of time. A great way to do this is to do the pet sitting at your own home, rather than the pet owner’s house. It’s safer and you won’t need to leave your home to watch your child!
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Neighbor’s Assistant – How to Make Easy Money as a Kid and Help Others
Aside from being a dog walker, pet sitter, doing lawn care or washing a neighbor’s car, if you’re looking for a job for a 10 year old who loves helping others, why not have them be a neigbor’s assistant?
Senior citizens often struggle with getting their daily, basic chores done. From cooking, cleaning and shopping, they’re often in need of help. This is especially the case if they don’t have any siblings or children close by to help with these essential tasks.
Why not go on an evening with your child after dinner? Just like you might with offering dog-walking services, knock on some doors of neighbors who fall into the senior citizen category. If you don’t know if anyone who is a senior citizen, it doesn’t hurt to cold-call by knocking on doors to check and see who’s behind them. If the person answering the door isn’t a senior, you can ask them if they know of anyone who is a senior citizen and might be in need of help.
Even if the answer is ‘no,’ at the very worst, you and your child have met someone new! While you’re at it, you and your child can offer other services to the neighbor – like landscaping or car washing.
Helping With the Family Business
Do you or a member of the extended family own a business? Maybe your sister-in-law owns a hair salon or your younger brother owns a paint store. Why not ask your child to lend a helping hand? Since your 10-year-old is too young to seek out formal employment, let them do simple, small tasks. Here are some great ideas:
- Sweeping and mopping the office floors
- Dusting
- Taking out the trash
- Organizing files
- Watering plants
Keep it simple by assigning your child one or two designated tasks for a specific period of time – even one or two hours per day is great. Once the task is completed and inspected, the child can receive cash in hand. It is now up to them to decide how to use it – will they save all of it, spend some now, or spend all of it now? A part-time, informal job at the family business is a great way for kids to earn their own money and learn some responsibility.
Important: be sure to check your local labor laws to make sure it’s okay to have a family member helping out for cash – especially a young family member!
General Tips on Cold-Calling In Your Neighborhood
Many of the jobs for 10-year-olds listed above involve asking around to see if anyone needs services completed. If you’ve exhausted your leads in the area, drive to a nearby suburb and do some door-knocking with your child.
One great way to keep track of the neighborhoods you’ve hit up? Make a list or keep a map of the area. Highlight the areas you want to target. Once you and your child have gone up and down a particular street, you can cross it off your list.
How to Make Money Without a Job as a Kid
Did you know that your child doesn’t need to formal work to make money? In this day and age, there are many ways to make money online temporarily. If you’re looking for ways on how to make money without a job as a kid, you can participate in market research studies or set up an online merchandise gig. Let’s go over how you can help you child make money online.
Online Jobs for 10 Year Olds
Paid Market Research Online – User Interviews
I’ve covered the best and most common jobs for 10 year olds that your child can start today. These jobs are mostly offline and require quite a bit of planning. What about online jobs for 10 year olds – how can kids make money at home? In today’s working world with many jobs being done online, there must be opportunities for kids, right? The good news is that there are! Paid market research studies are one of the best jobs for 10 year olds online. Let’s learn about User Interviews, one of the best platforms for these opportunities.
What is User Interviews?
User Interviews is a market research company where various companies post paid market research opportunities. These companies interview people for feedback on their products and services. Interviews aren’t exclusive to working adults – sometimes, they’re looking for kids’ and teens’ feedback on products like apps or toys! Market research studies are one of the best jobs for 10 year olds at home. Since studies are available at all hours of the day, kids can apply to studies that work around both of your schedules.
How Do You Participate in User Interviews?
To participate in User Interviews, you need to sign up for an account. After making the account, browse studies that are currently available. For the best chance of being selected for an interview, undertake the following steps:
- Apply every single day. Set aside a specific time to apply for studies 3 times a day. In my experience, I’ve gotten the most invitations by applying to studies at 3 different times of the day – in the morning around 9am, again around lunch time and then again after dinner time. Why apply at 3 different times per day? If you apply shortly after a new study is posted, the researcher will see your application first over others who apply a day or two later.
- Keep your email open. Studies fill up on a first-come, first-serve basis. If you work from home, you can keep your browser tab open and email notifications turned on. When you hear your email bell ding, open your messages as soon as possible. If it’s a study invitation, sign up for a study as quickly as possible.
How Can My Child Sign Up on User Interviews?
Before you get started, talk to your child about making money online. Show them the website and explain that you’ll be making an account so you can help them make money. As many of the research studies are done via video camera and/or the phone, make sure your child is okay with being on screen and chatting!
Next, sign up for the account. To get started, sign up for an account on User Interviews. You’ll enter your (the adult’s) contact information and demographic details. Next, verify your account via email. Once you’ve verified your account, you’ll be able to see the list of available studies. Browse through available studies to see if any are for kids or teens. Generally, the title will indicate if the study is for parents and their children.
Once you see a study that’s for kids, go ahead and apply to it. Just make sure you have your child’s permission! Again, studies fill up on a first-come, first-serve basis, so apply as soon as possible – after ensuring your child is available. You can ask your child to be free at certain times of the week so you don’t have to ask every time.
Selling Merchandise Online – A Fun Online Job for 10 Year Olds
Does your child have a creative streak and loves being on the computer? Selling printables or merchandise is another one of the best jobs for 10 year-olds at home. Platforms like Etsy are great places to sell t-shirts, mugs and more. Let’s go over the basic steps involved in helping your 10-year-old create an online platform to create and sell designs.
Help Your Child Decide on What to Sell
First of all, you’ll need to help your child decide what they want to sell. While it might be fun and exciting to go crazy and decide on tons of designs and things to sell, it’s best to start with one type of product and one design. If all goes well, you and your child can pick more designs and/or merchandise later down the line. To get started, they’ll need to decide:
- What type of merchandise to sell (t-shirts, posters, notebooks…)
- Which designs they’ll choose
Does your child love camping? Maybe they’d love to design camping-themed t-shirts with images of fireplaces or a cabin on them. Maybe your daughter loves drawing floral patterns and might be interested in selling posters. Help your child decide on what to sell by going on Etsy and browsing the most popular designs.
Manage Expectations
It’s important to strike a balance between helping them choose popular designs and something they’ll like doing. Since this is their first job, the purpose of finding work is to learn valuable skills – earning money is an important but secondary reason.
Avoid trying to push your child to sell designs that are popular for the sake of profit. At the same time, help your child choose a design that might actually sell – after all they’ll be putting lots of hard work into those beautiful designs, and it would be crushing if they didn’t sell any!
At the same time, be sure to explain to your child that to make money, people need to buy their designs. Since your child is only 10 years old, it might be difficult to understand how competition works. You can explain that it might be challenging to make money at first, but it doesn’t mean that your child did anything wrong. In general, find a balance between being encouraging and being realistic about profits!
Create Unique Merchandise Designs
Once your child has settled on what patterns they’ll design and what items they’ll create, it’s time to design. Personally, my favorite platform to use is Canva, a digital design software that lets you design logos, posters, graphics, resize images and much more. You can create thousands of designs for:
- T-shirt designs
- Notebooks
- Invitations
- Coloring pages
- Posters
.. and much more!
The free account contains tons of different designs, but the premium account contains even more. Additionally, if your child is selling their own designs, they’ll need a Canva Pro subscription – free products have a watermark. If you’re selling your designs, you need them to be watermark-free!
Help your child create a Canva account to make beautiful designs to later sell. Walk them through how to find designs. If you’re new to Canva, browse online for a tutorial.
Browse Canva to find design inspiration. While you can take inspiration, be sure not to copy any designs or paste them and claim them as your own! Start with a blank page and add in designs, logos, shapes and lines.
Set Up an Online Platform
Next, help your child set up an account on an online merchandise platform like Etsy. Etsy is a great platform because it’s easy to get started and you can sell your first 40 items for free! Once you’ve signed up and have ensured that your child has created their own designs (no straight copying from templates!), go ahead and upload the Canva designs.
If your child is selling posters or t-shirt designs, also consider Redbubble. This platform lets you upload your design and will handle the printing for you for whichever product you’ve decided on – be it t-shirts, posters, mugs or anything else. Fees on Redbubble are based on monthly sales. Currently, there is a three-tiered fee structure. Account fees vary and can be viewed after you sign up for an account. Be sure to investigate the fee structure and decide if it’s worth selling on Redbubble.
Monitor and Assist with the Business
Once the business is up and running, let you child go crazy with designs! Every once in a while, check in to see how the designs are coming along.
Since you must be at least 18 years old to sign up for Etsy and Redbubble accounts, you’ll need to run the online merchandise platforms. As long as you’re okay with doing this, selling products is a a great side job for kids to dip their toes in to the world of entrepreneurship!
Best Jobs for 10 Year Olds Bonus Tip: Contests
The best jobs for a 10 year old to earn money aren’t limited to conventional employment. Ever thought about signing up for online contests? Every year, companies give away millions of dollars in money and prizes. If your child has 30 extra minutes per day, they can spend some time looking for contests.
Some contests may ask entrants to submit a video or written essay, so this is a great opportunity for kids to develop their creativity skills. Even though they’re not always making money, it’s a great way for them to learn some important life skills and get their creative juices flowing!
Conclusion – Best Jobs for 10 Year Olds
There are so many different jobs and side gigs for kids to try out. It’s never too early to teach kids how to earn their own income, put themselves out there and build soft skills. After your child successfully finds and sets up their own venture, they’ll have increased confidence and more independence. When your child learns how to make their own money, they’ll be set up to succeed later in life! Side hustles will come easy to them, they’ll have an increased confidence, and they’ll have financial literacy skills for life.
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Janita is a frugal living expert and owner of Frugal Fun Finance. With over five years of personal experience finding and trying out the best ways to make and save more money, she's eager to share her knowledge. Janita's strategies have helped her save thousands of dollars for funding investments and traveling to over 20 countries.
Janita completed training in personal finance at The University of Western Ontario and McGill University, two prestigious Canadian universities. Her expertise has been shared on GoBankingRates, Yahoo Finance, and NASDAQ.com.
