School’s out for summer! If you have a child at home, you know what that means: you need to figure out how to keep them entertained. What about a summer job – what are some good ways to make money as a kid? The best summer jobs for kids don’t have to be complex or difficult to set up.
While you can always keep your child busy by having them out with household chores, spending time at a friend’s house and enjoying those all-important family camping trips, a summer job is a great way for your child to learn how to make their own money.
How do kids make money if they’re just a little too young to legally work at a store, restaurant or other common first place of employment? Believe it or not, if your child is around the age of 9, 10 or even 11, there are tons of options out there for your child to make some spare cash. In addition to making their own money, your child will learn tons of hard and soft skills that will serve them will for life! Financial literacy for children is best learned through hands-on experiences, and a summer job is a great way to get started.
Read on to learn about the top summer jobs for kids.
Jobs That Can Be Done in the Summer
Lawn Care
First on the list: lawn care is a top summer job for kids. Why? Firstly, it’s very easy to get started. Aside from buying some posters and lawn care supplies, all your child needs to do is go door-to-door and ask neighbors if they’re in need of your child’s lawn care services.
When you think of ‘lawn care,’ what comes to mind? If you’re like me, you likely thought of someone operating a push mower or operating a weed whacker. While these are popular services for a reason, they are too dangerous for kids. How about weeding or gardening? These are skills that are easy to learn, don’t require too many supplies and can be done without hauling heavy equipment from site to site.
If your child has never weeded or gardened before, be sure to teach them the basics before setting them off on their own business venture. Maybe you or neighbor has a garden that needs its flowers watered or a front yard with weeds. What a great chance for your child to gain some hands-on practice before doing it for pay!
Car Washing
If your child doesn’t want to garden but loves being active, car washing should be added to your list of jobs for kids. Just like gardening, your child will need to find potential customers by advertising. The easiest way to do this? Ask friends and family if anyone is in need of a car wash. Additionally, you can help your child poster the area around where you live. Car washing is one of the top summer jobs for kids because they’ll only need advertising materials, a bucket, soap and sponges – and, of course, access to water.
While car washing is physically intense, is one of the best jobs for 10-year olds and above – as long as your child is willing and aware that it’s physically taxing! One way to prevent exhaustion is to make sure your child only has one or two jobs per day. If your child has never formally washed a car, set aside some time on a Saturday to show them how to properly wash a vehicle.
Lemonade Stand – One of The Easiest Summer Jobs for Kids
Are you looking for easy jobs for kids that are a breeze to get set up? A list of simple summer jobs for kids isn’t complete without including a lemonade stand on it! There’s a reason why this venture is on most lists of jobs for kids: it’s a great way for kids to give the world of entrepreneurship a shot. Additionally, a lemonade stand is low-risk, easy to set up and is perfect for those hot summer days. Who can say no to a cold glass of lemonade on a hot weekend summer afternoon?
While you might that a lemonade stand is overdone, think again: it’s popular for a reason! This job is one of the best summer gigs for kids because of:
- Its low initial setup costs and ease to transport the business from place to place – why not set up the booth in different areas of town?
- How low-risk and low-cost it is to set up – if your child doesn’t make enough sales, aside from time, you and him or her only lost out on the cost of making the lemonade, the booth and the advertising supplies (and any gas used to drive to where you set the booth up)
- The potential to get lots of business if you live in a busy area. If you live in a high-traffic area, you can take advantage of the large amount of people driving and walking by
Purchasing Supplies
Before helping your child set up their lemonade venture, bring them to the store to buy those all-important advertising and booth supplies. If your child doesn’t have any money for supplies, you can lend it to them. What better way to teach your child about lending than letting them borrow money? Draft a ‘contract’ that after a certain amount of time, they’ll pay you back a certain amount of money each week. Even if it’s $5 or $10 a week, they’ll learn the value of making payments on time. If your child is a bit older – say, 11 or 12 years old, you can even add interest terms on top of it. If he or she doesn’t pay you back a certain amount by a certain time, you can charge interest. Instead of complicated compound interest or percentages, you can make it a dollar figure – say, $1 or $2 per week.
While adding interest might seem a bit harsh, it’s a valuable lesson to learn about how interest works in the real world. What better way to learn earlier on in life rather than being 21 and failing to understand the importance of making credit card payments on time?
Setting Up the Lemonade Stand
Next, time to choose where your child will set up shop. If you live in a smaller or more rural area but live close to a city, you can drive into town and find a park or suburban area with a higher amount of traffic? Have a friend who lives on a busy cul-de-sac full of foot traffic? Ask them if you can use their front lawn on a Saturday!
Additional places to try out include: near or outside sports arenas or near a soccer field. Do you live near a church that is having an outdoor yard sale? Contact the event organizers to see if your child can set up a booth at the lemonade stand. They’ll most likely say “yes!” After all, who could say no to a child selling lemonade?
Here’s a quick tip: try selling on Fridays and Saturdays around late morning or early afternoon. There are usually tons of families out and about running errands, tending to the lawn and playing in the front yard. Since this is usually the warmest time of day, it’s a great time to sell cold drinks.
Let your child design the booth and posters. Help your child set up posters around the neighborhood and affix pricing signage to the booth. Besides getting some help driving to the selling point, setting up the booth and getting advice on what price to charge, the rest is up to them!
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Other Summer Jobs for Kids That Can Be Done Year Round
While I’ve covered a list of three of the best summer jobs for kids, let’s not forget other jobs. These tasks can be done all year round and should be considered as a great summer job for your child!
Babysitter
Another popular job for kids who are just below the age of being able to secure formal work: babysitting! Since 9, 10 or 11 year olds are still quite young, sitter gigs should be done supervised with an older sibling or a parent. While it takes some extra effort and time from someone else to help your child, it’s still a worthwhile job for kids! Babysitting younger children will help your child:
- Decide as to whether they enjoying babysitting other children or not
- Develop interpersonal skills with different ages – customers (parents) and their kids
- Managing the money they make – since they’ll likely be paid in cash, they’ll need to decide if they’ll spend the money right away, save it all, or find a balance between the two
To sum it up, babysitting is a great job for kids to learn valuable childcare, interpersonal and money management skills!
Dog Walker
These days, almost everyone has a pet, and dogs are one of the most popular options! Does your child like dogs and do you know anyone with a pup at home? Why not suggest to your child the idea of walking dogs? In this day and age, people have a lot on the go. Whether someone is married, single or lives with a partner, there is a never-ending list of chores, work and other tasks. If someone has a dog, walking their furry friend is another important task that needs to be done. Some people wouldn’t mind occasional assistance with this twice-daily (or more) task.
On a night after work, go on a walk with your child around the neighborhood. Ask people in the area if: 1. They own a dog and 2. If so, are they interested in a dog walker? Additionally, when you walk around the neighborhood, chat up people walking their dog and ask them as well. If you’ve exhausted door-to-door inquiries, help your child create and put up some posters.
A dog walker is another one of the top jobs for kids. By caring for an animal, it’ll teach them time management and responsibility. Additionally, dogs are a great mood-booster. These furry friends have unconditional love and can pick up anyone when their mood is low!
Pet Sitter
Aside from walking dogs, have you ever thought about what happens when pet owners go away for a few days? If someone owns a cat, it’s generally easy to leave out some food for a couple days. What about extended stays or owners with higher-needs animals like a dog or rabbit? Why not have your child offer to watch the pets under your supervision?
If you don’t know anyone who is in need of a pet sitter, you can help your child make posters and advertise pet sitting services.
Pet sitting is best suited to kids who are familiar with taking care of animals and have already tried walking a dog. Since pet sitting is more involved than dog walking, your child will need to be comfortable taking care of an animal for an extended period of time.
Just like walking a dog, pet sitting is a great way for kids to learn responsibility. Cleaning up after animals, feeding them and playing with them will teach them routine and will help them decide if they want an animal later in life. Don’t be surprised if you start hearing “Mom, can we have a rabbit too?”!
Neighbor’s Assistant – Help Others and Make a Difference
Besides lawn care, car washing, making a lemonade stand and tending to pets, ever thought about helping seniors out? There are many aging people out there who may need your child’s help and companionship!
Senior citizens are often in need with a little helping hand – from running errands, gardening, and even sometimes needing a friend. While seniors often have children or siblings around, this isn’t always the case. Geographic restrictions and family tensions may have caused difficulty for some seniors to get the help they need a a reasonable price.
How do you find seniors in need of help. Just like you might with sourcing lawn care, dog walking or car-washing clients, knock on some doors. Even if the person answering the door isn’t a senior, they might have a parent or know someone else in need of your child’s services! You can even try contacting a local retirement home and asking if you’re allowed to chat with residents about being a helper.
Helping With the Family Business
Does you or a family member have a small (or big) business? Maybe your brother-in-law owns a mechanic shop or your younger sister owns a boutique. Why not ask if your child can help out with some informal tasks? Here are some great ideas to help you get started:
- Dusting
- Sweeping and mopping the office floors
- Watering plants
- Painting
- Making posters
- Taking out the trash
- Organizing files
Not sure which tasks your child should do? Get them to start with one or two. Even one or two hours per day is a fantastic start. Agree on a specific rate per hour or an amount to be paid in cash once the tasks are completed. Since it’s a family business, I’m sure you’ll have no problems. However, it’s best to get it in writing. Draw up an agreement with the business owner, you and your child and make sure the deliverables are in writing:
- What your child will be doing
- How long it’ll take and how many days per week
- How your child will receive payment
Once the task is completed to the owner or employee’s satisfaction, the child can get the cash! Your child will get to decide whether they’ll save, spend or invest it. What better way to learn responsibility and financial management than through doing small tasks and helping the family business?
Important note: be sure to review your local labor laws to make sure it’s legal to have a family member helping out for cash. Always follow the law.
Conclusion – The Best Summer Jobs for Kids
There you have it – a comprehensive list of the best summer jobs for kids. From outdoor tasks, small businesses and working at home, there are so many good ways for kids to make money. Before your child embarks on their journey of entrepreneurship, employment or a mixture of both, be sure to undertake proper planning. Have a chat with your child about what their interests are. From there, suggest a few job or business opportunities from the list and help them choose one that bests suits his or her interests.
Enjoy helping your child earn their own money through a small business or side hustle, learn financial literacy and, most of all, have fun doing it!
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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.
