Ways For Kids To Make Money

*Asterisks set out in this article relate to advertising and they indicate that the author receives a small share of sales through the related link.*

My daughter was recently moaning about wanting yet another new toy (probably a Shopkin, she is obsessed with those things, or a Barbie even though she has approximately 1,000,000 of them) and I told her that she was just going to have to get a job and start earning some money to pay for these things.

I suggested going round the neighbours and seeing if any of them would like their cars cleaned, to which she replied with a downhearted tone “but I’m too small mummy. I wouldn’t be able to reach the top of the car”. Bless – she’s only 5!

It got me thinking though, what jobs could I get her doing, or for older children when they are wanting more and more money for going out with their friends and buying all of the latest things?
Hopefully some of these ideas could be helpful for your kids to earn themselves a bit of pocket money and learn about the value of working hard instead of having it all handed to you.

Obviously there are some limitations on some things, and I’ve tried to include things that health and safety wouldn’t need to get involved in!

Paper round

The good old paper round! I never did this as a child but my brother did, and I was very admirable of him because he had to get up at about 5am every day and carry a huge amount of papers to deliver locally.
He also found that around Christmas time a lot of the recipients would give him big tips for delivering their papers all year round.

Ask at your local newsagents if they have any deliveries available, and you could also ask at your local takeaways too as they always need people to hand out flyers.

Babysit

This is obviously one for the older children, but it can be a very lucrative side hustle. I can remember being baby-sat by some older children down the road, and they must have been about 11 or 12 – seemed really old to me at the time but looking back now that sounds so young!

Let your neighbours and friends know that your children are looking to earn some extra money and are available for babysitting if they would like to have a night out to themselves! If they don’t get this offer very often, your children may be overrun with requests for babysitters!

Pet sit or dog walking

This is personally one of my favourite ways of earning extra money, and there is no reason why your child couldn’t do this as well. When I was younger we used to walk our neighbours dog – it was a cocker spaniel and they were elderly, so they were happy for the help.

Lots of people have dogs, but they also have busy lives and can be out of the house more often than they want to be.
Again, let your neighbours and friends know that your kids are looking to earn some extra cash and could do this by walking their dog, or looking after another of their animals if they go away or are busy.

The website that I use for dog boarding does pet sitting and dog walking as well (and cat sitting, small animal care)*.

Modelling/Acting

When I was pregnant with my daughter, I did a modelling shoot for Cow & Gate, and the modelling company asked me to send through some photos of her when she was born, so that they could put her on their books.
I did this, and she was invited to lots of castings, but we didn’t go to any because they were all in London, she was only little and I wasn’t driving then, so I didn’t fancy taking a newborn on a train when she may not even get the job!

Anyway, she got a job in the end because a company chose her just from the photos on their books, which was the cutest thing ever – she was only small still, maybe 9 months old, and it was for a housing association.

She had a pretend mum and dad to pose with, and she did amazingly. It was really well paid as well! I would definitely sign her up again if she would be interested in doing it (she would probably have a strop).

Sign them up to modelling agencies, but please make sure that the companies are legit. It may be worth finding other children that do modelling and seeing which agencies they are with.

Selling snacks to friends

This is becoming more and more popular for the kids to do so get them to act quickly now! The premise behind this is a simple one – stocking up on snacks (food/drink) and selling them on to their friends for a slightly higher price. This is best done somewhere where they may not be readily available, such as at school, on trips etc.

Have you heard of the lad who has been doing this and has earned himself £50,000? He built himself an empire within his school in London and some other schools as well, although unfortunately the school has shut this down now I believe.

Could your children do this? It doesn’t have to be on such a big scale, but they could definitely earn some decent money from doing this.

Mow lawns

One of the best things to do to earn money, is to target a pain point for people: offer to do something that they find a chore to do themselves. Whilst some people enjoy mowing their lawn, many of us don’t, and would gladly pay someone a little bit of money to do it for us.

This kind of job would be perfect for the summer holidays when they are bowling around with nothing to do and the weather is good enough to do it in.

Make Youtube videos

There are kids out there who are making thousands and thousands per month off Youtube videos – and a lot of the time, they aren’t even in them! My daughter loves watching these kind of videos, and I’m sure that she contributes a lot to their earnings.

The videos that seem to do the best are ones where the children are playing with toys. That may sound ridiculous, but other kids just love watching them! They make money largely through adverts that play before the videos (and during, if it’s a really long one), but also through sponsored videos and affiliate links.

If you are worried about your children being on Youtube, they can still do this without showing their faces. There are various child Youtubers who do not show their faces – they just focus the camera on the toys.

These are in fact my daughters favourite ones to watch. And you can get in on the action yourself too – there are lots of Youtubers who play with toys on there who are adults.

Wash cars

Another classic way for children to earn extra money is to offer to wash cars for neighbours or friends. It’s pretty easy money for them as there is no big upfront cost – you only really need soapy water and a sponge!

It keeps them busy as well, and is another firm favourite to do in the summer months when they are bored and the weather is good.

Is there anything else that you can think of that children could do to earn extra money?

Ways For You To Make Extra Money Now:

  1. Start a blog with Siteground! This can start off as a fun side hustle, and have the potential to turn into a huge full time income (which is still fun!). Yes, you CAN make money blogging, and it’s the best thing that I ever did. To get started, read my post How To Start a Blog.
  2. Answer simple questions on survey sites! This is a really easy money earner and I love it because I do it when I don’t need to really think too much e.g. Netflix on in the background. Sign up to the best survey sites over here.
  3. Matched Betting – you don’t need to be good at maths, it’s not gambling, it’s tax-free, it can be done at any time of day and earn you thousands extra per month. All explained here and you can sign up to my favourite site that will guide you through the steps.
  4. Mystery Shopping – I always thought these were a scam or a pain to do, until I got started! Since then, the free food and other items (e.g. clothes for me and my daughter) have convinced me otherwise! My favourite legit sites are rounded up for you here.