10+ Easy School Market Day Ideas to Make and Sell - What Mommy Does (2024)

Does the idea of School Market Day for your child make you feel anxious about what you need to make?

I’ve been there — as recently as last year!

To help stem the panic this year, I came up with ten clever, easy, and practical items to ensure that your child’s next Business or Market Day is a big success.

Fun & Easy Market Day Ideas for Kids

I tried to find things to make for many different ages, so whether your kid is in elementary school or middle school, they’ll find a good, simple business idea in this list.

Everyone will have fun making these creative products!

Video Overview of Things to Sell at School

If you want a quick glance at everything you’ll find in this post, I made a quick YouTube video of the ideas:

For more detailed explanations, keep reading below!

Choosing an Age-Appropriate Product to Create

If your child has the opportunity to sell things at school for Market Day, I thought I would give you ideas of some of the creative things I’ve seen little entrepreneurs sell at an event like this.

As you think about options to make for School Market Day, keep in mind your child’s age, ability, and the amount of work they are willing to put forth.

Elementary school, middle school, and high school students should make different items.

There is a vast difference between what a 4th or 5th grade student can make versus what a 7th grader can make versus what an older teenager / high schooler can make.

For example, 6th through 8th grade middle school students naturally have a longer attention span and greater capability for following longer instructions than elementary students have.

And high school students are even more capable than middle schoolers in that regard.

Here are some ideas of what kids can make at each level:

Deciding What to Sell at School Market Day

I would carefully consider the types of stuff your child has the ability to make before investing in inventory.

The last thing you want to do is choose an item that causes stress and headaches for them (and you!) to create because it takes too much time or is beyond their capabilities.

If you choose an entrepreneur’s day project that is too challenging, you likely will be setting yourself up for a lot of work (that you might not have planned on doing)!

Whatever you choose, try your best to pick something both simple and practical.

Kids will learn amazing lessons in economics simply by going through the entire process from concept to sale, no matter what item they’re selling.

I consider a sale a success if we can make a profit AND have fun doing it. 🙂

Finding the Best Unique Things to Sell at School

Finding products that are easy enough for your child or tween (and you) to make while also being interesting enough for someone to purchase can be a challenge!

After all, the primary reason they are embarking on this endeavor is to learn about business & economics.

We definitely want it to be enjoyable & profitable at the same time.

Running List of the Best Items for Young Entrepreneurs to Sell (17 Ideas & Counting!)

I will keep adding to this product list as I find more and more ideas that kids can make. So make sure to save this page for later reference!

1. DIY Bath Salts

This is the PERFECT Market Day project for school! Bath salts look beautiful, are easy to make, and are just right for elementary school students to create.

Plus, they generally sell very well, are in high demand, and popular with kids and adults, alike.

ITEMS YOU’LL NEED:

Everyone absolutely LOVES bath salts scented with essential oils.

Some of the best scents for bath salts are lavender, chamomile, mint or eucalyptus >>

2. Slime

Yes, it’s still hugely popular and easy to make in different varieties.

If you look at a booth that sells slime, you will often find it nearly out of stock.

When my daughter participated in her last entrepreneur’s day, the girls with a slime booth sold out halfway through the day! Slime sold the most out of anything else offered.

Also consider selling slime-making kits, as many parents know their kids want to make slime but don’t want to go to the effort of gathering all the materials and finding directions.

Making slime to sell is fairly straightforward.

ITEMS YOU’LL NEED:

You can use a Slime Making Kit like this one to make a huge variety of slime for sale in no time.

This Galaxy Slime Kit is also really cool. For containers to sell it in, I like these plastic containers with slime stickersare great!

3. Tie-Dyed Items

Whether you want to tie-dye shirts, handkerchiefs, canvas bags or something else, kids love the experience of creating tie-dye.

Plus, buyers are drawn to colorful patterns. I have seen booths with tie-dyed items sell out completely (and quickly)!

ITEMS YOU’LL NEED:

I’m a huge fan of working your cost into your pricing and I LOVE the idea of using a kit to make these things easy to make.

If you grab a tie dye kit like this you can make 5 shirts for the cost of $12 + t-shirts.

Sell the shirts for $10-14 each and you’ll make a tidy profit!

4. Bookmarks

A classic. Perfect for kids of all ages to create because you can tailor the craft to fit their ability and skill level.

Feel free to get creative with these, using ribbons, trinkets, fringes, tassels, and more.

These might not sell quite as well as other options on this list, but it’s a great idea for younger kids to create.

ITEMS YOU’LL NEED:

You probably already have the materials you need for the actual bookmarks in your craft stash.

However, these colorful tassels make a nice addition to the end and probably will justify you charging a little more for each bookmark.

5. Essential Oil-infused candles

While this would be more appropriate for an older child to make (or would require active adult involvement to create for younger kids), candles sell well.

People always enjoy candles. I recommend using a variety of scents and maybe a couple of different sizes.

ITEMS YOU’LL NEED:

I have made candles for sale before, and I will say they are rather cost-prohibitive up front.

You’ll need to make sure you can charge enough to make the materials worth it.

That being said, I would reserve this project for older kids. You can see a variety of supplies for different kinds of candles here >>

6. Sun Catcher

Sun catchers are another item that kids of various ages can create.

With so many different options of ways to make them, it can be something that’s also a lot of fun to do!

Plus, people love sun catchers – why not? They are gorgeous and also make great gifts.

For little kids, small suncatchers that come in a big kit could be the easiest thing to make.

Here’s a kit of 28 suncatchers that comes with suction cups >> Paint Your Own Suncatchers Kit

7. Bead Jewelry

Necklaces, bracelets, earrings, you name it.

While this one isn’t difficult to do, it can be time-consuming, so think about your child’s age and attention span before choosing to create bead jewelry.

Personally, I think this is the best item for a 9th or 10th grade student (or older) to make due to the difficulty.

ITEMS YOU’LL NEED:

Fun fact! I used to be a jewelry designer so I can take some of the mystery out of this one for you.

The main tools and materials you’ll need to make jewelry are:

• a crimping tool
• a cord/wire cutter (or actual scissors will work)
• beads
• strong jewelry string
• crimpers (the little metal things you clamp down) to hold the ends of jewelry together
• jump rings
• findings like lobster claws or earring hooks

I would personally do this instead of getting each item individually:

Buying a kit like this one will get you most of the hardware AND some beads you need to make a variety of jewelry.

Pair a kit like that or choose a similar one from this selection on Amazon then also grab some beads from this list that you like to go with it.

A kit + separate set of beads will probably be all you need to make earrings, bracelets, or necklaces unless you want to do something fancy.

8. Dream Catcher

Dream catchers are fun to make, beautiful to look at, and kids love them.

However, creating them is probably more appropriate for older primary school students or middle school students and older.

9. DIY Bouncy Balls

Quick and easy to make, incorporates STEM learning, and families will be drawn to them at the event.

You can make different colors, sizes and even add additions like glitter or small toys to spice them up.

This craft project will need some adult supervision and help, but the balls come together quickly so even little kids can help make them!

They’re a fairly effortless item to produce once you have a good assembly line going.

10. Baked Goods

I have never seen a booth of baked goods not sell well! Brownies, cookies, cupcakes, and quick breads are all fair game and tend to fly off the table almost as quickly as they are put onto it.

Baked goods are a classic for good reason. If younger children make these, adult supervision will be necessary.

Older kiddos can likely make these on their own with minimal adult involvement.

When we did brownies for my daughter’s own Young Entrepreneurs Day a few years ago, we found that a nice display went a long way.

People ALWAYS wanted to choose items off the display rather than from the tray. I think it’s because the display made our brownies look more impressive. 🙂

We brought a dessert stand from home, but we almost dropped a couple times during set up so next time we’re using this pretty display setup for desserts >>

This cupcake / cookie stand is also lovely.

Here are six more ideas for wrapping up baked items for sale: Six Super Cute Baked Item Packaging Ideas

And here are 25 best selling baked goods to consider if you want something other than brownies.

Tip: We offered several types of brownies at our booth, and I can tell you hands down the TRIPLE CHOCOLATE BROWNIES sells the best over any other variety!

Ordinarily, I would say offer a variety of each kind of item, but in this case, we’ve tested the market and triple chocolate is the way to go. 🙂

BONUS IDEAS – LET’S KEEP GOING!

11. DIY Bath Bombs

Super easy and fun to make, bath bombs are all the rage right now.

Add some variety with colors and scents and watch your bath bombs disappear quickly as both kids and adults love them.

You can easily follow directions for homemade bath bombs. This bath bomb recipe from Suburban Simplicity comes with step by step instructions that are easy to follow.

OR you can also just grab a DIY kit for a super simple all-in-one project.

Get a DIY bath bomb kit >>

12. Recycled Craft Items

Recycled crafts can be a big hit if they’re done right. You don’t want to sell a bunch of junk, but if the items are useful, they could sell for you!

I personally love the idea of these recycled soda bottle animal planters and these no-sew t-shirt tote bags.

Recycled items have a dual purpose – they are not only good for the environment (which is a great selling point), but they are cost effective to make if you are on a budget!

For instance, you could make those recycled soda bottle planters using donated empty soda bottles from family & friends and then grab some Dollar Tree supplies to complete the project. Easy peasy!

Here’s a picture I took at my daughter’s most recent Young Entrepreneur Day in town.

The little girl who had this booth made lovely rustic-looking repurposed mason jars. They were meant as Mother’s Day gifts, utensil jars, and flower vases.

She made them out of old pasta sauce jars and other food containers. I thought her items were lovely and I even bought one for myself! 🙂

13. Candy Bouquets

The beauty about candy bouquets is that they can be as simple or as elaborate as you’d like!

These particular examples were made entirely from Dollar Tree finds. You could easily make a really nice bouquet for under $10 and sell it for $15 or maybe even $20.

That’s a $5 profit per bouquet AND they’re fun to make!

14. Emoji Necklaces

These little boys have got the right idea!

They were selling these emoji necklaces (including the hilarious POOP emoji! LOL) at their local Acton Children’s Business Fair.

15. Snow Cones

If the market day event will be held on a sunny, hot day, then this could be the perfect thing to sell!

The cost to get this all set up is rather reasonable, too. You can get this vintage looking snow cone machine on Amazon for a great price and then all you need is the cones and flavoring, which you can buy as a complete set right here >>

16. Scrunchies

Scrunches are surprisingly EASY to make! My daughters sewed a bunch for themselves by hand recently.

And they require very little by the way of supplies! The perfectly profitable DIY item!

You could easily sell them for many times what they cost to produce.

You could make them in school colors for an instant best seller, in my opinion.

But, really, any awesome color or pattern would work. Here are some pretty handmade scrunchies I saw recently in a craft shop –

17. Handmade Soap

Once upon a time, I used to have all the supplies to make soap. It was easy and fun!

On fair day, you can easily make the soap look great in your booth by using a variety of raised displays such as this acrylic display stand or even wooden crates like this >>

Here are two ways to do it. Older kids can make more sophisticated looking soaps like the one below.

Younger kids or tweens might like using a DIY soap making kit like this one from Amazon:

HOW TO CHOOSE SUCCESSFUL MARKET DAY PROJECTS

When picking from this list, you really can’t go wrong with any of these ideas!

Just remember to keep in mind your child’s abilities and attention span when making your choice so that the experience is positive from start to finish.

My goal is to help you quickly come up with easy ideas for things to sell on Entrepreneur’s Day.

My hope for you is that you will be able to look at this list and come up with an interesting item or two that are simple to make for school!

If you need even more ideas, check out these crafts that kids can make and sell as well as my running list of 100+ crafts to make and sell.

Oh! One more thing – when you’re holding the sale, you’ll need a safe place to keep the money you earn.

A general rule is to have at least $100 worth of a variety of $10, $5, and $1 bills in change to start the day. That way you are ready when someone pays with a $20 bill.

Keep this cash box in a safe spot but within reach when you need it. Here are two great options:

• Two-tier metal cash box with key
• Cash box with security cable

Want to help your kids learn the value of money and creative ways to make it?

We all know that eBay is a great place to sell your old household items. So why not let your kids sell their old toys? Flipper University: Kid’s Edition is the perfect course to teach these skills.

No more asking for toys on every store visit. No more saying no over and over again. Now you will be able to simply ask them if they have made enough sales to buy what they want. Win-win!!

When kids run their own businesses, they gain life long skills with money and also learn the importance of working hard & taking responsibility for outcomes.

These are the the kinds of things I hope my kids take away from our entrepreneur adventures!

Want to Host Your Own Children’s Business Fair?

Acton Children’s Business Fair helps you plan out & pull off an actual children’s business fair in your area.

Read all about how to make this happen (and get up to $500 from them to help offset costs!) in this post >>How to Host a Children’s Business Fair in Your Community

Need a Way to Make Extra Money Over the Summer?

I have you covered! Here are easy ways to earn extra cash when you are not in school >> 10+ Summer Projects to Make Money as a Kid