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11 Easy Things Kids Can Make and Sell at School (Non-Food)

Need easy DIY things kids can make and sell at school that are non-food? Super simple ideas kids can use to earn cash and learn business.

So, your child and students are doing a Market Day, and you’re scrambling for easy things kids can make and sell at school.

tween girl crafting with beads, text overlay "easy diy market day ideas kids can make & sell"

(…that aren’t food).

Well, you’re in the right place!

Easy Things Kids Can Make and Sell at School

I’ve got 11 fresh, unique, and EASY things kids can make and sell at school.

These are great for classroom market days!

Hint: And when your child is finished picking something from below? They’ll want to check out how to price their Market Day craft, and how to cheaply decorate their stall for more sales on Market Day.

1. Spiral Notebook Palz

one colorful notebook and one black Mead one, with a keychain lobster clasp and charm on the metal spiral

Almost every student has at least one spiral notebook for school.

Help them accessorize it and stand out by selling these really simple Spiral Notebook Palz.

Buy lobster clasp keyrings and charms that catch your eye. Put them together, and you’ve got a cute way to decorate a notebook.

2. Board Game Bookmarks

part of Clue board with white bookmark template and person with pencil tracing it
Clue board game book mark, with pink hole puncher punching hole and red ribbon
two finished Clue board game bookmarks, with a red ribbon in each tied around game piece

Some of these projects are going to take more help from grown-ups than others, and this is one of them (due to the cutting).

I found Terry’s board game bookmark idea (and asked permission to use it – she said absolutely! Here’s her craft Facebook Page, FYI).

You’ll need:

  • Old boardgame (look at your local thrift store’s game section)
  • Sharp scissors, or scalpel (Terry says she uses a scroll saw or band saw)
  • Ribbon
  • Very strong hole puncher (that allows for cardboard-like thickness – I found these work well with the thickness of a board game)
  • Pencil to trace
  • Outline of a bookmark to trace

To make it, I simply traced a bookmark of mine onto the board with a pencil. Use your sharp tool (grown-ups will need to take over here) to cut the bookmark out.

Punch a hole through the center part of the top of the bookmark.

Tie a ribbon around a game piece, then thread it through the bookmark hole and tie it off.

And that’s it!

I couldn’t wait to make my own from a Clue board game I found at the Goodwill. And I think they turned out great!

3. Reusable Straw Charm

colorful color changing straws, gemstones on a thread, and adjustable rings
hand holding iced latte with purple color changing reusable straw with blue gemstone ring around the straw

These are color-changing, reusable straws, and I thought it’d be so cool to create little straw charms people can buy and put on their drink cups.

Using adjustable rings with a flat platform, I bought gemstones with at least one flat edge and hot glued one onto the ring.

4. Locker Palz

small pouf, pink wikki stix, craft eyeballs, and a magnet
Locker Palz made, and magnetized to side of metal locker

Look at these cute critters!

Kids will have a lot of fun making them, and they’re magnetic, so kids and tweens who are desperate to express themselves can buy them and decorate their lockers.

You’ll need:

And since you’re using Wikki Stix for the antennae? They can easily twist and turn them to make them look the way they want.

Hint: they can try to sell more than one by telling people to buy a whole family or a group of friends to stick in their lockers or refrigerators.

5. Colorfully Dipped Candles

big bag of wax pellets, blank white long candles, and two things of wax dye
deep blue melted wax with white long candle dipped in
long taper candles dipped in blue wax drying on wire rack hanging between two chairs

Grab some plain candles in bulk – either white ones or black ones – as your base.

You’ll also need:

You’ll need to melt the wax pellets (according to the instructions) and add the dye color you want.

I did mine in a mason jar glass inside of boiling water (be VERY careful – I’ll bet there’s a safer way to help your child do this).

Then I dipped the long candles into the melted, dyed wax. I did it several times if I wanted the lighter color to show up better.

I think they turned out great! They dry very quickly, too.

Hint: not seeing what you want? Here’s my semi-viral article on 22 simple things for kids to make and sell for Market Day.

6. Motivational or Funny Teen Slang for Desks

four picture frames in rainbow hologram colors, and purple sparkly paper

You can create a series of fun quotes, slang, or whatever you’d like and frame them.

I found these really cool frames for $1.25 each at the Dollar Tree. I also saw purple glitter paper with an adhesive back, in case you want to replace the white frame inside with the glittery one.

The options are endless!

7. Morse Code Bracelets

box filled with colorful beads
two finished Morse code bracelets with words next to each "peace" and "love"

This is such a great thing to sell at school other than food!

Grab a bead set that has two different types of beads, like this one (one to represent short “dits”, and the other to represent long “dahs”), and a black cord to the thread (the kit I linked to above comes with 16 meters of stretchy string).

You can type in any word or words you want on this site, and it will translate them into short “dits” and “dahs” for you.

Then, tie a knot on one end of the thread, bead the message in Morse code, and measure it so that you cut it long enough to fit around someone’s wrist.

You’ll want to label each Morse code bracelet with what it says, for easy shopping.

Hint: here’s how to make a sliding knot on the end of your bracelet so that people can adjust it to their wrist size!

8. Crystal Critters

black weight scale, plastic beaker, three crystal landscapes, package of monoammonium phosphate, food dye, and two bags of figures
red, light green, and white crystal landscapes on dark table, one with a yellow octopus, one with a green turtle, and one with a gold dragon figure

Grow a bunch of crystal “landscapes”. Then let customers pick out both a landscape and a critter to live on it.

You’ll need:

Psst: here are five 3rd grade market day ideas to make and sell.

9. Luggage Tags

package of Creatology colorful bracelets, and colorful charms
blue suitcase with new luggage tag with cute donut charm

I found these Creatology bracelets, and charms with a clasp large enough to go on the bracelet (I found mine at Michael’s – you can find lots of others you can order).

And thought…this could be a set of luggage tags for kids to make and sell!

It’ll definitely help people identify their luggage at the airport baggage claim.

10. Shoe Charms

colorful mini food erasers next to blank shoe charms
three shoe charms with mini erasers glued on

Did you know you can buy blank shoe charms?

Buy the base, and then buy something with a flat side that you’d like to attach to the top by glue (either super glue or hot glue – with parental help).

I bought these fun mini-erasers from Target (in their party supply aisle), and made some cute shoe charms from them.

11. Gemstone Keyrings

house key, lobster clasp keyrings, adjust rings with platform on top, and blue gemstones
finished gemstone keychain with key on it

Get some adjustable rings with a flat platform on the top so that you can attach something.

Which got me thinking, that I’d love to create a keyring for keys with a big, beautiful, gemstone on it.

I found these flat-sided gemstones that are part of a necklace – they have tiny holes in them (at Michael’s).

SO, I took apart the necklace and hot-glued it to the top of the ring. Then I attached it to the lobster clasp keyring.

I hope I've shown you how simple it can be for kids to make something for a classroom or school-wide market day. Not only that, but they will learn SO MUCH by doing this! Make sure you go back and help them with pricing, and with display options to increase their sales. And I'd love to hear your results in the comments below.

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Amanda L. Grossman is a writer and Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI®), a 2017 Plutus Foundation Grant Recipient, and founder of Money Prodigy. Her money work has been featured on Experian, GoBankingRates, PT Money, CA.gov, Rockstar Finance, the Houston Chronicle, and Colonial Life. Amanda is the founder and CEO of Frugal Confessions, LLC. Read more here or on LinkedIn.