27 Money Camps for Kids (Plus a DIY Financial Literacy Camp)

This is an Ultimate list of Money Camps for Kids, categorized by Financial Literacy camps, Investment Camps, and Kid Business Camps.

Can I just say how much I love the rise of summer money camps for kids?

I had no idea how many there were popping up around the U.S. until I started to do the research for this article.

Summer money camps for kids can be an awesome way to take your child’s basic money understanding – or advanced (see the section on investment camps for kids) – and really ratchet that up a notch.

It’s an intensive 4 to 10-day experience where your child can focus on the subject of money, or a niche within money like entrepreneurship or understanding the stock market, and become more proficient in it.

I’ve broken these money camps down into three different categories:

• Entrepreneurship/kid business camps
• Investment camps for kids
• Financial literacy camps for kids

I also included any financial aid and grant opportunities under each summer camp, in case you are seeking financial assistance (let’s be real – summer camps can be expensive!).

Psst: kids stuck at home, and you'd like them to learn about money? You're in luck! I've got 31 free ONLINE money resources and classes for you. I also created this article on financial literacy week themes that could help.

Financial Literacy Camps for Kids

You’ll find money camps in this category that focus on learning basic financial literacy skills, like understanding the difference between needs and wants, how to save money, how to not spend all your money, etc.

NOTE: Many of these camps are not meeting in-person this coming summer season due to local regulations, comfort levels, etc. Please be sure to click through on each link to get updates (camps are updating frequently, and it's hard to keep up with!).

1. Wealthy Habits Summer Camp

Ages: 11-18 years
Length of Camps: 1 week (Monday – Friday)
Locations: Atlanta, GA, Savannah, GA, Columbus GA, and Winston-Salem, NC

Wealthy Habits offers both in-person summer camps and live online summer camps.

• In-person Money Smart Summer Camps: We cover earning income and taxes, banking, saving and budgeting, credit and debt, and investing in our week-long day camp. We have 7 locations in Atlanta and 3 other locations in the southeast. 
• Live online camps: Our Virtual 10-hour Money Fundamentals is Monday to Friday for 2 hours each day. Students learn the fundamentals of personal finance from engaging live instructors. We have 10-hour Money Fundamentals and 10-hour Camp Wall Street. 

Subjects are taught using a variety of activities.

Honestly, these guys smash a lot into 5 days – so I think these are great overviews of lots of money topics, and as with any of the money camps you choose, it’s up to you to continue engaging your child in these subjects after they get home.

2. DIY Money Summer Camp at Home

Would you like to structure just one week of your kid’s summer vacation as a DIY money summer camp?

I've created a set of DIY Summer Money Camp Calendars for both kids and teens (one set for kids, one set for teens).

Each month has a theme:

• June – Save Money
• July – Spend Money
• August – Earn Money

This calendar will help you be more intentional with your money child’s money education this summer…but without it all being so intimidating.

Benefits: 

• Pre-filled for the most convenience to you – but I’ve included a blank one where you can determine which of the activities you’d like your child to do, and when
• Friday is a catch-up day since we all know how the week can get away from us
• Includes a Parent's Answer Key, and More Information sheets to guide your child through the activities
• Find any activities you’re not ready for or uncomfortable with? Just black them out with a Sharpie and move on
• I created versions for both kids and teens – but think of these as beginner and intermediate, instead of age-based

Check out these DIY Money Summer Camp Calendars, here.

3. Pizza Money Camp

Ages: 9-11 years
Length of Camps: 2 weeks
Locations: ONLINE

This is an in-person camp that is going virtual this year.

You can get live support while the camp is in session, and you'll have access to the materials online for one year from your date of purchase.

Here's what's going to be covered:

• Week 1: Earning money, including family income history, choosing a job/career, and how to boost your income.
• Week 2: Saving, including growing money through interest, growing money through the stock market, and how behavior affects your savings rate.
• Week 3: Spending, including debt, knowing the difference between debit and credit, and budgets.
• Week 4: Giving, including the importance of charity and different ways to give.

4. Financial Planning Academy

Ages: 14-17 years
Length of Camps: (1 week, OVERNIGHT)
Locations: Athens, GA

Rising high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors can take this

This money camp is designed for students with no (or little) experience with money, and they'll:

• Work on a financial planning case study
• Develop a financial plan
• Participate in competitions for scholarships and prizes
• Get insight into the Registered Investment Advisory (RIA) industry

5. Camp iCare

Ages: 6-12 years
Length of Camps: 4 days (Monday – Thursday)
Locations: Auburn, Alabama

Put on by the Cary Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies, this camp focuses on teaching kids core financial literacy concepts so that they can grow up to be “money smart while helping others”.

The lessons, field trips, and hands-on experiences focus on:

• Understanding wants vs. needs
• Leadership skills
• Giving to others (time, talent, treasure, and trust)

I love how they have a core focus on helping others and charitable giving!

Investment Camps for Kids – Finance Camps for High School Students (and Younger)

One of the requests I get most often from parents is help with teaching their children to invest money. So, I wanted to dedicate an entire section of this money camps list just to investment camps for kids.

Psst: you'll definitely want to check out one of these free stock market games for students, and 9 investing board games for kids.

You’ll find money camps focused on teaching your child how to build wealth, how to use the stock market, and how to responsibly invest their money so that it will grow.

Note that this is an advanced money topic for kids, and several of these investment camps require that your child have some prerequisite learning.

1. Wall Street 101

Ages: entering junior and senior high schoolers
Length of Camps: 1 week (Monday through Friday)
Locations: Waltham, MA

Bentley University’s Hughey Center for Financial Services offers an investment camp for kids that teaches all about global financial markets. They host it in their Trading Room, where students learn through doing.

Topics and activities taught by senior-level executives in the financial services industry include:

• Simulated trading exercises
• Create a portfolio of equity securities
• Industry analyses
• Formal presentation to explain portfolio choices and a detailed financial analysis of a company
• Bonus: there are opportunities to “help you navigate the college application process”

As prep work, they recommend your child watch “The Inside Job”, (narrated by Matt Damon).

2. Maverick Investment Camp

Ages: entering grades 11-12
Length of Camps: 3 days
Locations: Omaha, Nebraska

This camp program is intended for teens who are prospective students at the University of Nebraska and who want to learn about finance and investing.

Students who attend get a $1,000 college tuition scholarship if they enter the University’s College of Business Administration!

Camp topics and activities include:

• Relationship between Federal Reserve actions and equity markets
• How to identify undervalued investments
• Participate in a portfolio simulation
• Tour a local Fortune 500 company

3. Camp Millionaire

Ages: 10+ years
Length of Camps: 2-5 days (varies by location)
Locations: Santa Barbara, CA; Edmonds, WA; Atlanta, GA

Creative Wealth International offers a summer camp geared towards teaching kids how to save, how to invest, and how to build wealth.

Find their summer schedule here.

Pssst: you can apply for a summer camp grant here if the cost will prohibit your kid from attending.

4. The Stock Market Summer Camp

Ages: entering grades 9 or 10 in the Fall
Length of Camps: 2 weeks
Locations: New York City, NY

Your child can learn advanced stock marketing tidbits from an economic AND a personal-life perspective, including:

• Factors that make a market bust and boom
• Factors that determine company stock prices
• Analyzing a company’s annual report

Also, they’ll participate in a stock market simulation game as part of the course’s “lab” component.

Your child will need to bring a laptop in order to participate, fyi.

Psst: you might also want to check out the Global Stock Pitch Competition.

5. Camp CashEd

Ages: 10-14 years
Length of Camps: 3 days
Locations: Meridian, Idaho

Offered in partnership with CapEd Credit Union, CashEd covers the following topics:

• Building long-term wealth
• Investing in “human capital”
• Credit and risk
• Return on investment
• Stocks, bonds, and stock market fundamentals

7. Financial Literacy Camp

Ages: high school students
Length of Camps: 4 weeks (Monday – Friday)
Locations: Newark, New Jersey

This camp is geared towards teaching your child about financial investments, economics, and financial management.

Your high schooler will learn:

• What financial institutions offer people
• How to diversify
• Fundamentals of interest rates
• Structure of stock and bond markets
• How money and capital markets fuel business growth

Students will also work in teams to do a financial analysis of a Fortune 500 company.

Field trips include an overnight stay at Princeton Blairstown Center in Hardwick, NJ, and a visit to Leir Retreat Center in Ridgefield, CT.

Kids Business Camps – Kids Economics Camps

If you want your child to learn how to create a business, then you might want to sign them up for a kid business camp.

Pssst: you'll likely want to check out these 19 Youth Entrepreneurship Programs, and 27 Awards and Scholarships for Young Entrepreneurs.

Several entrepreneurial camps for kids I could find: 

1. Young American’s Financial Summer Camp

Ages: completed 3^rd – 8^th grade
Length of Camps: 1 week (Monday through Friday)
Locations: Colorado

The four types of money summer camps offered are:

1. Young AmeriTowne camps
2. International Towne camps
3. YouthBiz entrepreneurial camps
4. Spark Change philanthropy camps

Check back, as it looks like mini-money camps are offered at different times throughout the year. Another opportunity to get your child entrepreneur involved is having them enter the YouthBiz competition (first prize is $5,000!).

2. Moolah U’s Kid Business Camp

Ages: 8-18 years
Length of Camps: 1 week (Monday through Friday)
Locations: Austin, TX

The cool thing about Moolah U’s Kid Business Camp is your child will work on creating an ACTUAL business, bring it live, AND they get to keep any money made from it.

Austin business leaders help with the teaching and act as mentors, and they also are judges for the Barracuda Tank™ (this camp’s version of the TV show Shark Tank).

Here’s a kid pitch from 2018’s Kid Business Camp:

4. Junior Achievement BizTown Summer Camp

Ages: 10-14 years
Length of Camps: 1 week
Locations: Locations Across the U.S.

Junior Achievement offers BIzTown Summer Camps to expose kids to business, entrepreneurship, and financial planning.

The best way to find a camp is to look at JA locations near you, then click on the website and see what’s offered (unfortunately there’s no central camp location list).

5. Babson Summer Study for High School Students

Ages: Juniors and Seniors in high school
Length of Camps: about 1 month
Locations: Locations Across the U.S.

Babson teaches high school students how to be entrepreneurs using their Entrepreneurial thought & Action Method (ET&A). What your child will be doing:

“Students learn how to develop a venture idea in collaboration with teammates that creates meaningful social and economic value.”

High schoolers will actually earn 4 college credits by going through this summer business camp!

Pssst: Here’s where you can apply for financial aid.

6. Spark Business Camps

Ages: 5-17 years
Length of Camps: 1 week
Locations: Washington D.C., Virginia, Maryland, and New York City

Spark Business Academy offers the following business-oriented summer camps:

• Dollars & Sense Camp
• My First Lemonade Stand
• Budding Entrepreneurs
• Stock Market Aces
• Future Millionaires Bootcamp

7. Kid Entrepreneur Academy (KEA)

Ages: Grades 5-8
Length of Camps: 1 week
Locations: Irvine, CA

This kid’s business camp is all about developing business skills in your child. The Business School at Concordia University Irvine covers topics like:

• Characteristics of a successful entrepreneur
• Intro to Financial Principles
• Business budgeting
• Investing, interest, and stocks
• How to write a business plan
• How to market and sell your product

There is a financial aid form available as part of the registration form.

8. Teen Entrepreneur Academy (TEA)

Ages: Grades 5-8
Length of Camps: 1 week
Locations: Irvine, CA

These guys are determined to turn your teen into a “TeenPreneur”. Working in groups of 3-4 teens, your child will assist in the first critical step to starting a business – creating a business plan.

And guess what? At the end of the week, there’s a $1,500 prize for the best business plan!

Entrepreneur topics covered include:

• How to take calculated risks
• Start-up budgets
• How to conduct market research
• How to raise investment capital
• Keeping your eyes on cash flow
• How to create an elevator pitch

There is financial aid available, and here are the eligibility guidelines.

9. Camp BizSmart

Ages: 11-15 years
Length of Camps: 2 weeks
Locations: Santa Clara University, CA

Ever dreamed of sending your child to Stanford University? A summer camp centered around building businesses is your chance!

Your kids get to use design tools and learn things like:

• Product design
• Product pitching
• Latest business methods
• What it takes to survive in the 22nd-century global marketplace

Kids and teens (see below) actually pitch their ideas to Silicon Valley angel investors and Venture Capitalists at Microsoft’s Silicon Valley headquarters. And the winning pitch idea? Gets to be honored at the national, Keiretsu Angel Capital Expo!

Residential options are available.

10. Camp BizSmart

Ages: 16-19 years
Length of Camps: 6 days
Locations: Santa Clara University, CA

Send your teen to the Teen Designathon in Silicon Valley! This is a project-based, business camp for teens.

Their program emphasizes:

• Leadership
• Collaborative teamwork
• Project management
• Cost analysis
• Negotiation skills

Residential options are available.

11. Summer Business Camp

Ages: Grades 9-12
Length of Camps: 1 week (overnight)
Locations: Emory University (Atlanta, GA) and Columbia University (New York, NY)

Your teenagers can gain a robust understanding of business by participating in actual merger and acquisition transaction simulations.

This is done through teams, with each team assigning someone the role of leader of their corporation. The team then analyzes their company’s annual report and is taught by actual business executives how to negotiate mergers and acquisitions.

It’s all a big competition – and the team who presents the best deal to a panel of senior-level executives advances to “Championship Camp” where they’ll compete for the National Championship title (as well as stock in a major corporation).

FYI: these guys have corporate-sponsored scholarships, and about 80% of students receive one.

12. Global Young Leaders Academy

Ages: currently in grades 9-12
Length of Camps: 2 weeks (overnight)
Locations: Philadelphia, PA

There are two tracks your child can take with Wharton’s Global Young Leaders Academy:

• GYLA-Entrepreneurship: Teams of students develop a business plan, and learn about marketing, accounting, management, and finance. There are also weekend field trips to local startups, business conversations with faculty, a session on college admissions, etc.
• GYLA-Finance: Students will explore finance and investment. Teaching points are on things like the time value of money, corporate finance, ethics, and decisions around investments. Teams of students deliver a team-based investment project at the end and make use of Wharton’s Online Trading & Investment Simulator.

13. “Be Your Own Boss” Summer Entrepreneurship Camp

Ages: Highschoolers
Length of Camps: 4 days (Monday – Thursday)
Locations: Chicago, IL

Sponsored in partnership with Google, this is a FREE entrepreneurship camp for kids! It takes place in space 1871, one of the hottest business incubators in the world.

Kids will:

• Work in teams to create a business idea
• Build a basic, working app prototype
• Create a business pitch

Students will also receive a $450 stipend.

14. Eseedling Youth Entrepreneur Camp

Ages: 9-14 years
Length of Camps: 3 days (Monday – Thursday)
Locations: Madison, WI

Eseedling seeks to teach your child an opportunity mindset, as well as to show them how much of a difference they can make in the world by being an entrepreneur.

Students will:

• Choose a business idea they will present on
• Create a business model for their idea
• Create their own business cards
• Run a business through a Biz-Ops game
• Run a lemonade stand

15. The Startup Studio

Ages: currently in grades 5-10
Length of Camps: 5 days (Monday – Thursday)
Locations: Various locations in Florida

The Startup Studio believes entrepreneurship is rooted in story, and it’s their goal to take students through the creative process and journey all the way through to product pitch.

They teach students to:

• Discover value propositions
• Use their story to source + talk about their business ideas
• Build business models for their idea
• Learn to pivot based on feedback
• Understand the role of interviewing and surveying to further hone a product/service

One thing that makes this camp stand out is the use of feedback to hone and craft each student’s idea.

16. Innova Fellows

Ages: 11-15 years
Length of Camps: 10 days
Locations: Seattle, WA and Bellevue, WA

When you think about innovation, do you think about prototypes, design thinking, and Shark Tank-like pitches?

Your child will work on all of this and more at Innova Fellows’ summer camp. Divided into two weeks – Business Innovation and Innova Financial IQ – your child can expect to learn about:

• Design thinking
• Prototype creation
• Market research
• Corporate finance
• Break-even analysis
• Creating business plans

FYI: there are 10 full scholarships that you can apply for.

17. Young Founders Institute Summer Program

Ages:12-14 years, 15-18 years
Length of Camps: Two weeks
Locations: Chapel Hill, North Carolina (REMOTE OPTIONS available)

Based on age and experience, you're on one of three entrepreneurial tracks:

• Entrepreneurship Foundations
• Entrepreneurship Expansions
• Specialized Entrepreneurship

18. LaunchX

Who It’s For: Students who finished 9th grade, up to recently graduated high school

Financial Aid: Between $7,495 and $7,995 (Financial, need-based, aid available)

Length of Program: 4 weeks

Location: University of Michigan, Northwestern University, and MIT

In this four-week experience, students work in a cohort with industry experts to solve real-world problems with products they conceive and build. This program is very selective and has an average of 18% acceptance rate. 

Excited by some of these possibilities on this summer camp activities list? Now it’s time to choose one week to claim as Money Summer Camp and schedule one of the money activities for each day. Remember that within some of the articles, there are multiple activities that you can choose from (or do them all and I’ll give you a digital high-five!).

One last reminder – you may be able to get a tax deduction on your summer money camps (and any summer camps) that you send your kids to.