Disclaimer: This article shares personal experience and a summary of published research for general information. It is not financial or professional advice. Every child and family is different, so adapt these ideas to your own child’s age, needs and circumstances.
The Stalls of My Childhood
When I was a boy, I ran my own business. Several of them, actually.
One summer it was a food and drinks stall. Another time I sold small bottles of fragrance. Then came a sticker stall, because every child on our street was collecting them and I saw my chance.
None of it was complicated. I bought the stock with whatever money I had. I set up a small table outside. I sold what I could. And at the end of the day, I sat down and did the most important part: I counted what I had spent, what I had earned, and what was left.
Some days I made a profit. Some days I didn’t. Both taught me something.
I wasn’t the only one. Where I grew up, this was completely normal. One child would set up a stall, and within a week three more had copied the idea down the lane. Some children did it to help their families at home. Others did it simply because it was fun. Either way, a whole street of children was learning business without anyone calling it a lesson.
Over the years, that culture quietly disappeared. And I think our children lost something valuable with it.
What a Small Stall Taught That No Lesson Could
Looking back, that little table outside our house taught me more about money than anything I studied at school.
- Cost comes first. Before I could sell anything, I had to spend. That simple fact changes how a child sees money: it is not something that just appears.
- Profit is what is left, not what you collect. A full hand of coins felt like success, until I subtracted what the stock had cost me.
- Loss is a teacher too. When stock went unsold, I learned to buy less, choose better, or sell at a better time. Nobody had to explain it.
- Earned money feels different. Money I had worked for was much harder to spend carelessly than money I was simply given.
- Watching others is market research. When another child’s stall did better, I noticed why. Better location, better price, better product. Copying each other was really learning from each other.
- No worksheet can create that feeling of counting your own coins at the end of a long day.
What the Research Says
It turns out my street-stall education has science behind it.
In 2013, University of Cambridge researchers David Whitebread and Sue Bingham reviewed earlier studies on how children learn, and specifically how they learn about money. Their conclusion: the core money habits, including planning ahead and delaying gratification, are usually formed in early childhood.
The research director of the Money Advice Service, which published the study, described the key window as birth to age seven, and warned that these habits are very hard to reverse later in life.
The same work found that by around seven, most children can recognise the value of money and count it, understand that money is exchanged for goods, and grasp what it means to earn an income.
And here is the part that matters most for parents: children learn about money through observation, instruction and practice. Practice means real decisions with real coins, and sometimes real mistakes.
That is exactly what a stall gives a child. Not a lecture about money, but a small, safe space to handle it.
What Changed: Children Spend, But Rarely Earn
Today’s children often have more money passing through their hands than we ever did. But most of it arrives the same way: someone simply gives it to them.
They know how to spend. Many have never once earned.
Money has also become invisible. Coins and notes are being replaced by cards, taps and screens. A child watching a parent pay with a phone sees no money leave, nothing counted, nothing left over. To a young mind, things just appear.
Our lanes have changed too. Busier roads, smaller outdoor spaces and more time indoors mean fewer children setting up a table outside the gate. The stall didn’t disappear because it stopped working. It disappeared because childhood moved inside.
The result is a generation that may understand apps before it understands that money has to be earned before it can be spent.
Bringing the Stall Back Home
You don’t need a busy street to give your child this experience. You can bring a smaller version of it home, starting very young.
Ages 3 to 5: Play Shop
- Set up a pretend shop with real household items and real coins.
- Take turns being shopkeeper and customer. Let your child give change, even if it’s wrong at first.
- Use physical money whenever you can. Coins they can hold make money real in a way a screen never will.
Ages 5 to 7: Earn, Then Spend
- Offer small paid tasks beyond normal family duties, like washing the car or sorting a cupboard.
- Let them choose what to buy with their own earnings, and let them feel it if the choice was a poor one.
- Introduce waiting. When they want something, agree to wait a few days. Often the want fades. The lesson stays.
Ages 7 and Up: The Real Stall
- Help your child run an actual small stall, at home for visiting family, at a school fair or in a community event.
- Let them buy the stock with their own saved money.
- At the end of the day, sit together and do the count: what was spent, what came in, what is left.
Three Jars, One Habit
At every age, a simple three-jar system turns income into decisions:
- Save: for something bigger later
- Spend: for small things now
- Grow: money set aside to buy stock for the next stall, or to give to someone who needs it
The “Grow” jar is the first lesson in investing. Money used wisely can come back as more money.
Money Charades: A Family Game Night Idea
Charades is a fun way to make money words part of everyday family talk. Write these on slips of paper, fold them into a bowl, and take turns acting them out without speaking:
- Counting coins
- Shopkeeper
- Saving in a piggy bank
- Giving change
- Selling lemonade
- Waiting in line to pay
- Carrying shopping bags
- Finding money on the floor
- Opening a gift you bought yourself
- Setting up a stall
After each round, ask one quick question: “Have you ever done that?” or “What would you sell at your stall?” The game warms them up; the questions start the real conversation.
For more ready-made ideas, try the charades generator on the charades4kids.com homepage.
The Lesson Is in the Counting
I don’t remember exactly how much I earned from those stalls. It was never much.
But I remember the feeling of sitting down at the end of the day, counting coins, and knowing exactly where every one of them came from. That feeling stayed with me far longer than the money did.
Our children may never set up a stall in a busy lane the way we did. But we can still give them the same lesson: money is earned before it is spent, a loss is something to learn from, and what you keep matters more than what you collect.
Start small. A play shop, a jar, one honest conversation. The habits they build now are the ones they will carry for life.
Frequently Asked Questions
At what age should children start learning about money?
Earlier than most parents think. Research from the University of Cambridge suggests core money habits, like planning ahead and waiting for what you want, form in early childhood, largely before age seven. Simple play shops and coin counting can start as young as three.
Should I pay my child for doing chores?
Many families keep everyday family duties unpaid, since everyone helps at home. Extra tasks beyond the usual, like washing the car, can be paid. This teaches that money is earned through effort without turning every bit of help into a transaction.
Is running a small stall really useful for young children?
Yes. A stall gives children a real, low-risk experience of cost, profit and loss. They learn that money has to be spent before it can be earned, and that what is left at the end matters more than what was collected.
How do I teach money when we mostly pay by card or phone?
Make money visible again. Use cash with your child when you can, say the price out loud when you pay by card, and let them hand over coins at the shop. Physical money helps young children understand what digital payments hide.
What if my child spends all their money on something silly?
Let it happen, within reason. A small regret at age six is a cheap lesson compared with a big one at twenty-six. Talk about it calmly afterwards: Was it worth it? What would you do next time?
How can I teach my child to save?
Give savings a clear purpose and a visible place. A clear jar with a goal picture on it works well for young children. Praise the waiting, not just the buying, when they finally reach their goal.