Fundraising for Kindergartens

Offering fundraising opportunities that kids get excited to be a part of brings its own set of unique challenges. While children tend to make everything just a bit more fun, tailoring your activities to an audience of all ages, skills, and interests requires a dose of creativity. Fortunately, we have plenty of easy fundraising ideas sure to engage children and parents alike.

Below, we’ve identified the best fundraising ideas for kids that can be used specifically for kindergartens. You’ll find everything from traditional fundraising activities, like raffles and auctions, to more creative fundraising ideas, like flamingo flocking and talent shows.

Sell Tickets for Coveted Raffle Items

Host a raffle. After all, raffles are a tried-and-true fundraising activity. Simple to execute, kids will have an easy time participating. Here’s how to make it happen:

1. Choose an item: Source an item from a community partner or popular store. It should be something desirable but not too expensive.

2. Sell tickets: Encourage parents and guardians to sell raffle tickets to their friends, family, and colleagues.

3. Draw a winner: Draw the winner and announce it to the kindergarten community. Encourage the winner to post a photo or celebration post with their raffle prize on social media to draw more attention to your cause.

Sell Candy Bars

Include children in your fundraising efforts by selling candy bars in bulk. Kids can sell the candy at school, parents’ offices, events, or church.

Host a Penny Drive

Partner with local businesses and restaurants in your community to put fundraising jars at checkouts. Children visiting these establishments with their parents or guardians will have the opportunity to make a small gift to your kindergarten by putting a few cents in the jar.

Round Up With Local Businesses

Ask local kid-friendly businesses to partner with your fundraising initiative. You could host an ice cream social at the local ice cream shop or offer discounted tickets to a nearby theme park. This encourages families to spend a day or evening together while simultaneously supporting a good cause.

Hold a Walk-a-Thon

Plan an unforgettable walk-a-thon with a pledge fundraising model. Children can ask parents, friends, and community members to donate based on their performance—measured by laps or time.

Host a Kid-Friendly Auction

Encourage children to contribute material items or original creations to your in-person or online auction. Ask them to create an art project or painting, or maybe they want to spend their allowance on a new item for the event.

Guess the Number in the Jar

Stimulate children’s minds while including them in your cause with this fun way to fundraise. Fill a jar with candy, trinkets, or coins and ask kids to guess how many pieces of that item are in the jar.

Create a T-Shirt Fundraiser

Invite kindergarteners to create unique designs for T-shirts that reflect your cause, then ask them to vote for their favorite. Feature the winning design on T-shirts you plan to sell to parents, family, and friends.

Prepare a Scavenger Hunt

Encourage kindergarteners to design a scavenger hunt. You could charge admission for kids and families to participate or exchange their participation for volunteer time.

Host a Talent Show

Provide an opportunity for kindergarteners to show off their skills with a talent show. Charge a small admission for participants and audience members and sell concessions at the fundraising event.

Plan a Local Race

Plan a fun run for kindergarteners and their families. Charge an admission fee for the runners and give a small percentage of the proceeds to the winner, or dedicate 100% of the fees to your kindergarten.

Sell Flowers

Consider selling flowers around holidays, like Mother’s Day or Easter, that kindergarteners can send to their friends, parents, or loved ones for an affordable price.

Bake and Sell Treats

Encourage kindergarteners and their parents to bake special treats and sell them to the community or go door-to-door.

Wash Cars

Recruit a group of young volunteers to host a traditional pop-up car wash. You could partner with a local business, school, or church to secure prime real estate and exposure for this activity.

Offer Lawn Services

Ask around your community to see if any young supporters can provide lawn-care services. This can be especially helpful for senior citizens or those unable to perform these services themselves.

Pick Up Christmas Trees

Offer to pick up and dispose of real Christmas trees in exchange for a small donation. Pass out flyers or go door-to-door before Christmas to get pledges.

Hold a Parent’s Night Out

Recruit babysitters to watch the younger kids while parents go out for a date. Ask parents for a small donation or partner with local restaurants on the same night to donate a percentage of sales to your kindergarten.

Partner With Restaurants and Businesses

Provide an opportunity for parents and families to visit restaurants and businesses in your community. Partner with businesses to guarantee a percentage of sales as donations to your cause.

Host a Karaoke Night

Recruit your supporters within a certain age range to perform at your event and encourage them to find friends and family who will come support.

Offer Face Painting

Provide face painting services at events like a parade or field days. Invite children in your community to do the face painting as an opportunity to serve and build relationships with other kids involved with your cause.

Provide Gift Wrapping Services

Partner with a local community business to provide gift-wrapping services around the holiday season. Teach children how to do the gift wrapping, then let them provide the service.

Have a Trivia Night

Gather families and children together for a trivia night. Ask for donations for entry and reward the winning person or team with a small prize.

Run a Shoe Drive Fundraiser

Collect used (or unused) shoes from kids in the community who have outgrown their favorite pairs. Give parents and children an opportunity to put their retired sneakers and sandals to good use by donating them to your shoe drive fundraiser.

Create an Obstacle Course

Challenge local youth groups or classes at school to design an obstacle course and charge a small fee to participate.

Sell Cookie Dough

Let donors buy cookie dough. Donors will love purchasing this tasty treat from kindergarteners in their community.

Hold a Book Sale

Ask kids to collect books they’ve already read or left deserted on their bookshelves and put them up for sale. Resell them for a steep discount to collect profits for your cause.

Sell Popcorn at Events

Partner with community events to sell popcorn. Kids can run the stand and explain your kindergarten’s mission to customers as they purchase their snack.

Put Your Teacher in Jail

Get classes to work together or put them against each other to “jail” a teacher. Metaphorically, of course. “Jail” means the teacher has to sit in their classroom or the teacher’s lounge while the kids have a field day or extra recess.

Plan a Pumpkin-Carving Contest

Sell pumpkins and carving supplies for a jack-o’-lantern competition around Halloween. Reward the winning pumpkin carver with a trophy or trinket.

Organize a Family Game Night

Provide everything the whole family would need for a hassle-free game night. This might include games, snacks, and drinks.

Initiate a Field Day

Host a field day after school or on the weekend with events for kids to participate and compete in various sports. Charge a small fee for kids to participate.

Start a Rubber Duck Race

Encourage participants to purchase a rubber duck to enter in a water race. The donor with the winning duck wins a prize.

Set Up Flamingo Flocking

Flamingo flocking is a fun way to engage your friends, family, and community. Kids can sneak over to a neighbor’s house and plant pink flamingos all over the yard.

Form a Read-a-Thon Fundraiser

Host read-a-thons and collect pledges based on the number of books read, pages read, or minutes spent reading.

Host a Sports Team Competition

Hold a competition for athletes to compete for the crown. Host tournaments throughout the year and rotate sports.

Build a Mini-Golf Course

Let kids design a backyard mini-golf course. Invite neighbors and kids in the community to come pay to play.

Plan a Pancake Breakfast

Cook and sell pancakes at a before-school event or on the weekend. Pancakes are another cheap item with a high return on investment.

Set Up a Battle-of-the-Bands Concert

Empower kindergarteners to compete in a family-friendly battle-of-the-bands concert. Charge a small fee for entry and reward the top band with a trophy and prize.

By implementing these fundraising ideas for kindergartens, you can engage children, parents, and the community in supporting your cause while having a great time together. Remember to tailor your fundraising activities to the age group and interests of the kindergarteners to ensure maximum participation and enjoyment. With creativity and enthusiasm, you can make your kindergarten’s fundraising efforts a huge success.