My child says “I want to have my own shop” — what should they be learning?

Someone who runs a shop or small business decides what to sell, works out what it costs and what to charge, looks after customers, and keeps going when things flop. Most of it is maths and people. At primary school it’s built from 26 real skills already on the map, in 5 strands: how buying and selling works; money in, money out; the idea and the plan; people skills are shop skills; when it flops — and it will, sometimes.

When I grow up…

I want to have my own shop

If your child sets up hallway stalls and charges you for your own biscuits, here's what that's made of.

Ages are guides, not deadlines — follow your child’s pace. How to help at home → · See it on the map →

What this is, really

Someone who runs a shop or small business decides what to sell, works out what it costs and what to charge, looks after customers, and keeps going when things flop. Most of it is maths and people.

The seeds are already on the map

26 real skills your child can already meet at primary school, grouped into 5 strands. Every one links to its full page.

Life SkillsPersonal & Social Development

How buying and selling works

Customers, goods, services — the game they're already playing in the hallway.

Buyers & Sellers Goods & Services Who Is a Customer? What Money Is Buying Things Needs & Wants

Money in, money out

Counting change is the start; knowing where the money went is the business.

Coins & Notes Making Change Costs & Revenue Budgeting Pocket Money Saving Money Banks & Saving Earning Money

The idea and the plan

What will you make, who wants it, and how will they find out?

Having a Business Idea Making Something to Sell Making a Simple Plan Marketing Basics Advertising & Spending Pitching an Idea

People skills are shop skills

Fair, friendly and worth coming back to — that's the whole brand.

Being a Good Seller Teamwork in Business Ethics in Business Fair Trade & Ethics

When it flops — and it will, sometimes

Every real business owner has a flop story they now tell proudly.

Learning from Failure Real Entrepreneurs Growth Mindset

See all 26 seeds lit up on the map →

What it looks like at each age

Ages 4–5 · preschool

Playing shops IS the curriculum: swapping, taking turns, pretend coins. Pay up happily.

Ages 5–7 · F–Year 1

They can price a lemonade stand, count change with help, and learn the hard truth that stock costs money.

Ages 8–10 · Years 3–5

Costs versus what you charge finally clicks. A market-stall day teaches more maths than a worksheet ever will.

Ages 11–12 · Year 6

They can plan something small end to end — make, price, sell, count up — and tell you what they'd change next time.

Try this together

Free, low-key, and doable tonight — no special supplies.

Run one real stall — school fete, garage sale, driveway lemonade. Let them keep the takings AND pay the costs.

At the supermarket, hand over $10 of the list to manage. Best value is a puzzle they can own.

Ask “why is this ad here?” about one ad a week. Marketing literacy cuts both ways.

Set up three pocket-money jars — spend, save, give. The plan matters more than the amounts.

After primary school

Maths and English carry the most weight, and business studies exists in high school. But shops are learned by shopkeeping: markets, first jobs, side projects. Plenty of Australia's best businesses started at a fete.

The quiet truth

About 38% of what a shopkeeper needs at primary school also lives inside other dreams on this site — reading well, a feel for numbers, noticing patterns, and sticking with hard things. Dreams change: that is the point of being seven. Nothing your child learns here is wasted.

Why every dream shares the same seeds →

This page is a map, not a plan. It shows what a dream is made of at primary school — it does not say your child will or won't do this one day, and it measures nothing about them. Explore it together, follow what they love, and let the dream change as often as they like. Learning Map original · CC BY-SA 4.0