5 Ways Children Can Make Money With Scrap Metal

It seems like children are always looking for ways to save up money. Instead of traditional methods like cashing in cans or selling items at a yard sale, children can exchange items for cash at a scrap metal recycling center. These locations offer easy ways to cash in items with metal and can also teach children about financial responsibility. As children go through items they own and no longer want, there are five different ways to cash in on the scrap metal. Prices will vary, but each of the following items offer great ways for children to make cash.

Board Games

After getting played for a while, board games can lose their fun. Instead of letting the boxes just collect dust, children can go through games to finds pieces and parts that would get accepted by scrap metal yards. By using a free scrap metal pricing resource, children can figure out if specific board game piece values and collect them in a bag.

Examples of parts include small metal pieces made of aluminum, copper, or silver plating. Other board game parts include electronic components or wiring. For example, there are multiple versions of a game where players have to manually remove ailments from a sick person's body. The tweezers and wires can potentially make money at a scrap yard.

Construction Toys

Real construction workers often cash in at the scrap metal yards with leftover pieces from a project. A child can do the same thing with collections of construction toys. Metal construction toys include aluminum, brass, and tin parts that can all be scrapped for cash. This includes the pieces and connectors like nuts and bolts.

Before cashing in on the construction toys, it's a good idea to sort the parts by the metal type or part type. This will make it easier for scrap yard workers to sort the items and weigh them properly.

Classic Toys

A lot of modern toys are mostly made of plastic. If your child owns a lot of classic toys, then they are likely more valuable due to the metal content alone. For example, if any toys were housed in a tin canister, the tin itself can be cashed in at a scrap metal yard. Large toy cars made of metal parts can also be cashed in. As long as the toy is made of mostly metal, it will be easy to get a full value.

Video Games & Electronics

Old and broken video game systems may seem useless to players, but the computer components inside could be valuable to a scrap metal yard. When bringing in your video game components, it's important to keep them as intact as possible. This will help scrap yard workers identify the consoles and value the contents inside. Older consoles used materials like copper, which could help earn a child a lot of money.

Accessories like controllers or add-on components could also help a child earn extra money.

School Supplies

It seems like summer vacation has barley started before a child sends all of their school supplies into the garbage. Instead of filling up the landfill, a child can actually earn money for their used school supplies. Examples of metal supplies that could be worth cash include padlocks, binders with metal rings, spiral notebook metals, or old devices like broken calculators.

Carefully separate all the metal until you have enough to make it worth it for the scrap yard. It can help pay for summer activities like trips to a water park or the movies.

Guide a child through different steps, but let them do the majority of the work. This will help teach responsibility and the value of money. If a child works hard enough, you can toss in a few pieces of extra scrap to help lift their final payment amount.

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