career research project for elementary students

Career Exploration for Students and Kids (19 Free Resources)

By: Author Amanda L. Grossman

Posted on Last updated: December 29, 2023

Teach students and kids about careers with these 19 free worksheets and lesson plans. Career exploration for students to do.

One of the most important reasons behind a formal education – besides teaching your students how to think for themselves – is to get kids ready to take on an engaging and exciting career.

And a career? Well, that’s the foundation to any person being able financially provide for themselves – what we call, financial independence.

That’s why I take a real interest in helping kids, tweens, and teens get the best fun career exploration activities resources out there.

So that one day, they can find a fulfilling job and be able to earn enough money to not only survive, but thrive.

Career Exploration for Students

What all is involved in career exploration for students?

To be honest, there’s a lot to cover here.

You want to provide fun and engaging activities for topics like:

• Understanding Careers : The foundational blocks of understanding how a person earns money, having a job versus working on a career, how to develop your career, etc.
• Career Interest Assessments : Which careers intersect a child’s natural abilities and a child’s interests?
• Career Investigation : What does a day look like when holding down a job in one of those career fields that interests a student? What’s the salary like? This can include activities in the classroom, research, and also shadowing.
• Skill Identification and Development : What skills do they need to pursue a job that interests them? What level of education would they need?
• Understanding How to Get Hired : Things like interviews, creating a resume, job searches, etc. are critical for students to know how to do.
• Career Stepping Stones : What steps can the student take right now (and before they graduate high school) in order to set themselves just a few steps closer to getting into that career field (i.e. internships, volunteer activities, writing a first resume (here are free teen resume templates ), type of afterschool/weekend jobs)?
• Income and Paycheck Management : Discussing how to not only manage a paycheck from a real-job, but also how to manage your career so that your income more than matches current cost of living needs. Also, going over paycheck taxes, pay type (salary, hourly, commissions), insurance, workplace retirement contributions, and other deductions.

Whew – that list wasn’t meant to overwhelm you.

Rather, I wanted to inspire you with what an important and life-changing topic you’re covering with your students and kids.

Plus, to outline some of the areas you can cover with these fun career activities and resources I’ve found for you, below.

Career Exploration for Kids – Free Career Assessments

First up, let’s talk about how to get your kids and students actually interested in career exploration activities.

There’s no better way to pique a student’s interest than to find out what THEY are most interested in learning about.

One way to do this is to start off your unit of study with free career assessments.

1. Truity.com Career Assessment

I spoke with the people at Truity.com, and they said a good age minimum to take their free career assessment is 14/15 years of age.

The test is free to take, plus you get a basic report with results. You don’t even need to have a student register for them to do this!

However, if you want to be able to view each of your student’s results, you’d have to sign up for a Pro account.

2. CareerOneStop’s Career Assessment

This free, 30-question career quiz from the U.S. Department of Labor will help a student figure out some possible career choices.

3. O*NET Interest Profiler

Another career assessment test sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor is O*NET’s interest profiler. There are 60 questions in total.

Psst: want even more career websites for students? Here's 14 career websites for high school students .

4. CommonLit Career Day at Pixie Academy

Age: 4th Grade

Here's a reading passage that's centered around some great career and job terms. The theme of the story is Pixie finding a new job.

Assessment questions and a teacher's guide are included.

Career Exploration Worksheets for Students

While I don’t recommend you center your entire career unit around career exploration worksheets, the ones below can definitely add to students discovering jobs, industries, etc.

1. Find Your “Right Now” Job

Suggested Grades: 6-8

Scholastic has some fantastic worksheets and lesson plans to help with career exploration for students.

In the “ Find Your Right Now Job ” worksheet, students will research jobs and apprenticeships around their area of interests to find two jobs that they could apply to (when they're a bit older).

2. Career Research Worksheet

Here’s a simple, one-page worksheet you can get for free with a free account on Teachers Pay Teachers.

It will help focus your student’s career research.

3. Career Family Tree

This free worksheet of fun career activities has an idea that I love – for students to create a family career tree. They’ll need to ask family members and do the research, which of course is a great way for kids to understand their loved ones even better (plus to learn a thing or two).

4. Classroom Job Application

With a free Teachers Pay Teachers account, get this simple classroom job application your students can fill out to “apply” for classroom jobs.

5. Earning Income Career Earning Worksheet

BizWorld has this free, simple worksheet to help your students research a career and salary information.

6. Collection of Career Exploration Worksheets (9-12 grades)

Here’s a bunch of different career activities and worksheets for grades 9-12 .

Worksheets include:

• Reality Check Worksheet
• Networking Bingo
• Speed Interviewing

Career Lesson Plans

Looking for more than just career preparedness worksheets?

Check out these enter career lesson plans, available for free.

Hint: many of them include both worksheets and videos.

1. National Retail Federation's Library

The National Retail Federation (NRF) has a program called RISE Up , a certifying program with curriculum that helps students and young adults get hired in the retail industry.

Check out the RISE Up classroom activities section to find lots of short videos from people actually in the retail industry, answering questions students might have and teaching students about their industry. It also includes a worksheet for each video.

2. PWC’s Earn Your Future Digital Classroom

Check out Level 3 (for Grades 9 – 12), Module Chart Your Course . It talks about:

• The relationship between education and careers
• The opportunity cost of pursuing additional education
• The importance of monetary and nonmonetary compensation when selecting a job

3. BizKid’s It’s a Job to Get a Job

Download an entire lesson plan for high schoolers that include topics like:

• Job search techniques
• Interviewing
• Adding value as an employee

4. NGPF's Career Unit

This is a full-year course, with the following units:

• Unit Plan & Assessments
• Career Basics
• Choosing a Career
• Workplace Skills
• Finding a Job
• Your LinkedIn Profile
• Resumes & Cover Letters
• Interviewing for a Job
• Outcomes of a Job Interview
• Starting a New Job
• Career Sucesss

5. Louisiana Department of Education's Virtual Workplace Experience

The state of Louisiana has come up with these free resources to help students explore careers in LA's highest-demand industries. These are project-based learning activities.

Honestly, there's a ton here.

They've broken it down into the following units:

• General Resources
• Portfolio Projects Resources
• Getting Started
• Healthcare and Pharmacy
• Automotive Service & Repair
• Construction Crafts/Skilled Trades
• Information Technology
• Advanced Manufacturing
• Transportation and Logistics
• Business Management and Finance
• Sales and Customer Service

Career Games for Kids

These career games for kids and teens create an engaging way to teach career awareness.

1. Career Charades

Age: 7-9 years

Students are asked to brainstorm lots of different careers (it's suggested that they can ask parents, grandparents, and others to come up with ideas ahead of time).

Each student writes these ideas onto a piece of paper, and everyone takes turns acting out a career while others try to guess what they're doing.

Great for better awareness about career options!

2. Claim Your Future

Students select different career paths, are given a typical salary, and then are given various spending choices. The amount of money they spend throughout the game is tracked so that they can see, and make any adjustments as needed.

3. The Payoff

Suggested Age Range: 14 years and older

Practical Money Skills has come up with another free online career game, and this time it's all about two teenagers trying to start up a business in a competitive atmosphere.

Students will have to evaluate business deals, learn how to grow their business, and how to overcome financial challenges in business and in life.

4. Auction Adventures – Auctioneer Career Game for Kids

Suggested Age Range: Grades 3-5

Being paid by commission is wayyyyy different than getting a salary (or, even, being paid hourly). You have to actually sell something to make any money!

This game has your students calculate their commission rates while, at the same time, learning about how auctioneers work in a variety of different places.

Here's a set of worksheets to go along with this game.

5. The Uber Game

Like it or not, the “gig economy” where people are not full employees of companies, but still accept gigs from them and earn a small or substantial amount of money on the side, seems to be here to stay.

So, kids should understand how this can fit into their career and money plans!

The Uber Game gives your teen a scenario, such as they have a $1,000 mortgage payment due in a week, and then asks them to try and earn enough money through accepting gigs in order to pay that bill.

Can they do it? Is it hard or easy? Can they sustain themselves on a gig job?

Psst: You’ll want to check out my 31 free personal finance homeschool curriculum , as some of the resources also have free career resources.

Career Research for Students

When students research a career, they need to look at it from several different angles before deciding if it’s possibly on their “Career Hitlist”.

Here are the different things to research for a career:

• Find Income information : Salary, or hourly pay? What’s the range? Do people have this as their only job, or do they need to supplement with a second job to “make ends meet” (i.e. pay all their bills plus save money each month)?
• Ask People and Watch Interviews : Your student will want to make sure a day in the life of a potential profession is something they’d actually be interested in. Interviewing current employees in a profession, or even watching videos where professionals are interviewed can be really helpful.
• Find Shadow Opportunities : Students can go shadow a job within your school district, or with a family/friend. Or, they can take part in a Take Your Child to Work day at their parent’s/aunt’s employer. 

Psst: Have you ever heard of CareerVillage ? Students can ask career-related questions and get them answered by professionals, for free! Students of all ages are accepted, and they’ll need to create an account (for free) to ask a question.

1. How to Research a “Day in the Life”

You want your students to feel what it’s like to be on the job in a career path they’re researching.

Help them to do this by:

• Career Biographies : There are a vast number of what I like to call career biographies that help a child understand what it’s actually like to pursue a certain career field. I’ve got an article on 22 career books for kids , broken down by age and profession type.
• Career Videos : These can be really helpful, particularly when funds don’t allow for school field trips. MyAmericanFarm.org has a great collection of 3 to 26-minute videos on all different types of agricultural careers . PathSource has an impressive collection of career interview videos. Kids Work! Has a nice collection of ca r eer videos for kids (Grades 3-8). You can also search YouTube for “Day in the Life of _______”.
• Career Shadowing : Career shadowing was quite cool when I was in high school. Students should be encouraged to shadow someone at their job, whether it’s a parent/family member, or even someone within the school district. Reach out to your principal, vice principal, administrative assistants, and anyone else working at your school district to see if you can set up some job shadowing to go along with your career unit.
• Career Interviewing : You could have your students brainstorm a list of interview questions for someone in a job they’re curious about, and then actually help them find a person to interview either by email or in person. Imagine what they could learn from the experience!
• Take Your Child to Work Day : My sister and I both took turns taking the train to Washington D.C. to my aunt’s, and then she would take us into her job at NBC for a “Take Your Child to Work Day”. It was SO neat! It’s really a perfect way to get a taste for what a day in a job looks like (not to mention, motivate a child to want to do better at school so they can get some of the cool positions they get to see). Here's how you can do take your child to work day activities .
• Career Videos : These can be really helpful, particularly when funds don’t allow for school field trips. MyAmericanFarm.org has a great collection of 3 to 26-minute videos on all different types of agricultural careers . PathSource has an impressive collection of career interview videos. Kids Work! Has a nice collection of ca r eer videos for kids (Grades 3-8).
• Career Articles : CommonLit has some Day in the Life career articles, such as A Day in the Life of an Astronaut . Also, ReadWorks has some of these articles.

2. How to Research Income Information

While it used to be difficult to figure out income averages for a career or job type, it’s quite simple nowadays thanks to some seriously great, free, resources provided by the Department of Labor.

Here’s a one-stop salary finder , where you enter the occupation and your location to get an idea of the average pay.

It also offers a listing of professions, so students can click around by career cluster (or category) and just explore.

Psst: another important thing to make students aware of through research? Are career projections. In other words, is an industry or job path they want to pursue growing, or are the jobs getting scarcer? Here’s a great resource from Workforce Solutions (for just the Houston-Galveston area, though it still drives the point home about the importance of this question) that shares percentages for various careers.

3. Lessons to Understand Paycheck Taxes and Deductions

EverFI has free financial literacy lessons for kids and students, and Lesson 3 is on income and taxes .

Students will be given different ideas about careers, as well as the pros and cons to each.

Career Projects for Middle School Students

Looking for a career project your middle school students will enjoy?

1. Middle School Exploratory Tasks

Kentucky's Department of Education has a really cool resource – a group of middle school career projects, broken down by 16 different career clusters (and 80 different career pathways within those clusters).

Not only that, but they have student work samples for each one!

There are projects and exploratory tasks for careers in:

• Agriculture
• Human Services
• … and ten others
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Career Exploration for Elementary Students – 7 Activities for Kids

Search for worksheets.

It’s never too early to encourage a little career exploration in your students.

After all, you’re not going to hold them accountable to what they say now — are you? Today, they might want to be doctors, lawyers, and musicians. Tomorrow: Olympic athletes and astronauts. That’s all part of the fun!

For kids, career exploration is a fundamental part of development. It can really help them to look forward to, and prepare for, what the future holds.

Whether they realize it or not, kids are constantly looking to their adult role models for guidance on how to act and what they should do in the future. How often do you hear young ones ask each other, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

By getting your kid(s) exploring career options through certain focused activities, you’re equipping them with the knowledge that there are so many different paths out there for them, and the world really is their oyster.

So, what are career activities?

Career activities are fun ways to introduce your kid(s) or students to the endless possibilities out there in the world of work.

In elementary school, students usually have a fairly narrow view of employment. They may know (roughly) what their parents do, but there will still be so much for them to learn. As parents and teachers, it’s your job to help them explore their interests, natural skillsets, and true passions — and that’s where career exploration activities come in.

But before we go into those…

Why are career activities important for kids?

Career games are beneficial for elementary students in a whole host of ways:

Broaden kids’ minds

In a modern, digital-first society, there really are very few limits when it comes to job seeking. Career games are a great way for kids to discover how everyone in society can play a different role.

Inspire kids to achieve more

By increasing your kid or student’s awareness of the different jobs out there, they can start to really see where they can fit in — inspiring them to find a job that truly fits them, their personality, and their passions.

Encourage goal-setting from a young age

Once kids have found their “dream job”, they can start making a plan and taking the right steps towards getting there — even if they change their mind a week later!

7 career activities and games for elementary-age kids

Now, let’s delve into some of the best career activities out there for 6-11-year-olds:

Career Days

On Career Days, guests come to school (or homeschool!) to talk about their line of work. And when it comes to career types, the more diverse, the better!

These events allow children to interact with adults and ask questions in a comfortable and safe environment, while guests get to share stories and inspire the next generation.

Field Trips

What better way to engage young minds than to take them out of their usual, classroom environment?

Scheduling a field trip to a place of work can be such an eye-opener for kids and pre-teens, as it allows them to glimpse behind the scenes of whichever workplace you’ve chosen for that day.

Some particular favorites are fire stations, museums, restaurants, and TV studios.

Career “ABC”

Get your kid(s) or students to pick an occupation for each letter of the alphabet, and think about what skills these jobs would need. Once they’ve done this, they can go one step further and discuss why these skills are important for that particular job.

This activity is super easy yet educational and works well in the classroom for a larger group of students.

Job Posters

Paper and pens at the ready! In this activity, kids flex their creative skills and draw up a poster describing the ins-and-outs of a certain job or career.

To do this, we suggest writing down a wide list of different jobs and getting your kid(s) or students to pick the one that sounds the most interesting to them. That way, they can stay truly engaged and make it meaningful for them.

If you’re looking for some inspiration, why not have a look at our selection of worksheets on famous people ? From writers to athletes , to inventors , and explorers , there’s plenty of resources for you to get your kid(s) or students inspired!

Career Paths

Get your kid(s) and students making active goals towards their dream jobs with this career path activity. The aim of the game is to help kids and pre-teens to understand what they need to do to make their dreams a reality.

You can visualize it as a ladder — with each step leading to the next stage — or as a more free-form diagram. At this stage, don’t worry so much about feasibility or accuracy; we’re really just trying to get kids to think about what the future could hold.

Career Camps

The variety of summer camps out there is amazing, and there are so many options to choose from, in fields like cooking, journalism, science, fitness, engineering, and more.

Enrichment programs are a great way to get your kids really immersed in a particular field, gaining valuable hands-on experience, as well as making memories and friendships that last a lifetime.

Volunteering

This one’s ideal for older elementary kids, and it’s something they can carry with them through their teen years. Volunteering exposes students to valuable experiences, while supporting their local community, too. If your pre-teen has dreams of becoming a teacher, why not set them up with a few hour’s work each week as a personal tutor? Similarly, if they see themselves working in medicine, can you go together to a local blood bank — handing out flyers, or meeting and greeting guests?

Volunteering is also a great way to boost a teen’s resume so that when the time comes to actually start their career, they’re more than equipped.

Sow the seeds now, and watch your child bloom!

Even if your kid(s) or students grow up to do something totally different to what they have in mind today, you can rest assured that this career support, early in life, has given them the confidence to strive for what they want — and achieve it!

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Career Exploration Worksheets

Here are some great worksheets that help students explore various career paths and find something they are passionate about.

Career exploration is critical for students – not only in high school but throughout the grades. It is a complex topic, including concepts like understanding careers, student interests, career research, skill development for career success, tactics to increase hiring chances, and career pathway planning and exploration. These worksheets cover the spectrum, providing practice and skill-building for kids of all ages.

Understanding Careers

Before kids can jump into focused research, they need to know what a career is and the difference between a job and a career.

• Career Readiness: Jobs vs. Careers: This worksheet shows younger students the difference between jobs and careers and gives them practice identifying differences. ( 1 st -8 th Grade)
• Career vs. Job: In this worksheet , kids fill in information bubbles to compare and contrast careers and jobs. ( 3 rd – 8 th Grade)
• Career Survey: This worksheet has students answer the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  ( 7 th -12 th Grade)
• Stages of Career: This worksheet has older students think about their interests and which careers are available for their preferences. ( 6 th -12 th Grade)
• A Career For Me: This worksheet lets students explore career possibilities through writing, unlocking little learners’ potential. ( 1 st -2 nd Grade)

Student Interest Inventory

You’ll find many inventories that measure student strengths and interests, showing kids possible career choices.

• Career Interest Survey: This straightforward worksheet has young students checking boxes to see what kinds of careers may interest them. ( K-2 nd Grade)
• Career Interest: This worksheet requires middle and high schoolers to research and complete the sheet, learning which careers they might enjoy. ( 6 th -12 th Grade)
• The Top 3: In this worksheet , kids decide on their top three career choices, describing why they chose them. ( 6 th -12 th Grade)
• Career Clusters: This worksheet and related activities allow students to see which career cluster they would align with, giving them a broad choice of jobs. ( 6 th -12 th Grade)
• Career Assessment Worksheet: This worksheet shows kids the responsibilities and tasks of their chosen career path. ( 7 th -12 th Grade)

Career Research

Now is the time for students to research the ins and outs of their career choices. 

• Worksheet for Researching Occupations: This worksheet lays out guiding questions to keep students on track as they look into their potential future occupations. ( 9 th -12 th Grade)
• Career Research Worksheet: This worksheet lets students look into future professional paths and answer pertinent questions. ( 6 th -12 th Grade)
• Career Research: In this worksheet , kids research two different professions and decide which one they may want to pursue after school. ( 8 th -12 th Grade)
• Career Research Graphic Organizer: Kids fill out the different bubbles in this worksheet , including salary, benefits, skills, employment outlook, and more. ( 7 th -12 th Grade)
• Career Day Research: As students prepare for Career Day, teachers can use this opportunity to have little learners find out more about a given career in this worksheet . ( 1 st -3 rd Grade)

Career Skills Development 

Developing skills for specific careers is crucial; these worksheets will help show students how to strengthen their abilities.

• Employability Skills Assessment: This worksheet tests students on their strengths and needs for various careers, showing them how to prepare for future jobs. ( 9 th -12 th Grade)
• Student Self-Evaluation of Workplace Readiness Skills: In this worksheet , kids test themselves on soft skills, like confidence, problem-solving, teamwork, and creativity, to see if they are ready for the workplace. ( 9 th -12 th Grade)
• Employability Skills Growth Assessment: This worksheet shows kids how to self-improve and grow their skills to prepare for career success. ( 6 th -12 th Grade)
• Soft Skills Self-Assessment: This worksheet evaluates students’ soft skills after they read an informative article. ( 8 th -11 th Grade)
• Career Prep: Job Attributes: In this worksheet, kids see a list of the top attributes employers are looking for and see what they can improve. ( 5 th -12 th Grade)

Increasing Hiring Chances 

If your students have experience interviewing and preparing for the job, their chances of being hired will soar. These worksheets build those skills quickly.

• Interview Sheet Speaking Activity: This worksheet presents students with various interview questions they may face, to prepare them for the big day. ( 5 th -12 th Grade)
• Job Interview Infographic Worksheet: This colorful worksheet lets kids evaluate each other during mock interviews, pointing out their strengths and areas where they could improve. ( 10 th -12 th Grade)
• Practice Job Interview: This activity has kids interview each other and then reflect on the process on the worksheet . ( 9 th -12 th Grade)
• Classroom Job Application: Students articulate why they’re the best fit for the job in this worksheet , providing practice in confidence and a feel for the hiring process. ( 5 th -8 th Grade)
• Ethics In The Workplace: Kids learn the importance of acting ethically in this worksheet , helping them shine as valuable and responsible potential employees to a hiring committee. ( 9 th -12 th Grade)

Career Planning and Exploration

Without a plan, students will likely struggle in their career exploration. These worksheets provide a framework and method to plan and prepare for their careers.

• Career Planning Worksheet: This worksheet allows students chances to reflect and think about their career path, including the necessary education and skills. ( 6 th -9 th Grade)
• My Career Plan: This simple worksheet lets kids list their skills and items they need to improve, laying the roadmap for the future. ( 4 th -12 th Grade)
• College and Career Planning Worksheet: This worksheet combines goals, interests, and pathways with a concrete timeline to keep them focused on their ultimate goal of landing a career. ( 9 th -12 th Grade)
• Career Plan: This worksheet shows students how to create a detailed career plan that they can use in the future. ( 4 th -5 th Grade)
• Career Exploration: This worksheet requires students to go online to find essential information about prospective career choices. ( 6 th -9 th Grade)
• Career Exploration Activity: In this worksheet , kids research a future career of their choice, answering several questions about the profession. ( 4 th -8 th Grade)
• Career of Your Choice: This worksheet is a graphic organizer that students fill out, preparing them for a more extensive writing assignment. ( 3 rd -4 th )
• Reality Check: This worksheet shows kids the actual cost of living independently, demonstrating the importance of careers that have decent salaries. ( 9 th -12 th Grade)
• Increasing Your Earning Potential: This worksheet has students decide on occupational groups, find the median pay and education level needed for three different professions, and then focus on a specific career within that group. ( 6 th -8 th Grade)
• Exploring Careers In Your Community: Students interview family members or trusted adults to find information about their careers, which they record on this worksheet . ( 6 th -8 th Grade)

Navigate to our Teacher’s Center for Teaching Career Exploration for lesson plans and more materials for your curriculum!

2. Career Taboo

This is a fun game to play that will also aid in career exploration for young learners. This is a great introduction or closing activity for a career education unit. Students pick a card and describe the career without using select words. This challenging game is also great for vocabulary building.

Learn more: Ms. Sepp's Counselor Corner

3. Firefighter Craft

A fun craft, this firefighter printable is great for younger students. This is a great addition to career lesson plans or a unit about community workers. This could be part of a lesson or unit that talks about career options.

Learn more: Learn, Create, Love

4. Which Hat Fits You?

This board is a great one to create and display when students begin their career development unit. You can tailor it more towards specific careers. This information may help students veer more toward one career direction after learning about salary, educational requirements, and duties.

Learn more: Lake Washington School District

5. Career Snapshot

Learn more: The Creative Counselor

6. My Future is So Bright 

Career interviews and guest speakers may be a great introduction to your career development and exploration unit. This adorable craft would also be a great addition to this unit! Have students state what they want to be, take their photos, and create this cute, little poster to hang in your room!

Learn more: Fresh-Picked Whimsy

7. Career Exploration 

Interest surveys may help with matching character traits to careers. This career exploration unit resource is great to use in an interactive notebook. It is a great way to document in writing about career exploration for students. This is an activity that may help students express ideas and explore a career direction or two

Learn more: Pinterest

8. Goal Setting with Mentor Texts

Career biographies, nonfiction books, and children's picture books are great resources to use in any unit, but especially in one about career exploration. Choose books that explore everything from agricultural careers to media to healthcare and everything in between. Help students set realistic goals relating to career exploration.

Learn more: The School Counselor Kind

9. Whose Vehicle is This? Drawing Activity

This activity is also a sort of game. Show students a photo or picture of a vehicle and have them draw someone in a career that matches the vehicle. A creative way to allow career exploration, add some nonfiction books that match these careers so students can read more about them.

10. Guest Speakers

Sometimes the best way to get your students to learn about the outside world is by bringing it inside the classroom. Inviting guest speakers to share details of their careers is a great way to encourage career exploration.

Learn more: Planbook

11. Career Scavenger Hunt

Students will enjoy creating a list or ABC book about career exploration. Career ABCs is fun because it can cover a variety of careers and information about them. This is a fun research project that will raise awareness about career options.

Learn more: School Counselor Blog

12. Career QR Code Activity

Learn more: Classroom Tested Resources

13. How Santa Got His Job

This cute picture book is a great tie to a unit about career exploration. You can use it for sequencing for grades pre-k through first. This is a good one to use when discussing job qualifications and the application process of finding a job.

Learn more: Pitner's Potpourri

14. Career Day Writing Activity 

A great read and write activity, this is another great addition to a career readiness unit. Complete with a tiny flipbook at the bottom, this craft is fun and educational. These career exploration printables would also make a nice bulletin board display.

Learn more: We Better Together

15. When I Grow Up 

This one is more for younger students. Pair this drawing and writing activity with some good children's books that explore different careers. If you are looking for a simple career path activity, this one is super easy to print and prepare.

Learn more: Kindergarten Nana

16. Job Shadowing

Job shadowing may be more ideal for older students, but it is a great way to explore career types. Students can explore the uniform, procedures, and duties of different careers. This is a fun way to explore career planning!

17. Build A Tool Center Idea

When studying future career options, students will need to know more about the tools that needed in various careers. These printable cards give students the opportunity to create the tools, using play doh. This is a way to explore exciting careers so students can see more in depth about what occurs within that field.

Learn more: Counselor Keri

18. What Tools Do They Use Matching Game

This is a great game to use for helping to create occupation awareness within children. Easy to print and laminate, students will only need a clothespin or binder clip. This clip game is an easy way to help children learn about the tools people need in various occupational roles.

19. The Magician's Hat Activity 

This book is about helping students choose a career path based on their preferences and interests. You can pair it with an interest survey for students. This career story is also one you can pair with a printable or an online career game as well.

Learn more: Lessons by the Lake

20. Workplace and Career Matching Game 

This fun little matching game is great for creating career awareness. Students will take turns matching the career with the place where they work. This will help students become familiar with different aspects of different careers.

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Go back to previous editions of CareerWise Weekly.

Tools and resources for career exploration with elementary students

With the right supports, career exploration can begin at any age. From videos to workbooks to journalling exercises, these resources can help school counsellors, educators, parents and other caring adults engage elementary school students in career exploration.

Activities, books, programs and tools

All about me – myblueprint.

All About Me grants children from kindergarten to Grade 6 access to a variety of tools that introduce them to the world of work. Journals, media and reflections allow students to showcase their learning on their terms with built-in drawing tools, video/audio recordings, emotions, and a whole lot more.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Canada – Learning & Career Development

These programs give young people opportunities to strengthen and acquire new skills, test their abilities and enhance career readiness. Programs for children include Discovery Lab, a program that connects science to real-world contexts, and Kid Tech Nation, which teaches children digital skills, coding concepts, internet safety and computational thinking.

Career and College Readiness Counseling in P-12 Schools

This text is written to help school counselors conceptualize the career and college readiness needs of diverse P-12 students and design culturally relevant interventions. The focus is on helping readers to translate theoretical knowledge into practice.

Career curriculums by province and territories (CareerWise)

Career education across Canada varies based on provinces and territories. While curriculums differ in structure, they are all designed to help youth find success. Here is a breakdown of curriculum information for elementary and high school cohorts.

Career Development Elementary: Curriculum Guide (2017) (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador)

This 100+ page document offers a detailed at building an elementary school curriculum for career development, including activities and assessment tools. It also outlines curriculum outcomes.

Career Exploration in the Middle Grades: A Playbook for Educators (Association for Middle Level Education)

This Playbook – which has a PDF available for free download – aims to provide educators with a roadmap for creating effective career exploration programming. It includes implementation guides, case studies and program sustainability resources.

Career Education Resources (CareerEd)

Resources include a Career Education Guide: (Kindergarten to Grade 7) , Career Education Guide CLE and CLC and Career Education Guide 8-9 .

Careers Are Everywhere! Activity Workbook (Texas Workforce Commission)

This workbook introduces students to the concept of self-knowledge, helping them to explore how their interests and skills connect to a variety of career clusters. It appears to be geared toward elementary students.

CareerGirls

CareerGirls.org is a free, video-based career-exploration tool for girls. It has a collection of 10,000 career guidance videos focusing on diverse and accomplished women, including many who work in STEM fields. The website also offers a career quiz and a space to explore career clusters.

This website features numerous collections of paid resources that educators, guidance counsellors and parents can use with students and youth to help them learn about career development. For instance, the “ Career Exploration ” collection includes books, DVDs and a game to guide children through career exploration.

Career Work in Action: Discussions and Activities for Professionals – Youth (CERIC)

This resource aims to help professionals who deliver career supports apply CERIC’s Guiding Principles of Career Development in meaningful ways with youth. Part of a series of six resources – each focused on different demographics – the youth edition offers starter questions, practical interventions and fun exercises to apply.

CAREERinsite: A Guide for Career Counsellors and Educators (Alis)

CAREERinsite is a comprehensive career planning resource. It is intended to help students and clients of almost all ages and backgrounds. While some sections might be better suited to students in high school or above, educators in K-12 might find it to be a useful resource to support career education.

K-12 Career Exploration Lessons (Mississippi Department of Education)

A series of lesson plans for each grade from K-12 to help schools establish a career education program.

LEAP Into Careers! (4-H)

An activity book for facilitators to help students in Grades 3-5 understand careers. It is based on the four-part LEAP curriculum: 1. Youth discover and work with 12 foundational skills; 2. Youth learn about entrepreneurship; 3. Youth delve into the career fields; and 4. Youth design their own Learning Experiences Action Plan (LEAP).

The Early Years: Career Development for Young Children – A Guide for Educators and A Guide for Parents/Guardians (CERIC)

Based on CERIC-funded research conducted by Memorial University’s Dr. Mildred Cahill and Dr. Edith Furey, these guides explore the influence that educators and parents/guardians have on the career development process of children ages 3 to 8. The guides provide practical tips, activities and examples to help children develop a healthy sense of self in the early years and enable them to reach their full potential.

Xello is a digital platform that helps students discover the pathway that’s right for them using an investigative, discovery-based learning process. Students can identify their interests, skills, favourite career clusters, personality style and much more. They can save careers, schools, programs and experiences to form a visual roadmap that’s easy to update and share.

8 interactive activities for career learning with kids and youth (CareerWise)

Career and educational professionals can use apps, virtual and in-class games to introduce younger kids and high school students with career exploration. Here are eight interactive activities that offer an engaging and meaningful experience.

Professional development

Guidance and career education part 1 (university of toronto).

Guidance and Career Education Part 1 is a foundational course, designed for both the classroom teacher and for the educator who is interested in pursuing a Guidance role in their school board. It is available as an online course.

Micro-credential Series for Career Educators (Life Strategies)

In fall 2023, Life Strategies will also be offering a series of courses that aim to equip educators with knowledge and skills to support students in their career development process:

• Fundamentals of Career Development
• Career Development and Mental Health Connections
• Teaching Career Curricula in Canadian Schools

Careering magazine

• Applying universal design as a pathway to inclusive career education – by Tricia Berry
• Career development will help equip children to take on climate change – by Stefania Maggi
• Community connections foster k–12 career exploration – by Heather McIntyre and Sean Jones
• Current approaches to career education risk impeding students’ exploration – by Josslyn Gabriel
• K-12 career readiness needs to go beyond the vision of school leaders – by Maria Vitoratos
• Making career development ‘stick’ in K-12 – by Adriano Magnifico
• Principles in Action: Elementary career education equips students to navigate complex world of work – by Ed Hidalgo
• We need to start early: Fostering a career mindset in young people – by Lucy Sattler
• ‘ When I grow up’: How an outdated career question cultivates unhelpful mindsets – by Fanie Zis
• Bringing teachers into the career conversation – by Lucy Sattler
• Career education needs to start earlier than you think – by Jena Tarabad
• Career options and aspirations: A K-12 education approach – by Allisson Badger
• Connecting educators to industry to improve youth career literacy – by Megan Piercey Monafu
• Ed Hidalgo: ‘Every child should know there’s a place in the world for them’ – by Ed Hidalgo
• How to get girls interested in entrepreneurship – by Katharine Cornfield
• Relationships the key to creating a school career development model – by Ed Hidalgo
• Resources to support career literacy conversations – by Lindsay Purchase
• 5 podcasts to help kids start learning about careers – by Lindsay Purchase
• 5 resources to help parents support their children’s career development – by Lindsay Purchase
• 5 ways to talk with young children about work and careers – by Kimberly A.S. Howard and Stephanie M. Dinius

Additional reading

• ‘Academic Career Plans’ Have Students Exploring Careers as Early as Kindergarten (The74)
• A Process for Guiding Middle School Students Through Career Exploration (NCDA)
• Bringing All Students Inside the Circle: DEI and Career Development in K-12 Schools (NCDA)
• Bringing Careers into the Curriculum (CDAA)
• Career and life planning in schools (People for Education)
• Career education in Alberta : Career Education Task Force – Final report (Government of Alberta)
• Career Education in Primary School (CDAA)
• Can Minecraft really help you build a career? (BBC)
• Career ambitions ‘already limited by age of seven’ (BBC)
• Career exploration curriculum for elementary school-age kids (Michigan State University)
• Career Exploration for Elementary Students: Considering it for your Classroom? (Xello)
• Collaboration between Teachers and Career Specialists in Middle School (NCDA)
• Early in the Story: Career Curriculum in Elementary Schools (NCDA)
• How can we foster lifelong learning attitudes in students? (OECD)
• Starting early – the importance of career-related learning in primary school (Education and Employers)
• Supporting Early Career Development of Transgender and Gender Expansive Children in Elementary School (NCDA)
• The World Of Work – In Elementary School (Forbes)
• Why Career Exploration Matters for Middle School Students (NCDA)

Note that some of the following may require a log-in or request for access to download.

Career Development in Children: Identifying Critical Success Conditions and Strategies (CERIC)

This-CERIC funded research project is being undertaken by an international project team lead by Dr. Lorraine Godden (Ironwood Consulting and Carleton University). It aims to shed light on how foundational concepts and skills, introduced and developed by classroom teachers, intersect with career development and manifest into career-related learning in Canadian elementary schools. The project is in progress and has produced three reports to date:

• Supporting Career Development in Children: A Literature Review
• Supporting Career Development in Children: Curriculum and Policy Review
• Supporting Career Development in Children: A Review of Business and Industry Partnerships

CERIC literature searches

• Early intervention career development for children and adolescents : Topics explored include career exploration, family and parental influence, school/guidance counsellors, and race and gender.
• Parental involvement in career development : Topics explored include gender stereotyping, self-employed parents and adolescent personality development.
• Infusing career development into K-12 curriculum : Topics explored include career exploration and guidance for elementary students, parental involvement in student career planning, benefits of career counselling programs for students and K-12 career competency building and implications.

Social-emotional learning and career development in elementary settings (British Journal of Guidance and Counselling)

A holistic approach to youth development suggests that, given the interconnected nature of development in the domains of career development and social-emotional-learning (SEL), children and youth are better supported when education in both domains is provided in an integrated way. This paper integrates a model of SEL with models of childhood career development competencies and career-related reasoning.

What works? Career-related learning in primary schools (Education and Employers Research and The Careers & Enterprise Company)

This paper provides evidence of the benefits of career-related learning (CRL) for children in primary school, as well as on the effects of CRL on primary-aged children’s decisions, aspirations and attitudes. It maps key actions being taken by primary schools to support children’s transitions to secondary school and beyond.

Did we miss something? Leave a comment below or send us a note at [email protected] if you have information that can help make our article even better.

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Explore STEM Careers with a Remote Learning Project

As teachers continue to plan for remote learning during school closures, short online projects can be extremely effective. Exploring STEM careers can be fun and valuable at the same time. Read on for suggestions for STEM career projects for all grade levels.

Now that the flurry of the early days of school closures due to COVID-19 are settling down, educators are getting a better picture of what online learning with their students may look like and what may be realistic for students.

As you plan your remote learning assignments and activities, we encourage you to consider a STEM career project. This is a research project of sorts, but it can be scaled by grade level to make it something short enough and doable enough for students at home.

STEM Career Projects

Doing a "career"-focused project can be a really effective way to keep students excited about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) during school closures and as part of your online learning strategy. A career project assignment is perfectly suited for remote learning. Students don't need additional supplies (beyond Internet access), and students can submit, share, or present their projects in a variety of ways, including using Google Slides or other online tools. In addition, career-focused projects integrate reading and writing practice and can encourage creativity, too, in how the presentations are made.

Plan a STEM Career Assignment

To make it easy to grab-and-go, here's a basic outline for doing a STEM career assignment remotely with students:

Tip : Make sure to point out the "tabs" that hold careers in different areas (like Life Sciences, Engineering, and Health).

• Have students select a career of interest. If you are working on a themed unit, you might create a short list first of careers for them to choose from. Or, you might have them use the Topic Selection Wizard , find a science project of interest, and then look at the related careers listed at the bottom of the Procedure tab and select one of those. Alternately, just send them to the science careers area to browse and find a career to learn more about!
• Have them read about the career. Encourage students to read the whole career profile (all the tabs).

Sample questions you might ask include:

• What career did you choose? Why did you choose it?
• What does someone in this job do?
• What sounds most interesting to you about this career?
• List 5 adjectives that you would use to describe someone in this career.
• List three things you might work on if you had this career.
• List three student science projects you could do to explore science related to this career. (Hint: Related projects can be found on the Project Ideas tab of each career profile.)
• Submit the responses — or use them as a starting point for a presentation. Responses to the questions above (or the list you create) could be turned in as a short report (shared as a Google Doc or submitted via Google Classroom), or the responses could be used as the basis for a presentation, as described below.

Simple Career Presentations for All Grade Levels

After doing the preliminary work described above, you might have students take the following steps to create short presentations related to the careers they researched. We have made suggestions here for presentations at the elementary, middle, and high school level. You can pick and choose elements that best fit the needs and skills of your students.

Note: If you were assigning a career research project during a typical school year, you might ask for additional components. However, at this time, many teachers are finding that they need to realign expectations for remote learning work.

Suggestions for STEM Career Project Presentations:

• Write 3 sentences pretending you have this career and are introducing yourself to someone. (For example, "Hi, my name is Jane, and I am a bioengineer.) Try to include who you are, what you do, and where you do it.
• Draw yourself working in this STEM career. Try and include something related to a project or task you would work on if you were this kind of scientist.
• The title of the career
• A short summary of the career
• What education you need to get this career
• Bonus: write a "job hiring ad" that could be used to advertise for a job opening for this career
• A summary of the career
• 2-3 examples of science questions someone in this job might ask, research, or experiment with
• 2-3 headlines from recent (last 2-3 years) science news articles that are related to this career or field of science (Students can search science news articles at Science Buddies as a starting point.)
• 1-2 companies who hire people in this field
• Bonus: Can you find a story online (a biography, a profile, an article, or a video) about someone in science history (or alive today) from this field? If so, share a bit about this scientist.

Additional Inspiration for Science Career Research

To encourage students to learn more about scientists and engineers throughout history, we recommend sharing these resources with students, too:

• Learn More About these 38 Scientists for Black History Month
• Women in STEM! More than 60 Scientists and Engineers
• 16 Women in Engineering to Learn More About
• Hispanic Scientists and Engineers
• STEM is for Everyone: Scientists with Disabilities

STEM Career Bingo

For younger students, be sure and check out the free STEM Career Bingo game as another tool for STEM Career discovery. This game is part scavenger hunt and part bingo and a great way to have kids learn more about science and engineering careers.

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What Works: Career Exploration Ideas

By elementary school counselors across the u.s. | january 2018.