Is there something you’re good at making or doing? Maybe you’re the best cookie maker on your block. Perhaps your best friend is an expert bracelet maker. You could sell or trade your cookies for a bracelet. Your friend will tell other friends about your fabulous cookies and soon you’ll sell cookies to everyone at your school. A cottage industry is born.
Small industries started in just this way – people selling goods and services to each other. For hundreds of years, cottage industries were the only industries around. In the late 1700s, though, people started factories where workers could produce goods more quickly and reliably because of machines, such as sewing machines. Today, there are many types of industries around the world.
Fun Facts about Industry for Kids
- In the 1750s in England, garment factories used spinning machines and looms to make fabric. The factories employed many people who had worked on farms before. Life began to change.
- Other factories opened. Car manufacturers opened factories to make cars. Not only adults, but children went to work in the factories. They worked long hours and the conditions were often unsafe. In some countries today, children still work in factories.
- Robots often do the jobs people used to do in factories.
- Heavy industry is a type of industry that needs lots of machines, equipment and workers. Building railroads, ships or skyscrapers are all types of heavy industry.
- Light industry is any industry that builds small products, such as furniture, computers, clothing, medical equipment or electronics.
- Many people today work in service industries. These industries don’t produce products that you can touch, but services you need. The person who wrote this article is a writer – a service profession. Lawyers and bankers are in service industries. So are doctors and nurses.
Industry Vocabulary
- Cottage industry: a small business owned by just a few people – or one person — that meets a local need
- Reliable: dependable
- Factory: a large industry that relies on machines to do the work
- Robot: machines usually operated by a computer
Learn More All about Industry
Check out this cool video all about industry for kids:
A documentary about how the industry started.
Industry Q&A
Question: How can I pick a job when I’m grown up?
Answer: Think about the things that interest you. If you’re lucky, you’ll find a way to earn money doing something you enjoy. Talk to people to learn about different industries and careers.
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