Thanks to Startup Junkie and the Walton Family Foundation, 3rd to12th grade students in NWA can practice entrepreneurial thinking through real-world business practice. Though the national Lemonade Day is in early May, learners in NWA can participate in the program whenever it fits their curriculum.
Participants of Lemonade Day NWA can learn via Lemonopolis (online game) or through student journals and teacher led activities. Students design lemonade stands, create their products, determine a budget, apply for a loan, select a stand location, develop their marketing, operate their business, pay back their loan (hopefully) with interest, and then decide how to spend their profits. Profits are often spent, shared and sometimes even saved or invested. Stand locations can be near a local retailer or park, a city square, or at a school event. Individuals, families or schools are invited to participate. Organizations such as after-school programs, Boys and Girls Club, or home schools find meaning in the pursuit of a collaborative goal. Some classes are mentored by Leadership Walton college students who attend the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas.
Entrepreneurship education involves learners in relevant creative and critical thinking as well as real-world problem solving. The decisions are student driven and therefore authentic and meaningful. Teachers connect the business operation with literature such as The Lemonade Wars. Add this learning experience to your curriculum this year! Step back and enjoy your student engagement. This makes a great after-testing engaging activity.
What a fun introduction to Entrepreneurship and Business. I would love to introduce this to the elementary schools in my district.
I think this is a fun idea to introduce entrepreneurship to students by doing a fun activity that would bring them interest. This is fun because students can use creativity to make their products and skill to budget and operate the money side of the business. It seems like a great program that also give children leaders to look up to as they are guided by college women to operate the lemonade stand. I wish I had a creative activity like this growing up to learn what being an entrepreneur would be like in the adult world.
This is a great opportunity for students to learn more about entrepreneurship and handling their money. When I was growing up I made a few lemonade stands myself and I just sat on the corner of my street. My ten-year-old self wasn’t thinking about all the entrepreneur decisions I had made along the way. I think it’s really helpful that college students would help these kids and they would have someone to look up to along the way. Another way to connect this economic lesson to the classroom was by reading the book The Lemonade Wars which I thought was very clever but it would also engage the students even more.
Not only is this a fun, hands-on learning experience, but it’s an awesome introduction to entrepreneurial thinking and basic economics. I think this activity has the ability to reach kids across the board. I wish I could’ve been apart of something like this as a kid, but I just sat out on my corner with my little brother instead.
I think that this is a great opportunity for young students to understand the concepts and basics of entrepreneurship. It allows them to have a real-world, hands on experience to help children understand the concept and meaning behind entrepreneurship.
I am really excited about this event! We are partnering with a couple of other districts to work on incorporating this into our year!
This is great news Rachel. Please let me know how the Bessie Moore Center can support your efforts.
It is never too late to start thinking about our future leaders in our society. Our job as educators is to make sure our students are best equipped for the future. This means that it is never too early to begin planning how we are going to best teach them how the world works in the realm of economics. I cannot wait to learn more.