Kidpreneur – Teach Kids Entrepreneurship in 5 Steps

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The feeling you’ll get if you’re able to achieve this project will be such a rewarding moment.  Inspire your students to think outside the box and become a kidpreneur!  You may just spark something in your students that will remain as a life long lesson.  What I love about this is that it gives your students character lessons in self confidence, persistence and hard work.

Ideally, you can tie these entrepreneur lessons in with a media literacy unit.  The two go hand in hand, since students will need to think of such things as target audiences, appealing to consumers, etc.  Here are the steps you’ll need to teach kids entrepreneurship.

1. Introduce Entrepreneurship

Chances are kids have never heard of this term, and may not be able to pronounce it depending on their age group!  So, it’s important to lay the foundation with an introduction to what being an entrepreneur is all about.  Talk with the kids about being innovative, creative and solving problems that need to be solved.  Remember to give plenty of examples, and record discussions using an anchor chart.  Once you’ve done that, here are some great read alouds you can try:

2. Brainstorm

Once you’ve gotten kids/students warmed up to the idea of being an entrepreneur.  It’s time to start brainstorming about all the possibilities.  This is a fun and exciting process for some, but for others it’s taxing to come up with creative ideas.  Be prepared to consistently conference with students, provide them with prompts and give them encouragement.  After all, this is just brainstorming.  The ideas can be wacky, ordinary or just plain wishful thinking, but the point is to get them thinking.  To get the ball rolling ask your students: “what are some problems that we face, and how can we solve them?”.  Here are some brainstorming graphic organizers:

3. Discuss Goal Setting

Teaching goal setting is part and parcel of teaching students entrepreneurship.  Molding an idea is something that takes many small and big steps, and having your students realize this early on is important. Discuss goal setting, and have your students set tangible goals towards achieving their entrepreneurial project.  You’ll need to conduct conferences with students to help them focus and make sure their on the right track.  By the way, if this is too much of a commitment/investment for you/parents, then feel free to keep this as a concept project instead of something to actually carry out.

4. Present Their Idea

This is where this project ties in with Media Literacy.  You can have your students use their new found media literacy knowledge to create hype around their ideas.  They can plaster these ads around their school, or present them to their classmates.

 

5. Encourage kids to continue outside the classroom

It’s a great idea to send a note home about the entrepreneur project informing parents about what has been taking place in the classroom.  That way, if students are passionate about their particular project, their parents may decide to continue pursuing it.  The infographic below would make for a great handout to give to parents as well.  Alternatively, how awesome would it be to organize a school-wide entrepreneurial fair.  Students could present their innovative ideas, much like a science fair.  This would really encourage the creative spirit in your students.

Here’s to creativity!