Want to help kids build entrepreneurial skills without screens? Here’s a quick guide to five hands-on activities that teach problem-solving, communication, leadership, and money management - all while fostering creativity and teamwork:
- Role-Playing Games: Practice pitching, investing, and managing resources through fun, interactive games like "Innovation Auction."
- DIY Business Projects: Start small businesses like soap-making to learn cost management, product development, and marketing.
- Outdoor Market Days: Sell creations at a real market, gaining experience in customer service, pricing, and sales.
- Entrepreneurship Kits: Use step-by-step kits (like slime-making kits) to build and scale a mini-business.
- Team-Based Challenges: Solve problems together with activities like the Marshmallow Tower Challenge to improve teamwork and innovation.
Why it matters: These activities teach kids essential skills like resilience, critical thinking, and leadership - qualities that are key in today’s evolving job market. Plus, they’re fun, engaging, and completely screen-free!
Power Play: Youth Entrepreneurship
1. Role-Playing Games
Innovation Auction puts kids in the shoes of business leaders. Armed with $100 in play money, each child develops a business idea, delivers a short pitch, and participates in a silent auction to fund the best ideas. Roles rotate, so every child gets a chance to pitch and invest. This activity helps kids practice pitching, making smart investments, managing resources, and evaluating ideas. Afterward, dive into DIY business projects that take kids from brainstorming to creating a finished product.
2. DIY Business Projects
After exploring ideas and managing pretend investments in Role-Playing Games, kids can step into a soap-making venture that blends hands-on creativity with basic business skills. This homemade soap business helps children craft their own natural soap bars while learning the fundamentals of running a business.
Here’s what this project covers:
- Cost Management: Calculate the cost of materials and set appropriate prices.
- Product Development: Experiment with different scents, colors, and molds to create unique designs.
- Marketing: Plan promotions and sales strategies to improve communication skills.
- Supplies Needed: Glycerin soap base, essential oils, silicone molds, dried flowers or herbs, and simple packaging materials.
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3. Outdoor Market Days
Turn homemade creations into a hands-on business venture with the Mini Market Manager Experience. Kids take the skills they've learned from DIY projects - like product development and pricing - and put them to work with real customers.
Since 2017, the Children's Entrepreneur Market has organized over 400 markets, bringing together more than 43,000 young vendors. Each participant sets up a 10'×10' booth, complete with tables, signs, and displays.
"As children learn free market principles by creating goods, engaging customers and executing their business plan, their confidence soars!" – Children's Entrepreneur Market
This activity builds on lessons from Role-Playing Games and DIY Projects, giving kids the chance to interact with actual customers. While parents supervise from a distance, the kids take charge of running their booths. One parent shared that her 10-year-old gained confidence and saw how small businesses contribute to the community.
Help them succeed by guiding them to:
- Set clear sales goals and track their earnings
- Calculate accurate pricing for their products
- Create an inviting booth with eye-catching décor
- Practice customer service and sales techniques
- Keep track of inventory and sales
Running a booth at the market is a practical way for kids to learn about money management, customer interaction, and business operations - all without a screen in sight.
4. Entrepreneurship Kits
After gaining some hands-on experience in market activities, entrepreneurship kits provide a structured way for kids to build essential business skills. These kits build on activities like role-playing, DIY projects, and running market booths, guiding kids step-by-step as they create and manage a mini business.
There are three options for Slime Business Kits:
- Starter Kit ($39.95): Includes 20 non-toxic slimes, a detailed step-by-step guide, marketing flyers, thank-you cards, a sales tracker, and supplies for customization like glitter, charms, beads, and glow powder.
- Growth Kit ($59.95): Everything in the Starter Kit, plus a branded tablecloth to enhance their setup.
- Mogul Kit ($99.95): Includes everything in the Growth Kit along with a 40-slime refill pack, perfect for reinvesting profits and scaling up.
These kits teach practical skills like pricing, tracking profits, customer service, and branding. Kids get to make real decisions - whether it’s customizing their slimes or reinvesting in supplies to grow their business.
5. Team-Based Challenges
Team challenges are a great way to build collaboration skills and encourage innovative thinking, especially when combined with hands-on projects and real-world scenarios.
One popular activity is the Marshmallow Tower Challenge, which focuses on teamwork, prototyping, and problem-solving. The goal? Build the tallest freestanding tower using spaghetti that can support a marshmallow on top.
Here’s how to run it:
- Hand out materials: uncooked spaghetti, tape, string, and one marshmallow per team.
- Set the task: Teams must construct the tallest tower that holds the marshmallow at its peak.
- Afterward, hold a debrief session to discuss key takeaways, like leadership roles, resource management, prototyping strategies, and learning from mistakes.
With AI taking over routine tasks, skills like teamwork and creative problem-solving are becoming more critical for entrepreneurs.
Up next, see how pairing these activities with reflective discussions can lead to long-term entrepreneurial success.
Conclusion
Screen-free activities play a crucial role in shaping the future leaders of tomorrow. Studies reveal that up to 80% of a child's brain development occurs during early childhood, making this a perfect time to nurture entrepreneurial skills and values. Activities like role-playing and market days help develop the abilities that 91% of employers prioritize.
These activities go beyond teaching business skills. They also support emotional and social growth. As Kristina Curtin explains:
"Skills required to be an entrepreneur include hard work, effective communication, and resilience after disappointment."
Additionally, they help build strong social connections, which Harvard research identifies as a key factor in long-term happiness.
With AI increasingly handling repetitive tasks, skills like creative thinking and innovation are becoming more crucial in the evolving job market. Early childhood programs should focus on encouraging independent thought, self-confidence, creative problem-solving, and critical analysis.
