This Weekend WHAT IF blog post focuses on sparking the entrepreneurial interests of kids, offering up compelling “WHAT IF?” questions that puts kids at the helm of their own big business. Now that a springy holiday weekend is upon us, it’s an ideal time for some big-picture and even bigger-business thinking to take place for kids of all ages. In this blog post, we’ll help inspire kids to put themselves in the lead role of CEO—chief executive officer—of their own booming business or enterprise.
What’s It All About?
It’s not enough for kids to imagine themselves in the “what if” role of the big boss. It’s critical that they also envision and understand the underlying “whats”, “whys”, and “hows” of their newly-created company.
Start by offering up that successful businesses provide solutions and solve problems for others, meet an expressed need, and/or respond to a new opportunity. Based on their specific interests, ask kids to begin to frame the purposes and intentions of their company. Use the PDF called Entrepreneurship to get the conversation started.
Examples and More Examples
Once kids are thinking ahead to running a big business in the future, it’s a great transition to the question, “What can you do today to get ready for these big goals of yours?” This kind of questioning helps kids realize that their big goals are much more achievable when today’s actions connect to them. Suggest some ideas for ways they can behave like an entrepreneur today. Using the 7 questions above, share the scenarios that follow.
Ask kids to answer these questions about each one:
Why are these individuals considered to be an entrepreneur?
What questions did these entrepreneurs ask themselves before acting on these opportunities?
Did this person make a profit?
Tell kids that to figure out a profit, you use the following formula:
Total Income - Total Costs = New Profit
Game On!
To solidify kids’ thinking, it is often helpful for them to transfer their thinking and learning into something concrete. In an actual business setting, these concrete tools typically take the forms of business plans, marketing decks, and organizational strategies. Instead of these traditional approaches, invite your kids to design a board game! Just follow these simple steps.
What Will Serve?
First, have kids brainstorm their idea for a business in the service industry. They might dream of operating a dog walking business, a hair salon, a construction company, a transportation business, or a landscaping service to name a few.
They should take some time to think about how their business would run—how it would make money, what kinds expenses there would be, how many employees they would need to have, how much they would need to charge, and so on. Kids can use the worksheet below for a one-page business plan to begin.
Time to Design
Then it’s time to design their board game based on this business. Use this template idea for a standard pathway board game or refer to the other board game layouts for ideas.
The objective of the game is to have players practice making business decisions throughout the game. The winner is the person who has the most profit at the end of the game.
Game Board Gotta-Haves
Designers should give their board games the following elements:
A catchy title related to the business. For example, a dog walking business owner might name her business Pampered Pups. A hair salon might be called A Cut Above.
Instructions on how to play the game. Have kids be as specific as possible. The instructions should talk about how to move around on the board and when to pick up cards. Kids can model their own rules of Play after other popular board games, too.
At least 10 expense cards. Kids can create their expense cards using index cards or construction paper. Choose one color pen or stock for expenses. Expense cards represent things the business owner needs to pay for—such as the cost of buying and making the product, employee wages, taxes, and so on. In the examples above, a dog walking business owner might need to pay for employees to do the dog walking, dog treats, retractable leashes, and bags for doggie waste. A hair salon owner will need to rent or buy a salon space and pay all monthly utilities, install sinks and chairs, pay stylists, and buy shampoo, conditioner, and other supplies.
At least 10 revenue cards. Kids can create their revenue cards using index cards or construction paper. Choose a different color pen or stock for revenue so these look different than the expense cards. Revenue cards are the ways the business owner can make money. The dog walking business might sell day or week of dog walking subscriptions as well as at-home pet sitting services. The hair salon might offer special occasion hairstyles along with regular haircuts or have a weekly special called Thrifty Thursdays, for example.
Presentable board game format. Encourage kids to be as creative as possible, using color and pictures. If they need a little inspiration, check out classic board games such as Chutes and Ladders, Candyland, and Monopoly for more ideas.
Game pieces to be used to move around the board. Ideally, the design of the pieces would go along with the theme—different dog breeds for the dog walking business, or hair stylists for the hair salon game. Kids can use bottle caps, paper clips or other classroom materials too. Each game piece should be easy to distinguish from the others.
And More. Kids can get creative and borrow pieces and parts from other games that may be available such as spinners, playing cards, dominoes, game pieces, checkers, and more. Just caution them to return what they borrow.
Now get playing! May the best business win.
Post-Game Wrap-Up
After the game, launch into a discussion of why the game went the way it did. Why did each player win or lose? If this were a real business, what different steps could you take to be more profitable? How could you raise more revenue? How could you cut expenses? What future goals would you have for your business?
Visit Us Every Day in April
Check back tomorrow as we continue Financial Literacy Month with an activity geared toward the 3Ps—people, planet, and profit—as kids learn about the importance of social responsibility in business.
For more information about FUTURES: Financially Literate Kids for a Financially Literate Society™ for students in kindergarten through eighth grade or to download any of the 29 sections of the program, please click below.