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Grow & Go: Learn with Lt. Governor Gilchrist (Entrepreneurship)

40 Activities

More from this collaborator

Grades K - 12

29 Hours 20 Minutes

Overview

November is National Entrepreneurship Month and Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II has created an exciting collection of activities just for Mizzen!

Filled with fun, immersive, and interactive content, this playlist introduces students to entrepreneurship as a mindset.

Students in K-12 age groups will build their skillset through discovery, problem-solving, and collaboration.

Planet Mooz Diner

Leadership and Teamwork, Arts in Action

Planet Mooz Diner

Grades 1 - 2

1 Hour

Students create a name and menu for a diner on a strange, newly discovered planet called Mooz. Watch out, though! Moozians eat very different things than we do on planet Earth, so students will need to use their creativity to put together a stellar menu. After creating the menu, students will create play food and try each other's "food" out as customers at their diners. This engaging activity allows students to explore their creativity in a meaningful way, as they get a chance to create new menu items, invent a diner name, and showcase their work to their peers while role-playing.

Discover Activity

What is an Entrepreneur?

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

What is an Entrepreneur?

Grades 1 - 2

25 Minutes

Entrepreneurship isn't just about starting companies; it's a skill set and way of thinking. In this activity, students will watch a video from Kid President on what it takes to be an inventor to get them thinking about and discussing what an entrepreneur is. Then, students will make a poster representing themselves as entrepreneurs to start cultivating the mindset and thinking that they, too, are entrepreneurs.

This activity was designed as Part 1 of 5 in a series created by VentureLab. Check out the "Intro to Entrepreneurship" lesson to see more.

Discover Activity

Idea Journals and the Entrepreneur Song

Arts in Action, Stories and Perspectives

Idea Journals and the Entrepreneur Song

Grades 1 - 2

15 Minutes

Deepen students' understanding of themselves as entrepreneurs by creating Idea Journals, where they can freely express themselves and jot down thoughts, questions, and drawings as they collect ideas for changing the world. After exploring their Idea Journals, students will listen to and practice singing the Entrepreneur song, which reviews and emphasizes key points about the entrepreneurial mindset.


This activity was designed as Part 2 of 5 in a series created by VentureLab. Check out the "Intro to Entrepreneurship" lesson to see more.

Discover Activity

Entrepreneurs, Help Heather!

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Entrepreneurs, Help Heather!

Grades 1 - 2

30 Minutes

This activity allows students to work in teams to solve a problem with new ideas, the first step to really experiencing what it's like to be an entrepreneur. While building teamwork skills, students will have the opportunity to solve Heather's problem of not being able to see the board very well. By helping a character students can relate to, they will be able to see that entrepreneurs help people with innovative designs and ideas.

This activity was designed as Part 3 of 5 in a series created by VentureLab. Check out the "Intro to Entrepreneurship" lesson to see more.

Discover Activity

Product Analysis & Snapshot of Famous Entrepreneur, Indra Nooyi

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Product Analysis & Snapshot of Famous Entrepreneur, Indra Nooyi

Grades 1 - 2

25 Minutes

How are everyday products designed to solve problems and appeal to customers? In this activity, students will survey people about products they buy at the grocery store and think entreprenurially about packaging, logos, and other aspects of product design. Students will also learn about a real, famous entrepreneur, Indra Nooyi, helping make the connection that real-life entrepreneurs have ideas and take steps to carry out those ideas, being thoughtful about every aspect of the product they create.

This activity was designed as Part 4 of 5 in a series created by VentureLab. Check out the "Intro to Entrepreneurship" lesson to see more.

Discover Activity

Draw Three

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Draw Three

Grades 1 - 2

25 Minutes

Students become entrepreneurs as they draw three objects from a hat and transform them into a new product.

This activity was designed as Part 5 of 5 in a series created by VentureLab. Check out the "Intro to Entrepreneurship" lesson to see more.

Discover Activity

Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset

Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset

Grades 3 - 5

40 Minutes

Students reflect on their own entrepreneurial strengths and the mindsets and skills an ultimate entrepreneurial dream team would need in order to take on any challenge that comes their way.

Discover Activity

Design Challenge: Paper Tower Marshmallow Challenge

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

Design Challenge: Paper Tower Marshmallow Challenge

Grades 3 - 5

35 Minutes

Students work in teams to complete a challenge to build the tallest free-standing structure out of paper that can support a marshmallow. Along the way, teams will be asked to reflect on what they've been doing and how they're feeling as they experience what it means to have an entrepreneurial mindset. It will also help students start building some key entrepreneurial skills including creativity, teamwork, and prototyping.

Discover Activity

Entrepreneur Song

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Entrepreneur Song

Grades 3 - 5

15 Minutes

Students listen to a song that is all about the entrepreneurial mindset and the process entrepreneurs go through to create. After hearing the song, students get a lyric sheet and sing along with the song. This can be used in all lessons as a review for what an entrepreneur is and does.

Discover Activity

The Marshmallow Challenge

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

The Marshmallow Challenge

Grades 6 - 12

45 Minutes

Students work in teams to complete a challenge to build the tallest free-standing structure out of dry spaghetti noodles that also supports the weight of a regular-sized marshmallow. Along the way, teams will be asked to reflect on what they've been doing and how they're feeling as they experience what it means to have an entrepreneurial mindset. It will also help students start building some key entrepreneurial skills including creativity, team work, and prototyping.

Discover Activity

Dream Team

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Dream Team

Grades 6 - 12

45 Minutes

Students create their ultimate entrepreneurial "dream team" poster. Students first create an image of themselves as an entrepreneur (as creatively as they like), highlighting their entrepreneurial strengths, and then they will add team members to their poster (real or fictional), highlighting the mindsets and skills they will bring to the team to make up the ultimate entrepreneurial dream team - ready to take on any challenge!

Discover Activity

A Close Look at Mission Statements

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

A Close Look at Mission Statements

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

A mission statement is a sentence or short paragraph that identifies the goals and purpose of a company, charity, religious group, or other institution or organization. In this activity, students analyze real-life examples of mission statements and then suggest a mission statement for their school or another organization of interest.

Discover Activity

Brands Remembered and Forgotten

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, We The People

Brands Remembered and Forgotten

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

The history of American business includes long lists of brands that were widely popular but only for brief periods of time. In this activity, students view the logos or images that represent a wide variety of brands, some long-defunct, others current and familiar. They will recognize that for any business, public recognition and popularity can be fleeting, and decades-long success is rare.

Discover Activity

Build a Business Logo

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, Arts in Action

Build a Business Logo

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

Lemonade stands, lawn service, and dog walking. These are all business ideas that most of us had at one point. Students collaborate to develop their own age-appropriate small business, designing an attractive and memorable logo for their business.

Discover Activity

Appeal to the Consumer

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, We The People

Appeal to the Consumer

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Students explore the role of consumers in the economy. They begin by discussing what consumers are and how entrepreneurs develop ideas for goods and services to meet consumer needs and wants. In teams, they brainstorm innovations to existing goods and services to appeal to specific consumers. They do so by querying their fellow consumers about the existing goods and services. They then use what they learn to write a proposal for their innovative good or service.

Discover Activity

Many Businesses, Many Models

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Many Businesses, Many Models

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

In this activity, students explore different business models and apply them to real-life examples. They begin by drawing a simple model of their own to understand the similarities and differences in business structures. They then break into teams to learn about a business started by a young entrepreneur. Using a worksheet describing the different types of business models, they match the appropriate model to the business they studied. Finally, they create a visual to explain the business model they studied and use it to share what they learned with the rest of the group.

Discover Activity

Be a Sales Representative (Grades 3-5)

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, Stories and Perspectives

Be a Sales Representative (Grades 3-5)

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

Successful sales representatives know all of the advantages and disadvantages of their products and how their product compares with the competition. In this activity, students act as sales representatives for brands of sneakers. They deliver sales pitches that portray their products as attractively as possible to potential customers.

Discover Activity

Be a Sales Representative (Grades 6-8)

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, Stories and Perspectives

Be a Sales Representative (Grades 6-8)

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Successful sales representatives know all of the advantages and disadvantages of their products and how their product compares with the competition. In this activity, students act as sales representatives for mobile telephones. They deliver sales pitches that portray their products as attractively as possible to potential customers.

Discover Activity

Be a Sales Representative (Grades 9-12)

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Be a Sales Representative (Grades 9-12)

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Students take on the role of sales reps as they select, research, and create a sales pitch for a product. They share their pitches with the large group and learn how successful they are at selling their products. Students then discuss and analyze the effectiveness of various sales pitches and evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of the products.

Discover Activity

What Are the Costs of Starting a Business?

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

What Are the Costs of Starting a Business?

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Starting a business has proven to be a successful career option for many people, but many new businesses fail because they are poorly funded. In this activity, students experience the research, planning, and decision-making involved in launching and funding a new business.

Discover Activity

Business Skills: Job Interview

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Business Skills: Job Interview

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

In this activity, students will explore the role of interviewing in business. They will begin by identifying the purpose of an interview and brainstorming a list of properties or characteristics of interviews in the business world. Next, working in teams, student will develop a job description and interview questions. They then pair up to take turns role-playing an interviewer and an applicant.

Discover Activity

Drawing a New Invention (Grades 3-5)

Drawing a New Invention (Grades 3-5)

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

Students brainstorm an invention that can be used in everyday life. They make a detailed drawing of their invention, including labels and descriptions, and then share their invention idea with the group.

Discover Activity

Drawing a New Invention (Grades 6-8)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

Drawing a New Invention (Grades 6-8)

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Students brainstorm an invention that can be used in everyday life. They make a detailed drawing of their invention, including labels and descriptions, and then share their invention idea with the group.

Discover Activity

A New Logo (Grades 6-8)

Arts in Action, Stories and Perspectives

A New Logo (Grades 6-8)

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Youth act as graphic artists and designers, as well as business executives, to design a logo for a new business. After generating their logo, they'll present it to the group for feedback.

Discover Activity

A New Logo (Grades 9-12)

A New Logo (Grades 9-12)

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Students act as graphic artists and designers, as well as business executives, to design a logo for a new business. They generate their logo and present it to the whole group for discussion and evaluation.

Discover Activity

Entrepreneurship: Meeting a Need

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, We The People

Entrepreneurship: Meeting a Need

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

In this activity, students explore the role of needs and wants in the economy. They begin by identifying examples of needs and wants and then learn that entrepreneurs come up with business ideas to meet a need or a want. They work in groups to list personal needs and wants. In teams, they select 1 of the needs or wants they identified and brainstorm an idea for a good or service to meet it. Together, they create a pitch to “sell” their idea. To complete the activity, they pitch their business ideas to the group.

Discover Activity

The Price Is Close! (Grades 9-12)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

The Price Is Close! (Grades 9-12)

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Students play pricing games presented in a game-show style. This activity builds analytical and math skills, as well as collaboration skills.

Discover Activity

Build a Better Mousetrap (Grades 3-5)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

Build a Better Mousetrap (Grades 3-5)

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

Students consider how inventions are improved over time. They select an everyday product and work as a team to improve or update it by outlining its new features, sketching a prototype, and comparing it to the original invention. This activity builds design and collaboration skills as well as creative thinking skills.

Discover Activity

The Wright Brothers and the Airplane

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

The Wright Brothers and the Airplane

Grades K - 2

45 Minutes

Children learn about the Wright brothers' background and use problem-solving skills to design and create paper airplanes to fly long distances.

Discover Activity

What’s That For?

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

What’s That For?

Grades K - 2

45 Minutes

In this activity, children observe and ask questions about unfamiliar objects that nevertheless serve a useful purpose in their lives. This activity helps provoke children’s curiosity in the world around them and shows them that the world can surprise them in many ways.

Discover Activity

Can You Patent It?

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Can You Patent It?

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Youth learn about patentable ideas. Youth discuss and assess whether hypothetical ideas are patentable and think of their own invention that could be patented.

Discover Activity

Invention Idea Jigsaw

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Invention Idea Jigsaw

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Students claim 1 adjective card and 1 noun card from the card decks provided. Then they form groups of 2 or 3 and see whether the words they have selected spark an idea for a new invention. Volunteers present their ideas to the whole group, a process similar to the television show Shark Tank.

Discover Activity

The Price Is Close! (Grades 3-5)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

The Price Is Close! (Grades 3-5)

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

In the game show The Price Is Right, contestants guess the price of various items with the goal of not overestimating the price. Today's activity has students playing a game called The Price Is Close. Each team leads a round of the game.

Discover Activity

Mind Mapping Business Success

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Mind Mapping Business Success

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Business success often involves the ability to think about ideas and concepts in creative ways. Students will merge concepts with creativity as they use the notetaking technique of mind mapping to show how some well-known internet-based companies continue to experience success.

Discover Activity

Bicycle 2.0

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

Bicycle 2.0

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

All of us are familiar with bicycles, and many of us enjoy riding them. What if we could make that experience even better? In today’s activity, students create new designs for bicycles to make them more convenient or useful for transportation.

Discover Activity

Communicating at Work

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Communicating at Work

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Large companies are organized so that staff can communicate with one another and make decisions effectively. In this activity, students model the staff of a large company and learn how to communicate within an established structure.

Discover Activity

The Price Is Close! (Grades 6-8)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

The Price Is Close! (Grades 6-8)

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

In this activity, students attempt to figure out the price of popular age-appropriate products in a game similar to the game show The Price Is Right.

Discover Activity

Build a Better Mousetrap (Grades 6-8)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Build a Better Mousetrap (Grades 6-8)

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Student teams work together to improve an existing product and then present their ideas to the group. This activity builds analytical thinking and cooperative learning skills while developing speaking and listening skills.

Discover Activity

Design Your Own Money (Grades 3-5)

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, Arts in Action

Design Your Own Money (Grades 3-5)

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

Students create new designs for the front and back of the $10 bill. This activity builds design and creative-thinking skills.

Discover Activity

Ideas for Sustainable Development

Ideas for Sustainable Development

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Students brainstorm ideas for making their community more sustainable. They consider factors such as employment, financing, and environmental protection, and conservation.

Discover Activity

Planet Mooz Diner

Leadership and Teamwork, Arts in Action

Planet Mooz Diner

Grades 1 - 2

1 Hour

Students create a name and menu for a diner on a strange, newly discovered planet called Mooz. Watch out, though! Moozians eat very different things than we do on planet Earth, so students will need to use their creativity to put together a stellar menu. After creating the menu, students will create play food and try each other's "food" out as customers at their diners. This engaging activity allows students to explore their creativity in a meaningful way, as they get a chance to create new menu items, invent a diner name, and showcase their work to their peers while role-playing.

Discover Activity

What is an Entrepreneur?

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

What is an Entrepreneur?

Grades 1 - 2

25 Minutes

Entrepreneurship isn't just about starting companies; it's a skill set and way of thinking. In this activity, students will watch a video from Kid President on what it takes to be an inventor to get them thinking about and discussing what an entrepreneur is. Then, students will make a poster representing themselves as entrepreneurs to start cultivating the mindset and thinking that they, too, are entrepreneurs.

This activity was designed as Part 1 of 5 in a series created by VentureLab. Check out the "Intro to Entrepreneurship" lesson to see more.

Discover Activity

Idea Journals and the Entrepreneur Song

Arts in Action, Stories and Perspectives

Idea Journals and the Entrepreneur Song

Grades 1 - 2

15 Minutes

Deepen students' understanding of themselves as entrepreneurs by creating Idea Journals, where they can freely express themselves and jot down thoughts, questions, and drawings as they collect ideas for changing the world. After exploring their Idea Journals, students will listen to and practice singing the Entrepreneur song, which reviews and emphasizes key points about the entrepreneurial mindset.


This activity was designed as Part 2 of 5 in a series created by VentureLab. Check out the "Intro to Entrepreneurship" lesson to see more.

Discover Activity

Entrepreneurs, Help Heather!

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Entrepreneurs, Help Heather!

Grades 1 - 2

30 Minutes

This activity allows students to work in teams to solve a problem with new ideas, the first step to really experiencing what it's like to be an entrepreneur. While building teamwork skills, students will have the opportunity to solve Heather's problem of not being able to see the board very well. By helping a character students can relate to, they will be able to see that entrepreneurs help people with innovative designs and ideas.

This activity was designed as Part 3 of 5 in a series created by VentureLab. Check out the "Intro to Entrepreneurship" lesson to see more.

Discover Activity

Product Analysis & Snapshot of Famous Entrepreneur, Indra Nooyi

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Product Analysis & Snapshot of Famous Entrepreneur, Indra Nooyi

Grades 1 - 2

25 Minutes

How are everyday products designed to solve problems and appeal to customers? In this activity, students will survey people about products they buy at the grocery store and think entreprenurially about packaging, logos, and other aspects of product design. Students will also learn about a real, famous entrepreneur, Indra Nooyi, helping make the connection that real-life entrepreneurs have ideas and take steps to carry out those ideas, being thoughtful about every aspect of the product they create.

This activity was designed as Part 4 of 5 in a series created by VentureLab. Check out the "Intro to Entrepreneurship" lesson to see more.

Discover Activity

Draw Three

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Draw Three

Grades 1 - 2

25 Minutes

Students become entrepreneurs as they draw three objects from a hat and transform them into a new product.

This activity was designed as Part 5 of 5 in a series created by VentureLab. Check out the "Intro to Entrepreneurship" lesson to see more.

Discover Activity

Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset

Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset

Grades 3 - 5

40 Minutes

Students reflect on their own entrepreneurial strengths and the mindsets and skills an ultimate entrepreneurial dream team would need in order to take on any challenge that comes their way.

Discover Activity

Design Challenge: Paper Tower Marshmallow Challenge

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

Design Challenge: Paper Tower Marshmallow Challenge

Grades 3 - 5

35 Minutes

Students work in teams to complete a challenge to build the tallest free-standing structure out of paper that can support a marshmallow. Along the way, teams will be asked to reflect on what they've been doing and how they're feeling as they experience what it means to have an entrepreneurial mindset. It will also help students start building some key entrepreneurial skills including creativity, teamwork, and prototyping.

Discover Activity

Entrepreneur Song

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Entrepreneur Song

Grades 3 - 5

15 Minutes

Students listen to a song that is all about the entrepreneurial mindset and the process entrepreneurs go through to create. After hearing the song, students get a lyric sheet and sing along with the song. This can be used in all lessons as a review for what an entrepreneur is and does.

Discover Activity

The Marshmallow Challenge

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

The Marshmallow Challenge

Grades 6 - 12

45 Minutes

Students work in teams to complete a challenge to build the tallest free-standing structure out of dry spaghetti noodles that also supports the weight of a regular-sized marshmallow. Along the way, teams will be asked to reflect on what they've been doing and how they're feeling as they experience what it means to have an entrepreneurial mindset. It will also help students start building some key entrepreneurial skills including creativity, team work, and prototyping.

Discover Activity

Dream Team

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Dream Team

Grades 6 - 12

45 Minutes

Students create their ultimate entrepreneurial "dream team" poster. Students first create an image of themselves as an entrepreneur (as creatively as they like), highlighting their entrepreneurial strengths, and then they will add team members to their poster (real or fictional), highlighting the mindsets and skills they will bring to the team to make up the ultimate entrepreneurial dream team - ready to take on any challenge!

Discover Activity

A Close Look at Mission Statements

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

A Close Look at Mission Statements

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

A mission statement is a sentence or short paragraph that identifies the goals and purpose of a company, charity, religious group, or other institution or organization. In this activity, students analyze real-life examples of mission statements and then suggest a mission statement for their school or another organization of interest.

Discover Activity

Brands Remembered and Forgotten

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, We The People

Brands Remembered and Forgotten

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

The history of American business includes long lists of brands that were widely popular but only for brief periods of time. In this activity, students view the logos or images that represent a wide variety of brands, some long-defunct, others current and familiar. They will recognize that for any business, public recognition and popularity can be fleeting, and decades-long success is rare.

Discover Activity

Build a Business Logo

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, Arts in Action

Build a Business Logo

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

Lemonade stands, lawn service, and dog walking. These are all business ideas that most of us had at one point. Students collaborate to develop their own age-appropriate small business, designing an attractive and memorable logo for their business.

Discover Activity

Appeal to the Consumer

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, We The People

Appeal to the Consumer

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Students explore the role of consumers in the economy. They begin by discussing what consumers are and how entrepreneurs develop ideas for goods and services to meet consumer needs and wants. In teams, they brainstorm innovations to existing goods and services to appeal to specific consumers. They do so by querying their fellow consumers about the existing goods and services. They then use what they learn to write a proposal for their innovative good or service.

Discover Activity

Many Businesses, Many Models

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Many Businesses, Many Models

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

In this activity, students explore different business models and apply them to real-life examples. They begin by drawing a simple model of their own to understand the similarities and differences in business structures. They then break into teams to learn about a business started by a young entrepreneur. Using a worksheet describing the different types of business models, they match the appropriate model to the business they studied. Finally, they create a visual to explain the business model they studied and use it to share what they learned with the rest of the group.

Discover Activity

Be a Sales Representative (Grades 3-5)

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, Stories and Perspectives

Be a Sales Representative (Grades 3-5)

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

Successful sales representatives know all of the advantages and disadvantages of their products and how their product compares with the competition. In this activity, students act as sales representatives for brands of sneakers. They deliver sales pitches that portray their products as attractively as possible to potential customers.

Discover Activity

Be a Sales Representative (Grades 6-8)

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, Stories and Perspectives

Be a Sales Representative (Grades 6-8)

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Successful sales representatives know all of the advantages and disadvantages of their products and how their product compares with the competition. In this activity, students act as sales representatives for mobile telephones. They deliver sales pitches that portray their products as attractively as possible to potential customers.

Discover Activity

Be a Sales Representative (Grades 9-12)

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Be a Sales Representative (Grades 9-12)

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Students take on the role of sales reps as they select, research, and create a sales pitch for a product. They share their pitches with the large group and learn how successful they are at selling their products. Students then discuss and analyze the effectiveness of various sales pitches and evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of the products.

Discover Activity

What Are the Costs of Starting a Business?

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

What Are the Costs of Starting a Business?

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Starting a business has proven to be a successful career option for many people, but many new businesses fail because they are poorly funded. In this activity, students experience the research, planning, and decision-making involved in launching and funding a new business.

Discover Activity

Business Skills: Job Interview

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Business Skills: Job Interview

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

In this activity, students will explore the role of interviewing in business. They will begin by identifying the purpose of an interview and brainstorming a list of properties or characteristics of interviews in the business world. Next, working in teams, student will develop a job description and interview questions. They then pair up to take turns role-playing an interviewer and an applicant.

Discover Activity

Drawing a New Invention (Grades 3-5)

Drawing a New Invention (Grades 3-5)

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

Students brainstorm an invention that can be used in everyday life. They make a detailed drawing of their invention, including labels and descriptions, and then share their invention idea with the group.

Discover Activity

Drawing a New Invention (Grades 6-8)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

Drawing a New Invention (Grades 6-8)

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Students brainstorm an invention that can be used in everyday life. They make a detailed drawing of their invention, including labels and descriptions, and then share their invention idea with the group.

Discover Activity

A New Logo (Grades 6-8)

Arts in Action, Stories and Perspectives

A New Logo (Grades 6-8)

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Youth act as graphic artists and designers, as well as business executives, to design a logo for a new business. After generating their logo, they'll present it to the group for feedback.

Discover Activity

A New Logo (Grades 9-12)

A New Logo (Grades 9-12)

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Students act as graphic artists and designers, as well as business executives, to design a logo for a new business. They generate their logo and present it to the whole group for discussion and evaluation.

Discover Activity

Entrepreneurship: Meeting a Need

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, We The People

Entrepreneurship: Meeting a Need

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

In this activity, students explore the role of needs and wants in the economy. They begin by identifying examples of needs and wants and then learn that entrepreneurs come up with business ideas to meet a need or a want. They work in groups to list personal needs and wants. In teams, they select 1 of the needs or wants they identified and brainstorm an idea for a good or service to meet it. Together, they create a pitch to “sell” their idea. To complete the activity, they pitch their business ideas to the group.

Discover Activity

The Price Is Close! (Grades 9-12)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

The Price Is Close! (Grades 9-12)

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Students play pricing games presented in a game-show style. This activity builds analytical and math skills, as well as collaboration skills.

Discover Activity

Build a Better Mousetrap (Grades 3-5)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

Build a Better Mousetrap (Grades 3-5)

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

Students consider how inventions are improved over time. They select an everyday product and work as a team to improve or update it by outlining its new features, sketching a prototype, and comparing it to the original invention. This activity builds design and collaboration skills as well as creative thinking skills.

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The Wright Brothers and the Airplane

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

The Wright Brothers and the Airplane

Grades K - 2

45 Minutes

Children learn about the Wright brothers' background and use problem-solving skills to design and create paper airplanes to fly long distances.

Discover Activity

What’s That For?

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

What’s That For?

Grades K - 2

45 Minutes

In this activity, children observe and ask questions about unfamiliar objects that nevertheless serve a useful purpose in their lives. This activity helps provoke children’s curiosity in the world around them and shows them that the world can surprise them in many ways.

Discover Activity

Can You Patent It?

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Can You Patent It?

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Youth learn about patentable ideas. Youth discuss and assess whether hypothetical ideas are patentable and think of their own invention that could be patented.

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Invention Idea Jigsaw

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Invention Idea Jigsaw

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Students claim 1 adjective card and 1 noun card from the card decks provided. Then they form groups of 2 or 3 and see whether the words they have selected spark an idea for a new invention. Volunteers present their ideas to the whole group, a process similar to the television show Shark Tank.

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The Price Is Close! (Grades 3-5)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

The Price Is Close! (Grades 3-5)

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

In the game show The Price Is Right, contestants guess the price of various items with the goal of not overestimating the price. Today's activity has students playing a game called The Price Is Close. Each team leads a round of the game.

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Mind Mapping Business Success

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Mind Mapping Business Success

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Business success often involves the ability to think about ideas and concepts in creative ways. Students will merge concepts with creativity as they use the notetaking technique of mind mapping to show how some well-known internet-based companies continue to experience success.

Discover Activity

Bicycle 2.0

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

Bicycle 2.0

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

All of us are familiar with bicycles, and many of us enjoy riding them. What if we could make that experience even better? In today’s activity, students create new designs for bicycles to make them more convenient or useful for transportation.

Discover Activity

Communicating at Work

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Communicating at Work

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Large companies are organized so that staff can communicate with one another and make decisions effectively. In this activity, students model the staff of a large company and learn how to communicate within an established structure.

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The Price Is Close! (Grades 6-8)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

The Price Is Close! (Grades 6-8)

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

In this activity, students attempt to figure out the price of popular age-appropriate products in a game similar to the game show The Price Is Right.

Discover Activity

Build a Better Mousetrap (Grades 6-8)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Build a Better Mousetrap (Grades 6-8)

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Student teams work together to improve an existing product and then present their ideas to the group. This activity builds analytical thinking and cooperative learning skills while developing speaking and listening skills.

Discover Activity

Design Your Own Money (Grades 3-5)

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, Arts in Action

Design Your Own Money (Grades 3-5)

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

Students create new designs for the front and back of the $10 bill. This activity builds design and creative-thinking skills.

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Ideas for Sustainable Development

Ideas for Sustainable Development

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Students brainstorm ideas for making their community more sustainable. They consider factors such as employment, financing, and environmental protection, and conservation.

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Grow & Go: Learn with Lt. Governor Gilchrist (Entrepreneurship)

More from this collaborator

Grow & Go: Learn with Lt. Governor Gilchrist (Entrepreneurship)

Grades K - 12

29 Hours 20 Minutes

Overview

Planet Mooz Diner

Leadership and Teamwork, Arts in Action

Planet Mooz Diner

Grades 1 - 2

1 Hour

Students create a name and menu for a diner on a strange, newly discovered planet called Mooz. Watch out, though! Moozians eat very different things than we do on planet Earth, so students will need to use their creativity to put together a stellar menu. After creating the menu, students will create play food and try each other's "food" out as customers at their diners. This engaging activity allows students to explore their creativity in a meaningful way, as they get a chance to create new menu items, invent a diner name, and showcase their work to their peers while role-playing.

Discover Activity

What is an Entrepreneur?

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

What is an Entrepreneur?

Grades 1 - 2

25 Minutes

Entrepreneurship isn't just about starting companies; it's a skill set and way of thinking. In this activity, students will watch a video from Kid President on what it takes to be an inventor to get them thinking about and discussing what an entrepreneur is. Then, students will make a poster representing themselves as entrepreneurs to start cultivating the mindset and thinking that they, too, are entrepreneurs.

This activity was designed as Part 1 of 5 in a series created by VentureLab. Check out the "Intro to Entrepreneurship" lesson to see more.

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Idea Journals and the Entrepreneur Song

Arts in Action, Stories and Perspectives

Idea Journals and the Entrepreneur Song

Grades 1 - 2

15 Minutes

Deepen students' understanding of themselves as entrepreneurs by creating Idea Journals, where they can freely express themselves and jot down thoughts, questions, and drawings as they collect ideas for changing the world. After exploring their Idea Journals, students will listen to and practice singing the Entrepreneur song, which reviews and emphasizes key points about the entrepreneurial mindset.


This activity was designed as Part 2 of 5 in a series created by VentureLab. Check out the "Intro to Entrepreneurship" lesson to see more.

Discover Activity

Entrepreneurs, Help Heather!

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Entrepreneurs, Help Heather!

Grades 1 - 2

30 Minutes

This activity allows students to work in teams to solve a problem with new ideas, the first step to really experiencing what it's like to be an entrepreneur. While building teamwork skills, students will have the opportunity to solve Heather's problem of not being able to see the board very well. By helping a character students can relate to, they will be able to see that entrepreneurs help people with innovative designs and ideas.

This activity was designed as Part 3 of 5 in a series created by VentureLab. Check out the "Intro to Entrepreneurship" lesson to see more.

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Product Analysis & Snapshot of Famous Entrepreneur, Indra Nooyi

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Product Analysis & Snapshot of Famous Entrepreneur, Indra Nooyi

Grades 1 - 2

25 Minutes

How are everyday products designed to solve problems and appeal to customers? In this activity, students will survey people about products they buy at the grocery store and think entreprenurially about packaging, logos, and other aspects of product design. Students will also learn about a real, famous entrepreneur, Indra Nooyi, helping make the connection that real-life entrepreneurs have ideas and take steps to carry out those ideas, being thoughtful about every aspect of the product they create.

This activity was designed as Part 4 of 5 in a series created by VentureLab. Check out the "Intro to Entrepreneurship" lesson to see more.

Discover Activity

Draw Three

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Draw Three

Grades 1 - 2

25 Minutes

Students become entrepreneurs as they draw three objects from a hat and transform them into a new product.

This activity was designed as Part 5 of 5 in a series created by VentureLab. Check out the "Intro to Entrepreneurship" lesson to see more.

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Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset

Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset

Grades 3 - 5

40 Minutes

Students reflect on their own entrepreneurial strengths and the mindsets and skills an ultimate entrepreneurial dream team would need in order to take on any challenge that comes their way.

Discover Activity

Design Challenge: Paper Tower Marshmallow Challenge

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

Design Challenge: Paper Tower Marshmallow Challenge

Grades 3 - 5

35 Minutes

Students work in teams to complete a challenge to build the tallest free-standing structure out of paper that can support a marshmallow. Along the way, teams will be asked to reflect on what they've been doing and how they're feeling as they experience what it means to have an entrepreneurial mindset. It will also help students start building some key entrepreneurial skills including creativity, teamwork, and prototyping.

Discover Activity

Entrepreneur Song

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Entrepreneur Song

Grades 3 - 5

15 Minutes

Students listen to a song that is all about the entrepreneurial mindset and the process entrepreneurs go through to create. After hearing the song, students get a lyric sheet and sing along with the song. This can be used in all lessons as a review for what an entrepreneur is and does.

Discover Activity

The Marshmallow Challenge

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

The Marshmallow Challenge

Grades 6 - 12

45 Minutes

Students work in teams to complete a challenge to build the tallest free-standing structure out of dry spaghetti noodles that also supports the weight of a regular-sized marshmallow. Along the way, teams will be asked to reflect on what they've been doing and how they're feeling as they experience what it means to have an entrepreneurial mindset. It will also help students start building some key entrepreneurial skills including creativity, team work, and prototyping.

Discover Activity

Dream Team

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Dream Team

Grades 6 - 12

45 Minutes

Students create their ultimate entrepreneurial "dream team" poster. Students first create an image of themselves as an entrepreneur (as creatively as they like), highlighting their entrepreneurial strengths, and then they will add team members to their poster (real or fictional), highlighting the mindsets and skills they will bring to the team to make up the ultimate entrepreneurial dream team - ready to take on any challenge!

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A Close Look at Mission Statements

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

A Close Look at Mission Statements

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

A mission statement is a sentence or short paragraph that identifies the goals and purpose of a company, charity, religious group, or other institution or organization. In this activity, students analyze real-life examples of mission statements and then suggest a mission statement for their school or another organization of interest.

Discover Activity

Brands Remembered and Forgotten

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, We The People

Brands Remembered and Forgotten

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

The history of American business includes long lists of brands that were widely popular but only for brief periods of time. In this activity, students view the logos or images that represent a wide variety of brands, some long-defunct, others current and familiar. They will recognize that for any business, public recognition and popularity can be fleeting, and decades-long success is rare.

Discover Activity

Build a Business Logo

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, Arts in Action

Build a Business Logo

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

Lemonade stands, lawn service, and dog walking. These are all business ideas that most of us had at one point. Students collaborate to develop their own age-appropriate small business, designing an attractive and memorable logo for their business.

Discover Activity

Appeal to the Consumer

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, We The People

Appeal to the Consumer

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Students explore the role of consumers in the economy. They begin by discussing what consumers are and how entrepreneurs develop ideas for goods and services to meet consumer needs and wants. In teams, they brainstorm innovations to existing goods and services to appeal to specific consumers. They do so by querying their fellow consumers about the existing goods and services. They then use what they learn to write a proposal for their innovative good or service.

Discover Activity

Many Businesses, Many Models

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Many Businesses, Many Models

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

In this activity, students explore different business models and apply them to real-life examples. They begin by drawing a simple model of their own to understand the similarities and differences in business structures. They then break into teams to learn about a business started by a young entrepreneur. Using a worksheet describing the different types of business models, they match the appropriate model to the business they studied. Finally, they create a visual to explain the business model they studied and use it to share what they learned with the rest of the group.

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Be a Sales Representative (Grades 3-5)

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, Stories and Perspectives

Be a Sales Representative (Grades 3-5)

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

Successful sales representatives know all of the advantages and disadvantages of their products and how their product compares with the competition. In this activity, students act as sales representatives for brands of sneakers. They deliver sales pitches that portray their products as attractively as possible to potential customers.

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Be a Sales Representative (Grades 6-8)

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, Stories and Perspectives

Be a Sales Representative (Grades 6-8)

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Successful sales representatives know all of the advantages and disadvantages of their products and how their product compares with the competition. In this activity, students act as sales representatives for mobile telephones. They deliver sales pitches that portray their products as attractively as possible to potential customers.

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Be a Sales Representative (Grades 9-12)

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Be a Sales Representative (Grades 9-12)

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Students take on the role of sales reps as they select, research, and create a sales pitch for a product. They share their pitches with the large group and learn how successful they are at selling their products. Students then discuss and analyze the effectiveness of various sales pitches and evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of the products.

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What Are the Costs of Starting a Business?

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

What Are the Costs of Starting a Business?

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Starting a business has proven to be a successful career option for many people, but many new businesses fail because they are poorly funded. In this activity, students experience the research, planning, and decision-making involved in launching and funding a new business.

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Business Skills: Job Interview

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Business Skills: Job Interview

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

In this activity, students will explore the role of interviewing in business. They will begin by identifying the purpose of an interview and brainstorming a list of properties or characteristics of interviews in the business world. Next, working in teams, student will develop a job description and interview questions. They then pair up to take turns role-playing an interviewer and an applicant.

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Drawing a New Invention (Grades 3-5)

Drawing a New Invention (Grades 3-5)

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

Students brainstorm an invention that can be used in everyday life. They make a detailed drawing of their invention, including labels and descriptions, and then share their invention idea with the group.

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Drawing a New Invention (Grades 6-8)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

Drawing a New Invention (Grades 6-8)

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Students brainstorm an invention that can be used in everyday life. They make a detailed drawing of their invention, including labels and descriptions, and then share their invention idea with the group.

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A New Logo (Grades 6-8)

Arts in Action, Stories and Perspectives

A New Logo (Grades 6-8)

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Youth act as graphic artists and designers, as well as business executives, to design a logo for a new business. After generating their logo, they'll present it to the group for feedback.

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A New Logo (Grades 9-12)

A New Logo (Grades 9-12)

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Students act as graphic artists and designers, as well as business executives, to design a logo for a new business. They generate their logo and present it to the whole group for discussion and evaluation.

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Entrepreneurship: Meeting a Need

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, We The People

Entrepreneurship: Meeting a Need

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

In this activity, students explore the role of needs and wants in the economy. They begin by identifying examples of needs and wants and then learn that entrepreneurs come up with business ideas to meet a need or a want. They work in groups to list personal needs and wants. In teams, they select 1 of the needs or wants they identified and brainstorm an idea for a good or service to meet it. Together, they create a pitch to “sell” their idea. To complete the activity, they pitch their business ideas to the group.

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The Price Is Close! (Grades 9-12)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

The Price Is Close! (Grades 9-12)

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Students play pricing games presented in a game-show style. This activity builds analytical and math skills, as well as collaboration skills.

Discover Activity

Build a Better Mousetrap (Grades 3-5)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

Build a Better Mousetrap (Grades 3-5)

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

Students consider how inventions are improved over time. They select an everyday product and work as a team to improve or update it by outlining its new features, sketching a prototype, and comparing it to the original invention. This activity builds design and collaboration skills as well as creative thinking skills.

Discover Activity

The Wright Brothers and the Airplane

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

The Wright Brothers and the Airplane

Grades K - 2

45 Minutes

Children learn about the Wright brothers' background and use problem-solving skills to design and create paper airplanes to fly long distances.

Discover Activity

What’s That For?

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

What’s That For?

Grades K - 2

45 Minutes

In this activity, children observe and ask questions about unfamiliar objects that nevertheless serve a useful purpose in their lives. This activity helps provoke children’s curiosity in the world around them and shows them that the world can surprise them in many ways.

Discover Activity

Can You Patent It?

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Can You Patent It?

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Youth learn about patentable ideas. Youth discuss and assess whether hypothetical ideas are patentable and think of their own invention that could be patented.

Discover Activity

Invention Idea Jigsaw

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Invention Idea Jigsaw

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Students claim 1 adjective card and 1 noun card from the card decks provided. Then they form groups of 2 or 3 and see whether the words they have selected spark an idea for a new invention. Volunteers present their ideas to the whole group, a process similar to the television show Shark Tank.

Discover Activity

The Price Is Close! (Grades 3-5)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

The Price Is Close! (Grades 3-5)

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

In the game show The Price Is Right, contestants guess the price of various items with the goal of not overestimating the price. Today's activity has students playing a game called The Price Is Close. Each team leads a round of the game.

Discover Activity

Mind Mapping Business Success

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Mind Mapping Business Success

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Business success often involves the ability to think about ideas and concepts in creative ways. Students will merge concepts with creativity as they use the notetaking technique of mind mapping to show how some well-known internet-based companies continue to experience success.

Discover Activity

Bicycle 2.0

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

Bicycle 2.0

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

All of us are familiar with bicycles, and many of us enjoy riding them. What if we could make that experience even better? In today’s activity, students create new designs for bicycles to make them more convenient or useful for transportation.

Discover Activity

Communicating at Work

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Communicating at Work

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Large companies are organized so that staff can communicate with one another and make decisions effectively. In this activity, students model the staff of a large company and learn how to communicate within an established structure.

Discover Activity

The Price Is Close! (Grades 6-8)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

The Price Is Close! (Grades 6-8)

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

In this activity, students attempt to figure out the price of popular age-appropriate products in a game similar to the game show The Price Is Right.

Discover Activity

Build a Better Mousetrap (Grades 6-8)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Build a Better Mousetrap (Grades 6-8)

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Student teams work together to improve an existing product and then present their ideas to the group. This activity builds analytical thinking and cooperative learning skills while developing speaking and listening skills.

Discover Activity

Design Your Own Money (Grades 3-5)

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, Arts in Action

Design Your Own Money (Grades 3-5)

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

Students create new designs for the front and back of the $10 bill. This activity builds design and creative-thinking skills.

Discover Activity

Ideas for Sustainable Development

Ideas for Sustainable Development

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Students brainstorm ideas for making their community more sustainable. They consider factors such as employment, financing, and environmental protection, and conservation.

Discover Activity

Planet Mooz Diner

Leadership and Teamwork, Arts in Action

Planet Mooz Diner

Grades 1 - 2

1 Hour

Students create a name and menu for a diner on a strange, newly discovered planet called Mooz. Watch out, though! Moozians eat very different things than we do on planet Earth, so students will need to use their creativity to put together a stellar menu. After creating the menu, students will create play food and try each other's "food" out as customers at their diners. This engaging activity allows students to explore their creativity in a meaningful way, as they get a chance to create new menu items, invent a diner name, and showcase their work to their peers while role-playing.

Discover Activity

What is an Entrepreneur?

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

What is an Entrepreneur?

Grades 1 - 2

25 Minutes

Entrepreneurship isn't just about starting companies; it's a skill set and way of thinking. In this activity, students will watch a video from Kid President on what it takes to be an inventor to get them thinking about and discussing what an entrepreneur is. Then, students will make a poster representing themselves as entrepreneurs to start cultivating the mindset and thinking that they, too, are entrepreneurs.

This activity was designed as Part 1 of 5 in a series created by VentureLab. Check out the "Intro to Entrepreneurship" lesson to see more.

Discover Activity

Idea Journals and the Entrepreneur Song

Arts in Action, Stories and Perspectives

Idea Journals and the Entrepreneur Song

Grades 1 - 2

15 Minutes

Deepen students' understanding of themselves as entrepreneurs by creating Idea Journals, where they can freely express themselves and jot down thoughts, questions, and drawings as they collect ideas for changing the world. After exploring their Idea Journals, students will listen to and practice singing the Entrepreneur song, which reviews and emphasizes key points about the entrepreneurial mindset.


This activity was designed as Part 2 of 5 in a series created by VentureLab. Check out the "Intro to Entrepreneurship" lesson to see more.

Discover Activity

Entrepreneurs, Help Heather!

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Entrepreneurs, Help Heather!

Grades 1 - 2

30 Minutes

This activity allows students to work in teams to solve a problem with new ideas, the first step to really experiencing what it's like to be an entrepreneur. While building teamwork skills, students will have the opportunity to solve Heather's problem of not being able to see the board very well. By helping a character students can relate to, they will be able to see that entrepreneurs help people with innovative designs and ideas.

This activity was designed as Part 3 of 5 in a series created by VentureLab. Check out the "Intro to Entrepreneurship" lesson to see more.

Discover Activity

Product Analysis & Snapshot of Famous Entrepreneur, Indra Nooyi

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Product Analysis & Snapshot of Famous Entrepreneur, Indra Nooyi

Grades 1 - 2

25 Minutes

How are everyday products designed to solve problems and appeal to customers? In this activity, students will survey people about products they buy at the grocery store and think entreprenurially about packaging, logos, and other aspects of product design. Students will also learn about a real, famous entrepreneur, Indra Nooyi, helping make the connection that real-life entrepreneurs have ideas and take steps to carry out those ideas, being thoughtful about every aspect of the product they create.

This activity was designed as Part 4 of 5 in a series created by VentureLab. Check out the "Intro to Entrepreneurship" lesson to see more.

Discover Activity

Draw Three

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Draw Three

Grades 1 - 2

25 Minutes

Students become entrepreneurs as they draw three objects from a hat and transform them into a new product.

This activity was designed as Part 5 of 5 in a series created by VentureLab. Check out the "Intro to Entrepreneurship" lesson to see more.

Discover Activity

Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset

Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset

Grades 3 - 5

40 Minutes

Students reflect on their own entrepreneurial strengths and the mindsets and skills an ultimate entrepreneurial dream team would need in order to take on any challenge that comes their way.

Discover Activity

Design Challenge: Paper Tower Marshmallow Challenge

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

Design Challenge: Paper Tower Marshmallow Challenge

Grades 3 - 5

35 Minutes

Students work in teams to complete a challenge to build the tallest free-standing structure out of paper that can support a marshmallow. Along the way, teams will be asked to reflect on what they've been doing and how they're feeling as they experience what it means to have an entrepreneurial mindset. It will also help students start building some key entrepreneurial skills including creativity, teamwork, and prototyping.

Discover Activity

Entrepreneur Song

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Entrepreneur Song

Grades 3 - 5

15 Minutes

Students listen to a song that is all about the entrepreneurial mindset and the process entrepreneurs go through to create. After hearing the song, students get a lyric sheet and sing along with the song. This can be used in all lessons as a review for what an entrepreneur is and does.

Discover Activity

The Marshmallow Challenge

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

The Marshmallow Challenge

Grades 6 - 12

45 Minutes

Students work in teams to complete a challenge to build the tallest free-standing structure out of dry spaghetti noodles that also supports the weight of a regular-sized marshmallow. Along the way, teams will be asked to reflect on what they've been doing and how they're feeling as they experience what it means to have an entrepreneurial mindset. It will also help students start building some key entrepreneurial skills including creativity, team work, and prototyping.

Discover Activity

Dream Team

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Dream Team

Grades 6 - 12

45 Minutes

Students create their ultimate entrepreneurial "dream team" poster. Students first create an image of themselves as an entrepreneur (as creatively as they like), highlighting their entrepreneurial strengths, and then they will add team members to their poster (real or fictional), highlighting the mindsets and skills they will bring to the team to make up the ultimate entrepreneurial dream team - ready to take on any challenge!

Discover Activity

A Close Look at Mission Statements

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

A Close Look at Mission Statements

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

A mission statement is a sentence or short paragraph that identifies the goals and purpose of a company, charity, religious group, or other institution or organization. In this activity, students analyze real-life examples of mission statements and then suggest a mission statement for their school or another organization of interest.

Discover Activity

Brands Remembered and Forgotten

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, We The People

Brands Remembered and Forgotten

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

The history of American business includes long lists of brands that were widely popular but only for brief periods of time. In this activity, students view the logos or images that represent a wide variety of brands, some long-defunct, others current and familiar. They will recognize that for any business, public recognition and popularity can be fleeting, and decades-long success is rare.

Discover Activity

Build a Business Logo

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, Arts in Action

Build a Business Logo

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

Lemonade stands, lawn service, and dog walking. These are all business ideas that most of us had at one point. Students collaborate to develop their own age-appropriate small business, designing an attractive and memorable logo for their business.

Discover Activity

Appeal to the Consumer

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, We The People

Appeal to the Consumer

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Students explore the role of consumers in the economy. They begin by discussing what consumers are and how entrepreneurs develop ideas for goods and services to meet consumer needs and wants. In teams, they brainstorm innovations to existing goods and services to appeal to specific consumers. They do so by querying their fellow consumers about the existing goods and services. They then use what they learn to write a proposal for their innovative good or service.

Discover Activity

Many Businesses, Many Models

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Many Businesses, Many Models

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

In this activity, students explore different business models and apply them to real-life examples. They begin by drawing a simple model of their own to understand the similarities and differences in business structures. They then break into teams to learn about a business started by a young entrepreneur. Using a worksheet describing the different types of business models, they match the appropriate model to the business they studied. Finally, they create a visual to explain the business model they studied and use it to share what they learned with the rest of the group.

Discover Activity

Be a Sales Representative (Grades 3-5)

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, Stories and Perspectives

Be a Sales Representative (Grades 3-5)

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

Successful sales representatives know all of the advantages and disadvantages of their products and how their product compares with the competition. In this activity, students act as sales representatives for brands of sneakers. They deliver sales pitches that portray their products as attractively as possible to potential customers.

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Be a Sales Representative (Grades 6-8)

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, Stories and Perspectives

Be a Sales Representative (Grades 6-8)

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Successful sales representatives know all of the advantages and disadvantages of their products and how their product compares with the competition. In this activity, students act as sales representatives for mobile telephones. They deliver sales pitches that portray their products as attractively as possible to potential customers.

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Be a Sales Representative (Grades 9-12)

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Be a Sales Representative (Grades 9-12)

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Students take on the role of sales reps as they select, research, and create a sales pitch for a product. They share their pitches with the large group and learn how successful they are at selling their products. Students then discuss and analyze the effectiveness of various sales pitches and evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of the products.

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What Are the Costs of Starting a Business?

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

What Are the Costs of Starting a Business?

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Starting a business has proven to be a successful career option for many people, but many new businesses fail because they are poorly funded. In this activity, students experience the research, planning, and decision-making involved in launching and funding a new business.

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Business Skills: Job Interview

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Business Skills: Job Interview

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

In this activity, students will explore the role of interviewing in business. They will begin by identifying the purpose of an interview and brainstorming a list of properties or characteristics of interviews in the business world. Next, working in teams, student will develop a job description and interview questions. They then pair up to take turns role-playing an interviewer and an applicant.

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Drawing a New Invention (Grades 3-5)

Drawing a New Invention (Grades 3-5)

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

Students brainstorm an invention that can be used in everyday life. They make a detailed drawing of their invention, including labels and descriptions, and then share their invention idea with the group.

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Drawing a New Invention (Grades 6-8)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

Drawing a New Invention (Grades 6-8)

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Students brainstorm an invention that can be used in everyday life. They make a detailed drawing of their invention, including labels and descriptions, and then share their invention idea with the group.

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A New Logo (Grades 6-8)

Arts in Action, Stories and Perspectives

A New Logo (Grades 6-8)

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Youth act as graphic artists and designers, as well as business executives, to design a logo for a new business. After generating their logo, they'll present it to the group for feedback.

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A New Logo (Grades 9-12)

A New Logo (Grades 9-12)

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Students act as graphic artists and designers, as well as business executives, to design a logo for a new business. They generate their logo and present it to the whole group for discussion and evaluation.

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Entrepreneurship: Meeting a Need

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, We The People

Entrepreneurship: Meeting a Need

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

In this activity, students explore the role of needs and wants in the economy. They begin by identifying examples of needs and wants and then learn that entrepreneurs come up with business ideas to meet a need or a want. They work in groups to list personal needs and wants. In teams, they select 1 of the needs or wants they identified and brainstorm an idea for a good or service to meet it. Together, they create a pitch to “sell” their idea. To complete the activity, they pitch their business ideas to the group.

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The Price Is Close! (Grades 9-12)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

The Price Is Close! (Grades 9-12)

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Students play pricing games presented in a game-show style. This activity builds analytical and math skills, as well as collaboration skills.

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Build a Better Mousetrap (Grades 3-5)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

Build a Better Mousetrap (Grades 3-5)

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

Students consider how inventions are improved over time. They select an everyday product and work as a team to improve or update it by outlining its new features, sketching a prototype, and comparing it to the original invention. This activity builds design and collaboration skills as well as creative thinking skills.

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The Wright Brothers and the Airplane

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

The Wright Brothers and the Airplane

Grades K - 2

45 Minutes

Children learn about the Wright brothers' background and use problem-solving skills to design and create paper airplanes to fly long distances.

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What’s That For?

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

What’s That For?

Grades K - 2

45 Minutes

In this activity, children observe and ask questions about unfamiliar objects that nevertheless serve a useful purpose in their lives. This activity helps provoke children’s curiosity in the world around them and shows them that the world can surprise them in many ways.

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Can You Patent It?

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Can You Patent It?

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Youth learn about patentable ideas. Youth discuss and assess whether hypothetical ideas are patentable and think of their own invention that could be patented.

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Invention Idea Jigsaw

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Invention Idea Jigsaw

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Students claim 1 adjective card and 1 noun card from the card decks provided. Then they form groups of 2 or 3 and see whether the words they have selected spark an idea for a new invention. Volunteers present their ideas to the whole group, a process similar to the television show Shark Tank.

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The Price Is Close! (Grades 3-5)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

The Price Is Close! (Grades 3-5)

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

In the game show The Price Is Right, contestants guess the price of various items with the goal of not overestimating the price. Today's activity has students playing a game called The Price Is Close. Each team leads a round of the game.

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Mind Mapping Business Success

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Mind Mapping Business Success

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Business success often involves the ability to think about ideas and concepts in creative ways. Students will merge concepts with creativity as they use the notetaking technique of mind mapping to show how some well-known internet-based companies continue to experience success.

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Bicycle 2.0

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Arts in Action

Bicycle 2.0

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

All of us are familiar with bicycles, and many of us enjoy riding them. What if we could make that experience even better? In today’s activity, students create new designs for bicycles to make them more convenient or useful for transportation.

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Communicating at Work

Leadership and Teamwork, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Communicating at Work

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Large companies are organized so that staff can communicate with one another and make decisions effectively. In this activity, students model the staff of a large company and learn how to communicate within an established structure.

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The Price Is Close! (Grades 6-8)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

The Price Is Close! (Grades 6-8)

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

In this activity, students attempt to figure out the price of popular age-appropriate products in a game similar to the game show The Price Is Right.

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Build a Better Mousetrap (Grades 6-8)

STEM Lab: Build, Tinker, Explore, Future Ready: Learning and Earning

Build a Better Mousetrap (Grades 6-8)

Grades 6 - 8

45 Minutes

Student teams work together to improve an existing product and then present their ideas to the group. This activity builds analytical thinking and cooperative learning skills while developing speaking and listening skills.

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Design Your Own Money (Grades 3-5)

Future Ready: Learning and Earning, Arts in Action

Design Your Own Money (Grades 3-5)

Grades 3 - 5

45 Minutes

Students create new designs for the front and back of the $10 bill. This activity builds design and creative-thinking skills.

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Ideas for Sustainable Development

Ideas for Sustainable Development

Grades 9 - 12

45 Minutes

Students brainstorm ideas for making their community more sustainable. They consider factors such as employment, financing, and environmental protection, and conservation.

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