When kids mean business
Our in-class program teaches kids to launch their own businesses. It aligns with Years 6 and 7 of the Australian Curriculum in the areas of Business, Economics and Mathematics.
We help you teach your students to become ‘kidpreneurs‘. In the process, they:
- Learn essential life skills like money management, time management, team work and sales,
- Build confidence in their capabilities, and
- Astound their teachers and parents with their creativity and enthusiasm!
Research shows that enterprise skills are the most effective accelerator for getting young people into full-time work (from Foundation for Young Australians), and that a hands-on experience is the best way to learn these skills (from OECD).
We’ve designed our course accordingly.
Being a ‘kidpreneur’ is a common theme among some of the world’s most famous business people such as Warren Buffett, Richard Branson and Melanie Perkins. We like to think our kidpreneurs, such as Ash of Beauty from Ash’s Products, are the Buffetts, Bransons and Perkins of the future.
Maker Kids Club helps your students to feel empowered to say: ‘We’re not worried about the jobs of the future. We’re ready to meet any challenge, and we mean business.’
Meet a Kidpreneur: Ash of Beauty from Ash's ProductsWANT TO MEET A KIDPRENEUR? | Ash is 11 years old and has been running her own business Beauty From Ash's Products for seven months. This interview with Ash (and her mum, the delightful Ezer Eve, sitting beside her) was recorded at a market in May where Ash was selling her divine lip balm. Ash has sold around 800 lip balms so far. That's $8,000 gross revenue, and it's enabled her to donate $1,300 to Big Brother Mouse charity to convert a book into the Laotian language so Laos kids can learn to read. All from an initial $1,000 investment that came from Ash winning a competition at the cricket. We're all inspired by Ash and her mum, we hope you are too :)If you'd like to learn more about being a #kidpreneur, head to https://makerkids.club/test-idea/ to check out our free video series.
Posted by Maker Kids Club on Sunday, June 4, 2017
How does it work?
In schools, in Year 6 and 7 classrooms:
- Teachers run Maker Kids Club in their classrooms (one hour per week for 14 weeks).
- Our program makes life easy for teachers. With no preparation or professional development needed, teachers focus on delivery. Detailed lesson plans showing curriculum connections are included (example).
What’s it like for the kids?
We’ve worked with dozens of young business owners privately and in school settings. Meet some of our kidpreneurs in the videos below as they explain their businesses and share their advice for fellow kidpreneurs.
Kidpreneur Interview - Gabe, musicianINTERVIEW | Gabe is a musician. He used the kidpreneur program to launch his first single, Paper Planes, on CD and iTunes. Here's what he had to say about the launch and being a kidpreneur.
Posted by Maker Kids Club on Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Gabe, 11 years old
Gabe wrote and launched a song on iTunes. He made extra money at the Riverton Primary School launch market by busking.
Kidpreneur Interview - Sienna, slime makerINTERVIEW | Sienna sold $87 worth of slime on orders with one sample!In 50 minutes at the launch market on 30 June, Sienna took orders and payment from dozens of fellow students. Over the school holidays, she made all the slime to order and delivered her products. This is an awesome example of using a market as a test for your product. If Sienna had taken no orders, she'd have kept her upfront costs and effort to a minimum and so wouldn't have lost much. As it happens, her slime was very popular and now she knows she's onto a winner. Great work Sienna!
Posted by Maker Kids Club on Sunday, July 23, 2017
Sienna, 11 years old
Sienna created a slime business, taking $87 of orders from one single sample – an excellent example of how to manage cash flow for a fledgling business.
Emma's Story - Emma's Soda StandEMMA'S STORY | Why did you start your business? "Well, I drink lots of lemonade, so I wanted to do lemonade" - no messing around with this #kidpreneur, simple and straight to the point from the 7 year old.Join the Kidpreneur revolution HERE: https://makerkids.club/
Posted by Maker Kids Club on Tuesday, May 9, 2017
Emma, 7 years old
Emma’s Soda Stand sells homemade lemonade made in her parents’ commercial kitchen. She started the business when she was six using a converted sewing table and an abundance of lemons in her backyard.
Stella's Story - Little Bursts of HappinessSTELLA'S STORY | Hear from Stella (10) who's little affirmation cards are making such a BIG difference to her and others #Makerkids #Kidpreneurs Get on board by joining the #kidpreneur revolution HERE: https://makerkids.club/
Posted by Maker Kids Club on Friday, May 12, 2017
Stella, 10 years old
Stella recently went through a rough patch. She found that reading affirmations helped improve her mood and outlook. Stella wanted to help other kids in a similar situation, so she created Little Bursts of Happiness. Stella now sells online, at markets, and in a store in Fremantle.
What’s it like for the parents?
Just like any extra-curricular activity, parents are involved in their child’s entrepreneurial journey. Fortunately, they seem to love it! We often hear that the process brings families closer together. It’s wonderful to see the pride in our Maker Kids Club parents’ eyes.
Parents of Kidpreneurs - Kat, mum of AshHow do parents feel about their kids running businesses? We are deeply curious about this at Maker Kids, so we ask the parents we meet regularly. As many of you know, Ash of Beauty From Ash's Products is one of our most successful kidpreneurs. In this video, we asked her mum, the marvellous Ezer Eve, what it's like. Hope you enjoy it 🙂
Posted by Maker Kids Club on Monday, June 26, 2017
Kat, Ash’s Mum
Ash is the eldest of Kat’s four children. In this video, Kat talks about what it’s like to have a kidpreneur in the family.
(PS. She now has three kidpreneurs!)
Parents of Kidpreneurs - What's it like?ONE FOR THE PARENTS | If you've wondered what it's like to have a kidpreneur in your home, here are thoughts from four of our kidpreneur parents on the good AND the bad parts of the experience. Thank you parents for your candid thoughts, and thank you kidpreneurs for being so kind as to lend us your folks!With Little bursts of Happiness, ILOOMinate Perth, Emma's Soda Stand and Mosey On Magic.
Posted by Maker Kids Club on Monday, July 17, 2017
Parent Compilation
In this video, you’ll meet four of our kidpreneur parents:
Mel, Stella’s mum.
Nicky, Ben and Holly’s mum.
Tennille, Emma’s mum.
Scott, Riley and Georgia’s dad.
Interested in private enrolment?
Download our free eBooks today!
We sometimes open our course for private enrolment. This is popular for homeschoolers and families with kids not in Years 6 and 7. We’ve written two awesome free eBooks that you can share with a young person in your life today:
- Inspiration for Maker Kids: stories of kidpreneurs and 33 business ideas to jump-start their launch.
- 10 Steps to Market Success: we share all the lessons we’ve learned that make your market experiences as productive and happy as possible.