Moncton’s ‘Mini Makers’ Will Take the Lemonade Stand to the Next Level
There’s an old saying, ‘when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.’ The “Mini Maker” workshop in Moncton plans to take that idea a step further and teach the entrepreneurs of the future how to make money out of that lemonade.
On November 26, at Moncton’s Venn Innovation Centre, children between the ages of four and nine will learn how to create, manage, and run a business by working in teams to run their very own lemonade stands.
“The younger demographic is sometimes ignored because we don’t give these kids enough recognition for their abilities,” says Renée Warren, founder of the Mini Maker workshop. “We don’t realize they are actually capable of understanding entrepreneurship.”
After enrolling her son in primary school, Warren was worried that he would not receive some of the entrepreneurial skills she had planned to teach him through homeschooling. Rather than forgetting about the curriculum she had planned for her son, she decided he, and other children as well, would benefit from learning these skills.
“I thought, ‘let’s create a fun little event called the Mini Maker Workshop and invite likeminded families who want to teach their kids what it’s like to start a business, how businesses work, the mindset in the business world, and the skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur.’ ”
Forty kids and their parents will attend the event and will be taught various business concepts and techniques such as how to formally introduce yourself and give a proper handshake. There will be four guest speakers who will work with the children through fun activities to help foster some of the basic skills necessary for when they grow up into the working world.
It’s just the little things and we are trying to plant the seed,” said Warren, “Not to say that all of the kids want to grow up and be an entrepreneur, but we are giving them the skills that they would need in any career.”
At the end of the event, the kids will be split into four teams with four lemonade stands. They will work together and decide on who does what for their stand, such as who will be the CEO, the marketer or the money-manager, and how they want to design their lemonade stand.
Warren hopes the event will expand across New Brunswick and beyond as well.
“There are a lot of great programs out there like Junior Achievement and Wee College, but there’s just not enough and I really feel like the Mini Maker workshop would be great for other communities,” she says.
The event takes place from 1 – 4 pm Sunday, November 26 and will cost 25$ per child. The children will all be placed into a draw and four kids will be able to take their team’s lemonade stand home with them at the end.
“I would love to drive down the road in the summertime and see all these kids from the Mini Maker workshop setting up their own lemonade stands and using the skills that we taught them,” says Warren.