One cool day last fall, my son told me he had a brilliant idea to make money. He wanted to make a lemonade stand. The timing wasn’t quite right, being that summer was over and no one was looking for a way to cool down. I told him it would have to wait for next summer, but that we would definitely do it. Well, at least once a week since that conversation took place he has reminded me about the lemonade stand. Two weeks ago, he frantically told me that summer was almost over, and we needed to get the stand going “right now!”. Realizing that he was right, and that summer is beginning to wind down, I promised him we would start working on the stand.
A Week of Learning
As a homeschool family, any opportunity to turn something the kids are passionate about into a lesson for school is more than welcome. The lemonade stand was no different, so I started thinking about all the different business aspects we could touch on over the course of the week. On Monday, we spent the day brainstorming what equipment we would need, finding a recipe, and searching the cost of each item. My daughter practiced writing different lemonade related words on the whiteboard, helped brainstorm ideas and then drew a picture of what she thought the stand should look like. Tuesday was money day. Some of the topics discussed were material cost, overhead cost, cost per unit, breakeven point, profit margins, food cost percentage, and profit sharing. Adapting this lesson to the needs of my kindergartener was a little bit more difficult, so she practiced writing numbers, reviewed currency values and then did some book work and reading practice. Wednesday, we went back over our list of materials and discussed what could be done to lower both overhead and material costs. We brainstormed ideas of how we could source or repurpose items for cheap or free to reduce costs and pass along that savings to the consumer. After finding a few places to shave off a few dollars, we shifted the discussion to advertising. Both kids were very involved with thinking of all different types of advertisements. My favorite suggestion was flying a banner behind an airplane, which gave us all a good chuckle. I was really surprised by some of the input from my kindergartener, which made me realize that she is paying a lot closer attention to the world around her than I give her credit for. Next up was brainstorming name ideas. This proved to be the most difficult part of the project so far, as both kids had to agree on the name. After a bit of deliberation, a name was agreed upon. They both wanted to draw more pictures of how the stand should look, and who the customers would be. Most of the day Thursday was spent gathering materials. The kids had been able to source a cooler and lemon juicer to borrow which required a drive to their grandfather’s house to pick up. After spending some time with him and telling him all about their plans, we departed and headed to Walmart to purchase the rest of the supplies. When we got home, work started on the sign making. This was a great opportunity for both of them to practice handwriting, think about advertising principles, and work together. On Friday, it was time to squeeze the lemons. The kids honestly surprised me with their hard work and determination. They squeezed every single lemon themselves, taking turns when they’d get tired. It took nearly all day to get the lemonade made. The work wasn’t over after the squeezing was done. There were more signs to be made. My daughter decided she wanted to draw lemons on the sign, but didn’t know how to so she found a YouTube video to teach her how to draw them. Finally, after dinner, the signs were complete. All the preparations had been made and the kids couldn’t wait to wake up in the morning. They laid out their clothes for the following day as if it were the first day of school and tucked themselves into bed the quickest I’ve ever seen.
Lemonade Time
The day had finally come. The morning was hectic with the final touches. A run to buy a bag of ice, picking up balloons for the signs, getting the table and chairs set up, and getting the signs in place. The moment everything was ready to go the kids were manning their stations. Ten minutes, and zero customers later, they both exclaimed what a terrible idea this was and how they weren’t going to make any money. It was time for a lesson in patience. They sat there, silent for a few minutes, and then it happened. The first car stopped, and a family got out. The smiles on my kids faces were priceless as they put the proceeds of their first sale in the money box. The next two hours were a fairly steady stream of patrons, all thirsty for some fresh lemonade. Almost everyone told them to keep the change and my son began expressing how awesome it was that they had made so much in “bonus money”. By 2:30 traffic had slowed, and the amount of lemonade left had dwindled. The stand was set to close at 3. There was hardly any lemonade left and the kids wanted to just call it a day and pack up. I had to remind them that they advertised they would be there till 3 and unless they ran out of lemonade they had to sit out there, and it’s a good thing they did. At 2:45 the last customer came along and purchased the remaining two cups of lemonade, leaving them a pretty nice tip as well. Leaping Lemons was a success, and it was time to pack it all up.
A Surprising Success
To be honest, my husband and I were expecting the kids to have unmet expectations of their business venture, but we figured that it was a good lesson that things don’t always go how you expect. I guess the lesson was still in play, except things didn’t go as expected for any of us. They ended up making way more money than any of us ever imagined they would, averaging over twice the price per cup they were charging. I had made a post on our neighborhood Facebook page in hopes to bring a few customers in for the kids since we don’t live on a particularly high traffic road. Almost everyone who showed up said they saw the post so they came to support the kids. I was blown away by the kindness and generosity of our neighbors, most of whom we haven’t met. There were even a few people who couldn’t make it to the stand but still wanted to show support so sent the kids money on Venmo and Cash App. It was really amazing to watch the outpouring of support for a couple of kids trying to make a few bucks through their hard work.
The Fruits of their Labor
After dividing the profit between them, the kids were eager to use their newfound riches. They both know the importance of being a good steward with money but had a few ideas of ways to spend a portion of their funds. My son asked me to order the basking platform he’s been wanting to get for his pet turtle, and my daughter asked if I could bring her to the store to buy the ChapStick she wanted. Of course, we were happy to let them do both of these things. On Sunday, they asked if they could each use some of their money and go to Dave and Busters. We agreed to let them use their money for this, since they had worked hard and should be able to use some of their money for fun. The trip to Dave and Busters was very different than any other time we had been there before. The fact that they were using their own money made them way more selective about what games they wanted to play. Where they could have previously blown through their allotted chips in half an hour, it took nearly two hours before they had used up their funds. The difference in attitude and behavior was night and day. I was completely expecting them to blow through their game chips really quickly and then either ask to use more money or realize that they essentially wasted their money. However, the appreciation and consideration that they showed was truly astonishing. They were completely satisfied with their decision and fully enjoyed their time at the arcade. I’m really glad that they had such a positive experience enjoying the fruits of their labor.
The Best Kind of Learning
Even though the lemonade stand required quite a bit of effort on my part, it was so worth it to see the amount of learning that it inspired. Hands-on projects provide such a rich learning experience and address so many more topics than what we’d typically teach through workbook led learning. These types of projects provide kids with self-confidence, social opportunities, growth opportunities and the ability to take the lead in their learning. Being a busy mom, I secretly kind of dread the idea of any project that requires this much planning. It just sounds like soooo much work, and it is, but it’s one hundred percent worth it. And honestly, it’s actually pretty fun once you get the ball rolling. I’m hoping to do a few more “big” projects over the course of the year because the return on investment is incredible. My kids learned business principles, dedication, hard work, customer service, and strengthened their sibling bond. And that is what happens when life gives you lemons, if you let it.