March and April Preschool: Work, Money, and Entrepreneurship

These last two months of preschool were some of my favorites. We introduced the concept of work to the kids at the beginning of April. They read books about people at work, played BusyTown, and talked about what their dad’s did for work.

The next week we went to Fresh Thyme, a local grocery store, for a field trip. They rolled out the red carpet for those kids! We got a tour of each department and received generous samples of cookies, sushi, and freshly squeezed orange juice.

For our final field trip we all rode the bus to campus and visited each dad at work. Scott Jensen showed the kids liquid nitrogen and froze a few things after we visited his office and saw that he wrote lots of stuff. At Devon Cook’s the kids got cookies and talked through all the cool decorations people have at their desks and saw that he wrote lots of stuff. At Andrew’s he showed them the lab through the window and heard that he wrote lots of stuff. We had a picnic at the young building and then caught the bus home. We felt pretty triumphant successfully taking nine kids on the city bus! Our kids also know that their dad’s write for work – life of a grad student.

In May we introduced the concept of money. The kids learned the name of the different coins and their values. We read Pig Pig Gets a Job and talked about ways they could earn money. We also talked about what they with their money: pay tithing, save, and spend. Nathan “read” the story to Laura while we were waiting for preschool to start.

I came up with the idea to make banks for the kids. Andrew was trying to get ready for a conference and was doing a lot of 3D printing and he kindly did some laser cutting for me while he waited. Emily helped me sand, assemble, and glue all of the banks together. At preschool the kids each sanded their lid and applied beeswax so it would open and close smoothly.

While I was feeding Laura upstairs Emily used a sharpie to write her preferred name on her bank based on her love of the nutcracker.

I love how they turned out and it was a great project to do with my kids!

The next week each kids made their own batch of cookies to sell. We priced their product (50 cents per cookie) and made signs. The kids came up with some great phrases to advertise, “These Cookies are Yummy”, as well as specified the different kinds of cookies that were available.

We went to campus the next week to sell the cookies (we froze them and thoroughly tested them the day of and they were amazing). We lucked out in the first few minutes because a group of undergraduate girls came and gawked at the cuteness of the kids and once one stepped forward to buy something they all lined up. They made around $20 with loads of leftover cookies for us to eat.

It was a great experience because they learned how to speak up and make a clear offer, as well as get their first taste at clear rejection. It was also a little bit adventurous because our stroller had a completely flat tire so it was a little crazy trying to juggle the nine kids.