This is what the Bloomington Lemonade Day website has to say about this event:
Lemonade Day is a free, fun, experiential learning program that teaches youth how to start, own and operate their own business – a lemonade stand. It began in Houston, Texas in 2007. Since then it has grown from 2,700 kids to 120,000 kids in 31 cities across America and Canada in 2011 – including ours!
The foremost objective of Lemonade Day is to empower youth to take ownership of their lives and become productive members of society – the business leaders, social advocates, volunteers, and forward thinking citizens of tomorrow.
Each child that registers receives a backpack with an Entrepreneur Workbook that teaches them the 14 lessons of Lemonade Day like creating budgets, setting profit-making goals, serving customers, repaying investors, and giving back to the community. Along the way, they acquire skills in goal-setting, problem solving, and gain self-esteem critical for future success. They keep all the money they make and are encouraged to spend some, save some and share some.
I'll admit, I wanted to stop at every single stand, take pictures, reward the kids for their hard work and all that they learned. But stands were literally ALL OVER town. There were over 20 locations with lemonade stands, and many locations hosted more than one stand. Not to mention, there were many neighborhoods not even listed!
The best part of all, the kids were actually learning something! Their lessons included all of the following:
Financial Literacy & Economics
capital equipment & consumables
supply & demand
credit, debt, gross & net income
marginal utility
return on investment
compound interest
College Readiness & Career
critical thinking & collaboration
interest in attending college
civic responsibility
customer service
teamwork & problem solving
presentation skills & design
Life Skills/Personal Development
leadership
belief that attaining goals is within reach
personal productivity
self-direction & time management
social responsibility & charity
high order thinking
social skills & self confidence
Academics
math calculations
reading & interpreting data
oral & written communication
capital equipment & consumables
supply & demand
credit, debt, gross & net income
marginal utility
return on investment
compound interest
College Readiness & Career
critical thinking & collaboration
interest in attending college
civic responsibility
customer service
teamwork & problem solving
presentation skills & design
Life Skills/Personal Development
leadership
belief that attaining goals is within reach
personal productivity
self-direction & time management
social responsibility & charity
high order thinking
social skills & self confidence
Academics
math calculations
reading & interpreting data
oral & written communication
