All Collections

Belonging. New friends. Fresh foods. Joy. Embracing a whole-child perspective, this playlist celebrates the many everyday ways we can nourish youth health and wellness. Dive into this collection and you’ll find blood-pumping relay races, team-building balloon tosses, and creativity-boosting game design. Plus this playlist is brimming with learning resources you can use to introduce youth to yoga, mindfulness meditation, and the health benefits of seasonal fruits and vegetables!

“Physical activity, creative expression, and social interaction are all essential for well-rounded development that goes beyond the classroom. Whether it’s through sports, outdoor adventures, or introductions to wellness, youth learn the value of taking care of their body and mind. And that’s a cornerstone of their success and happiness.” — Richmond Brown, Jr.

Richmond Brown, Jr. is a native of Charleston, SC who recently relocated to Los Angeles, CA continuing 15 years of dedication and service in leadership in the out-of-school time field. As the Associate Director of Programs with Woodcraft Rangers, he oversees expanded learning partnerships and 21st CCLC programs throughout the Los Angeles area.

This foundational series of activities introduces elementary students to the concept of entrepreneurship. Expanding beyond the idea that entrepreneurs are just people who set up and run a company, the team at VentureLab wants students to also develop an entrepreneurial way of thinking and acting on ideas.

Through this collection of activities, students develop an understanding of the basic entrepreneurial skills and mindset, as well as what it means and feels like to be an entrepreneur.

Activity 1 ("What is an Entrepreneur?") introduces students to what entrepreneurs are, with students creating a poster of themselves using key words centered on the entrepreneurial mindset.

Activity 2 ("Idea Journals and the Entrepreneur Song") introduces the Idea Journal, a notebook where students can record all of their great ideas in one place. Students also learn a song and the entrepreneurial mindset.

In Activity 3 ("Entrepreneurs, Help Heather!") students design a perch to help an imaginary very tiny friend who wants to be able to see around the room. This problem-solving will help students to experience what it's like to be an entrepreneur.

Activity 4 ("Product Analysis & Snapshot of Famous Entrepreneur, Indra Nooyi") is all about analyzing different products and thinking about the entrepreneur behind the product and what they thought about for it to come to life. This activity will really kick start student interest as they consider the wider world of business and entrepreneurship.

Finally, after looking at what goes into creating a product and learning about what appeals to customers, students will draw three cards from three different categories in Activity 5 ("Draw Three") and be challenged to come up with a new product idea.

This is a series on play and being playful, considered cornerstones of creativity and idea generation.

In the first activity, "Play Stations," students are provided with the opportunity to play and reconnect with their own innate creativity.

In the second activity, "Wacky Inventions," students work in groups to use existing products and objects to come up with (and then act out) the wackiest inventions they can think of.

Why is play important? There is significant evidence that many ideas for new products and services were developed through playing around with ideas, materials and products. Play itself gives us a fresh perspective which is often critical in solving problems and being innovative.

Play also helps us better understand the world around us because we can explore things in a fun way - we can make and build, create new worlds and personas, play new games and break the rules without fear of consequences. Play helps entrepreneurs innovate because it's risk-free—there's no judgment or failure when you're playing.

Using play and being playful as a tool for developing creativity can improve one's ability to generate ideas and solve problems. Often, to be able to come up with lots of ideas people need to be given permission to play around and be free from judgment!