TEAM ATB ACTIVITY GUIDE
Entrepreneurs see challenges as opportunities and find unique ways around obstacles;
they are creative problem solvers. Through the activities in this unit, kids learn
to think about things in different ways and open up to change. They explore how
they feel about risk taking and failure and see that these are part of everyday
life. Kids see that risks must be taken in a responsible way and that mistakes and
failures often lead to success. They come to understand that they can find solutions
and succeed—if they keep trying.
• Review Life Tree progress, if applicable
• Redeem Team ATB Bucks and post ATB Badges
• Watch video(s)
• Do JUMPSTARTER
• Do EXPLORE IT! or IN_DEPTH Activity
• Discuss quote or profile
Watch any of the videos below or watch the featured videos (Skateboardin’ Gal
and/or Reversal of Fortunes) and explore the key concepts with kids. Grace
and Simon put their heads together to create a new product to make a common item
(her skateboard) better fit her needs. Zach turns a problem into a solution when
he invents a new backpack. Ask: Have you ever taken something you have and changed
it to fit your needs? Have kids share their stories. (Examples might range
from adding candy to plain vanilla ice cream to bending a baseball mitt to make
it more flexible.) Next ask kids to brainstorm ideas for this dilemma: How might
you adapt a skateboard to roll smoothly over rough ground?
· Hackers (taking responsibility) : Cal hacks into his school’s computers,
gets caught, and ends up discovering that it’s better to use your skills for good
than for harm.
· Corny but True (ability to embrace change): Cornelia has to find
a new direction for her booming popcorn business when her parents move the family
from the big city to the country.
· Pet Rollers (risk taking): Zach needs to find a new way to control
all the hair his pets are shedding—or give his pets away.
· Skateboardin’ Gal (lateral thinking): Skateboarder Grace and science-buff
Simon put their heads together to create an amazing new skateboard.
· Cookie Crumbles (persistence/perseverance): Sales are slow at Jenna’s
once-thriving cookie business until she finally comes up with a new flavor that’s
a smash hit.
· Reversal of Fortunes (problem solving): Zach turns a problem into
a lucrative solution when he creates a new pack with wheels that can actually carry
him.
· Toast of the Town (learning through failure): Grace has a great
idea and after many failed attempts creates the best thing since sliced bread.
Videos are on the ATB DVD included with this guide and online at allterrainbrain.org.
QUOTE
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
—Albert Einstein, American physicist and Nobel Prize winner
Failure is a natural part of entrepreneurship and of success. Ask: What does this
quote mean to you? Do you agree with what Mr. Einstein says? Why or why not? What
do you think you can learn from mistakes?
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Concepts:
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lateral thinking, problem solving, persistence/perseverance
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Time:
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10 minutes
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Materials:
| balls (softballs, tennis balls or larger balls)
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Goal:
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to explore creative problem solving
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Sometimes the problem is the solution. We just have to dig a little deeper
and find the opportunity the problem presents. This activity inspires kids’ creative
brain power by encouraging them to look at a problem from a new approach.
You can do this activity indoors or outdoors. To get kids’ attention focused in
front of them, have kids form two lines and toss a ball back and forth a few times.
Then hold a ball in front of you and ask kids to do the same. (Note: It is very
important that kids start the activity this way.) Ask: How can you throw a
ball so that it comes back to you? Explain to kids that they can’t tie anything
to the ball, and the ball can’t touch anything or anyone else. Hand out the balls
and give kids a few minutes to find a solution. Some kids will eventually come up
with the solution (to throw the ball straight into the air).
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Concepts:
| lateral thinking, problem solving, persistence/perserverance
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Time:
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10 minutes
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Materials:
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dimes, clear plastic bottles (one for each team), damp sponge cut to fit in the bottlenecks
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Goal:
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to encourage looking at problems from different angles.
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Concentrating on only one solution can keep us from figuring things out. Challenge
kids to look at the problem from different angles and try several solutions.
Create teams of two to four kids. Give each team a “corked” bottle with a dime inside.
Set the challenge: You’re on a desert island. This bottle, with a dime inside, has
just washed ashore. You need the dime so that you can use it as a screwdriver to
finish building the boat that will get you back to safety. You have to remove the
dime without taking out the cork. You also can’t break the bottle because you need
it to carry fresh water.
Give teams time to work on their solutions by experimenting with ideas. Kids are
likely to want to pull out the cork or keep shaking the bottle. Remind them that
there is a way to get the dime out without pulling out the cork. If no one is able
to solve the puzzle, show kids how they can push the cork into the bottle and shake
the dime out.
Each kid who solves a JUMPSTARTER earns 2 Team ATB Bucks.
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Concepts:
| lateral thinking, persistence/perseverance, problem solving
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Time:
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15 minutes
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Materials:
| 1 belt or waist-length piece of rope and a 48-foot-long rope
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Goal:
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to use lateral thinking in problem solving
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Here’s a provocative activity that uses a piece of rope and a belt (or another piece
of rope as a belt) to challenge kids to think outside the box.
Cut the rope into 6 to 8 lengths, about 6 feet each. Tie one end of each piece of
rope to the belt or to a waist-length piece of rope. Have one kid put on the belt
or tie on the rope. Have the other kids each take the end of one rope and form a
circle around the kid with the belt.
The challenge is for the kid in the center to figure out a way to get out of the
circle while the other kids try to keep him/her in the middle. Kids will typically
tug, pull, jump, and crawl as they plan their strategies. Ask different volunteers
to stand in the middle. After a few tries, kids most likely will be unsuccessful.
Put yourself in the center. As you are surrounded by the kids holding parts of the
rope, simply unbuckle the belt or untie the rope and walk away.
Several of the kids may claim that you cheated, that they didn’t know they could
do that, and so on. Remind kids that you never said the rope wearer couldn’t
do this—there were no restrictions on how he or she could or couldn’t escape. Point
out that kids were making up their own rules and limitations. Ask: How could thinking
outside of the box have helped solve this problem?
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Concepts:
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lateral thinking, persistence/perseverance, problem solving
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Time:
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20 minutes
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Materials:
| a big table, at least 4' x 4'; straws; 10 table tennis balls; 10 golf balls; clock, timer, or stopwatch
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Goal:
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to use lateral thinking in problem solving
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In this fun challenge kids use lateral thinking to look at a problem “sideways”
to find a new solution that is not immediately obvious.
Place 10 table tennis balls on the table. Create a team of 3 or 5 kids; the other
kids will be game fans and cheer their team on. Give the team about 10 straws and
challenge them to clear the area of the table tennis balls in a minute. The only
rule is that they can’t touch the balls with anything, including their hands. (Kids
will probably figure out that they can blow the table tennis balls with the straws.)
Now have them try the same thing, this time using golf balls. Since the golf balls
are much heavier than the table tennis balls, the kids will not be able to solve
the problem using the same resources.
Ask kids to focus on the solution and think about what resources are available to
help them get the job done. (They still cannot touch the balls.) Ask: What else can
you use besides the straws? If they are stumped, ask the onlookers for suggestions.
(Note: A simple solution is to add more kids to the team. Kids could also tilt the
table. But kids are creative! They may actually come up with more solutions, such
as using more than one straw in their mouth.)
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Concepts:
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ability to embrace change, risk taking, problem solving, persistence/perseverance
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Time:
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20 minutes
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Materials:
| balloons and a chair for each kid
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Goal:
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to experience and adjust to change
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Kids’ lives are changing all the time. Some kids find change refreshing and exciting.
Others are more fearful and hesitant about it. Yet change is a part of everyday
life. Change can be very helpful because it often demands that we come up with new
solutions to old situations.
In this activity, kids play a game in which they explore change, take risks, overcome
obstacles, and adjust to whatever comes their way. They also learn how to persevere
toward a clear goal.
Have kids stand in a circle and bat a balloon to each other. Then give them each
a chair and widen the circle. Kids must now keep one hand on the back of a chair
while batting the balloon and keeping it in the air. For the final change have kids
keep the balloon in the air with both hands on the back of a chair.
Take a poll after the activity and ask: What did you like about this challenge? What
strategies did you use to adapt as the game changed? Which ones proved more successful?
Did you work together as a team?
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Concepts:
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ability to embrace change, risk taking, problem solving
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Time:
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20 minutes
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Materials:
| a chair for each kid, paper and pencils or pens
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Goal:
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to explore new ways to create solutions
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KidsHave you ever read a story that makes you feel happy, sad, or gets your heart
racing? That’s because our brains can’t completely separate what’s happening to
us in real life versus what’s happening in our thoughts. The images that the mind
creates can be almost as real as actual events. This can be used to our benefit.
In this activity, kids learn to relax and quiet their minds, then get their creativity
flowing by visualizing how to take risks responsibly and overcome obstacles in their
way.
Gather kids together and have them sit comfortably in chairs in a circle. You can
play soft music if you wish. Have the kids relax, close their eyes, and do some
slow deep breathing for a few minutes to relax even more. Then ask them to imagine
the following as you describe it.
You’ve decided to have a car wash to raise some money. You buy the soap, gather the
towels and buckets, and find a location, but on the day you decide to have it, no
cars come. How can you get the word out to your potential customers? Visualize what
you would do (pause for about 5 seconds so kids can imagine). Could you make
posters that point the way? Could you stand on the street to get people’s attention?
(Pause for about 5 seconds.)
You’re standing on the street corner waving your arms when a car stops to ask you
what the matter is. You explain about the car wash and direct them to the area in
front of where you live when you realize that there is no one there to wash the
car! You do have a cell phone. Who can you call to come and help? (Pause
for about 5 seconds.) Your little brother is the only one available and really wants
to help you. The only problem is, he’s never washed a car before. Now what do you
do? (pause for the last time for 5 seconds).
Tell the kids that they will sit in silence for a minute and then they will open
their eyes. Allow them a few minutes to readjust. Ask them to think about how they
overcame the obstacles to their plan. Were there risks involved? Did they adjust
easily to the changes? Finally, ask kids to write about some of their thoughts about
their experience.
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Concepts:
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all unit concepts
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Time:
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45 minutes
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Materials:
| eggs, straws, wooden craft sticks, tape
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Goal:
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to design and test an idea until it works
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Entrepreneurs are always thinking of new ideas and products. But sometimes they
have to design and then redesign those ideas, based on research and input from clients,
customers, and business partners. Instead of giving up at the first sign of a problem,
they keep refining that original idea until it works.
In this activity, kids are challenged to invent a new structure to surround an egg
to protect it from breaking when it’s dropped.
1. Explain this scenario: You are part of a team that is designing a new spaceship
for NASA. The ship has been designed to look just like an egg. Your team must design
a system that will keep the ship intact and undamaged, in case of a malfunction
while landing on Mars. It’s critical that the spaceship and its cargo land safely.
2. Divide kids into teams of 3 or 4. Using an egg as their spaceship, they will
need to make sure the egg is protected when it “lands.” They’ll use straws and wooden
craft sticks to protect their “craft.” Each prototype will be tested by dropping
the egg from a distance of 8 feet in the air (which simulates the force of a rough
moon landing).
3. Determine a safe testing area such as a stairwell. Give teams their eggs and
building materials. Encourage them to think about how to arrange the straws, sticks,
and tape to cushion the egg spaceship. Give teams plenty of time to create their
models.
4. Ask teams to show and explain their models. Next do the “official” NASA tests
by dropping their eggs. Which ones survived the landing intact? Teams that have
intact spaceships stepped up to the challenge!
Ask: What happened to your spaceships (eggs)? Was your design successful? Why or
why not? What would you change about your design next time?
Take It Further
If their first test fails, have kids redesign and retest their spaceship. Successful
teams can assist as needed.
Kids can further explore the entrepreneurial concepts and earn 3 Team ATB Bucks
by completing a Team ATB Web Challenge online at allterrainbrain.org. Ask them to
click on the Activities page, complete the No Problem! activity, and report back
at the next meeting. Kids can also earn their Responsibility, Embracing Change,
Risk Acceptance, Lateral Thinking, Perseverance, Problem Solving, or Failure Is
OK badges by clicking on ATB TV in the upper left corner, scrolling down to the
list of topics, clicking on one of them, and completing all 3 activities. Ask kids to print the Badges found on the upper right corner of the Road Map page, cut out any badges they've earned, and bring them to the next Team ATB meeting so they can add them to their Team ATB Road Map.
Share this real-life story with your group to inspire their entrepreneurial dreams.
Krysta Morlan
Courtesy of Kathy Morlan
Krysta Morlan is a very determined person. Krysta never let her disability stop
her from dreaming and designing. In fact, the ideas for some of her inventions came
from her therapy and treatment needs. She created things that were critical to her
well-being, knowing there were others who would find similar (and different!) uses
for her inventions. When she was only 15 years old, she invented a portable device
that cools skin under fiberglass casts. She also invented a waterbike—a semisubmersible,
fin-propelled vehicle you pump—for physical therapy, but that can also be used for
pure fun. It’s colorful and looks like it’s meant for play.
Today Krysta serves as a role model for teens. She likes talking to people about
science and inventing. Krysta believes that everyone has great insights for new
products. It’s just a matter of follow-through and commitment to getting it done.
Reflect on the profile:
Ask: Do you know someone who is inventive like Krysta? Have you ever created something
to help yourself? What was it? Why did you invent it?
Web
allterrainbrain.org
Extends the exploration of ATB concepts through fun activities and games, videos,
and young entrepreneur profiles.
Navajo Kids’ Candy Business
npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6617175&ft=1&f=1006
Describes a successful business organized by kids.
Books
Cunning Lateral Thinking Puzzles by Paul Sloane and Des MacHale (Sterling Publishing, 2006)
Presents several puzzlers with solutions that require thinking outside the box.
Mistakes That Worked: 40 Familiar Inventions and How They Came to Be by Charlotte Foltz Jones (Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1991)
Fun facts and anecdotes behind unplanned inventions, but beware the ethnic cartoon
stereotypes.
Next to Team ATB Wrap-Up: Be An Entrepreneur!...
