Entrepreneurship Activities for Students: Amber’s Green SuperCamp Reflection

entrepreneurship activities for students Amber leading run at Green SuperCamp

Entrepreneurship activities for students do not always look like business plans and market stalls. Sometimes they look like leadership camps, team challenges, goal setting, confidence building and learning how to step out of your comfort zone.

Amber’s Green SuperCamp reflection shows how real-world learning experiences can help children grow in confidence, courage, communication and initiative.

entrepreneurship activities for students Amber at Green SuperCamp with new friends
Amber and new friends.

Entrepreneurship Activities for Students at Green SuperCamp

For our readers who were expecting Part 3 to our “Teaching Your Kids To Achieve Success” series of articles, I’d like to let you know that will be up very soon and it will be well worth the read.

Flynn and Amber Howitt have just returned from a Young Leaders Camp in Bali. As it is so fresh and exciting, I thought we would interrupt our five-part series and share some snippets of Amber’s experience whilst on camp.

Before I hand you over to Amber, I would like to give our readers a little background about Green SuperCamp, which was held at Green School Bali.

In 2012, three of our children — Kaitlin, Jai and Flynn — attended the camp and returned full of experience and wisdom. The camp is designed to create young leaders who care for our future world.

It does this by building their confidence, encouraging them to think big, and giving them the skills to learn, interact and step out of their comfort zones. In this way, it becomes one of those powerful entrepreneurship activities for students that teaches far more than a normal classroom lesson.

Leadership and learning activities:

student leadership activity Amber participating in a team performance
Amber participating in a team performance.
entrepreneurship activities for students Flynn learning trust through teamwork
Flynn learning to trust.

This year Amber was old enough to go along too. She was very excited because she had heard all the awesome stories and learning from her siblings’ camp experiences the year before.

Also, a bunch of friends from Western Australia were coming along as well — Maddi Barrett, Macy Hobson, Georgia Dewar and Lachlan McRoberts.

To learn more about the philosophy of Green School Bali, you can read our earlier article.

Amber Howitt’s Green SuperCamp Reflection

So enough from me… here is Amber Howitt’s Green SuperCamp reflection.

Green SuperCamp, for me, was an amazing experience! Everyone there is treated evenly and kindly. No one is excluded or mistreated, so everyone is happy.

Your phones and valuables are given in, but you can reunite with your valuables almost every night to contact your parents.

Learning through real activities:

student learning activity grinding grain at Green SuperCamp
Grinding grain.
entrepreneurship activities for students teamwork at Green SuperCamp
Flynn and his SuperCamp team.

The Green SuperCamp itself is built mainly out of bamboo. It is nurtured and cared for by the people within it.

They use water from their lake and purify it. People from the world outside Green School can come and collect the water for free and use it in their homes.

Green School is meant so people around the community can be involved with the school. They make their own power using solar energy and grow their own food in food gardens.

Goal Setting as Entrepreneurship Activities for Students

The camp has inspired me to do more with my life, rather than just sit around and be… normal.

It has inspired me to take challenges, adventures and think of the things I could be doing. Writing books and travelling around the world are two of my crazy ideas. Those things might be a little hard for someone at the age of eleven though, but I can try to work up to that goal.

The steps for goal making are:

  • Design it
  • Outline it
  • In your face — tackle barriers
  • Take action!

Because of this, goal setting is one of the most practical entrepreneurship activities for students. It helps children imagine a future, break it into steps and take responsibility for moving forward.

Facing challenges and building trust:

entrepreneurship activities for students high ropes course facing fears
High ropes course. Facing fears!
team trust activity for students Flynn floating on hands
Flynn floating on hands.

Learning Strategies and Student Confidence

We were taught Quantum Reading and Writing. I improved my reading speed with the same comprehension by over 100%.

I concentrated by using the Alpha State. Alpha State is a technique to relax and concentrate better.

The steps to Alpha State are:

  • Sit up
  • Breathe in and out
  • Close eyes
  • Think of a peaceful place
  • Roll eyes up and down
  • Open eyes
  • Concentrate

These strategies are useful because they help students understand how they learn. For entrepreneurial kids, focus, confidence and self-awareness are just as important as having a business idea.

Camp life and friendships:

student life skills activity preparing home grown food at camp
Maddi preparing the home grown food.
students building friendships at Green SuperCamp
Macy and Georgia

Communication as Entrepreneurship Activities for Students

The friendships you can make at Green SuperCamp are really special. I made friends with both team leaders and kids from all over the world.

It is really easy to do so because everyone wants to make friends. Sometimes your relationships can last forever.

Green SuperCamp teaches you how to have the courage to become friends. No one is alone at Green School or Green SuperCamp.

I also learnt techniques to help me learn. These help me improve my relationship with my teachers. We call this “SLANT”.

Here are the “Tips for Learning” or “SLANT”:

  • Sit up
  • Lean forward
  • Ask questions
  • Nod your head
  • Talk to your teacher

Communication skills are an important part of entrepreneurship activities for students. Students need to ask questions, listen well, speak clearly and build trust with people around them.

Thanking and Apologising

students saying goodbye to leaders after Green SuperCamp
Flynn saying goodbye to new friends!

We also learnt the importance of thanking people and apologising. We were taught how to do this properly.

We call the steps to thanking “OTFD” or “Open The Front Door”.

Observation, Think, Feel, Desire

We call the steps to apologise “AAMR”, pronounced “A Mr!”

Acknowledge, Apologise, Make it Right, Recommit

Eight Keys of Success

Lastly, we were taught the “Eight Keys of Success”. These are the keys that keep you on course for success.

For each of these keys, we learn a different hand movement. This helps us remember them.

Here they are:

  1. Integrity
  2. Failure Leads to Success
  3. Speak With Good Purpose
  4. This Is It
  5. Commitment
  6. Ownership
  7. Flexibility
  8. Balance

Altogether, these keys are another example of entrepreneurship activities for students because they build the habits children need for leadership, responsibility and future enterprise.

Why These Experiences Matter

If you read this and think, “Nah… my child wouldn’t want to go to that camp!” think again.

Any child, from any place, no matter what, will want to go to GreenSuperCamp.

Thank you to my parents and camp sponsors for making it possible for me to attend Green SuperCamp. Thank you to my friends and new friends that supported me on camp.

Also, thank you to all the team leaders and facilitators who taught me all the tools I need for life. Lastly, thank you my team. GO TEAM H!

Thanks Amber for your reflection.

Jai, Kaitlin and Lachlan are currently on the Senior Green SuperCamp. You can also read Jai’s Green SuperCamp experience and Flynn’s Green SuperCamp reflection.

Kaitlin also shared why she wanted to attend the Green SuperCamp in Why Our Kids Wanted to Attend the Green SuperCamp.

Our “Teaching Your Kids To Achieve Success” series will continue with Part 3. You can also read Part 1 and Part 2.

Key takeaway: Entrepreneurship activities for students can include leadership camps, goal setting, teamwork, confidence building, communication skills and real-world challenges. Amber’s Green SuperCamp reflection shows how these experiences help children grow.

Where to Next?

If you enjoyed Amber’s Green SuperCamp reflection, you may also like:

Amber would love to hear your comments. Be sure to ask her some questions below.

New from Old… Project 2!

Amber’s Rabbit Hutch project was hugely successful with her making an easy sale with excellent profit! She now was looking for a new Enterprise for Kids project to keep her enterprise momentum moving forward. So she planned to visit the Geraldton Recycling Centre with her Gran to see if she could find another opportunity.

Amber finds an interesting item.
Amber negotiates with the Recycling Man

 

 

Amber's pine timber display shelves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She was under instructions to only bring home something small, as we were to return to Burekup and we had a lot to fit into the car.

What Amber found was a small pine display cupboard. She thought that it would make a good doll house. As an alternative she could simply tidy it up and re sell it.

Click this link to see Amber tell about her plan for her new project!

She negotiated with the Recycling Centre man (batted her big blue eyes!) and bought the shelves for a couple of dollars. She sanded it back, gave it a coat of varnish and advertised it.

Sold for $15!!

 

... after a lick of varnish!

Once again Amber was happy with her profit. She added her cash to her money jar in readiness for her next Enterprise for Kids opportunity.

We’ve watched Amber’s confidence skyrocket from running her little business. She is developing skills to negotiate and with marketing. She is also learning to spot an opportunity. All important skills to becoming an entrepreneur!

We do hold the crystal ball and we know what Amber gets up to next! You will be amazed by the opportunities she finds.

Stay tuned for our next entrepreneurial blog. We will find out whether Flynn has been able to sell his honey!

Pulling the Money Bunny Out of the Hat!

Amber contemplating her enterprise.

Amber didn’t waste any time jumping into her New From Old money making enterprise. She bugged me to take her to the Dardanup Tip to see what she could find. So after her Saturday soccer game we paid a visit.

At the tip there is a salvage area where anything that could be recycled is put aside and sold.

Almost immediately Amber spotted an opportunity! She saw a damaged rabbit hutch. We looked over it and could see that it was generally in good structural condition and could easily be repaired. However, it did need a paint job. So Amber went up to the Tip man and struck up a deal. She bought the cage for $10.

Ten Dollars was a real bargain! We looked up the exact same cage sold online in kit form and saw that people were paying $180 for them.

Chayse helping Amber repair the rabbit hutch.
Amber fixing the door latch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arriving home there was a buzz of interest as the neighbouring kids headed around to see Amber’s rabbit hutch. They were really curious to see what she was up to. Amber bought a couple of paint brushes for $5, then using some old house paint she found in the shed, she and her friends, Darcy and Lauren, set to work painting. She also employed her brother Flynn and his mate Dan for $2 each to fix the broken part of the cage. They thought that would be awesome! Enterprise for Kids was now becoming infectious in the neighbourhood.

Amber employing Flynn to help her fix her rabbit hutch.
Darcy lends a helping hand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was all great fun and in no time at all the cage was ready to be sold. Amber continued her research into what to sell the cage for. She spoke with Darcy’s Mum about cages and also to Nicolette from next door. Both had owned rabbit cages and understood their value. Finally Amber decided that she would ask $90 for the bunny hutch.

Her next job was to put a free advert on the local Buy and Sell Bunbury Facebook page. She put her ad up with a photo and waited for a response.

You wouldn’t believe it! Within ten minutes the cage was sold for the full $90. In fact two other people had their hand up to buy the cage if the first deal fell through. Amber met and thanked the man who came round to pick the cage up and eagerly took the cash payment. She really did pull the money bunny out of the hat!

Now for the picture for Amber's Face Book advert
Amber's finished enterprise idea

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All up, an outstanding result! In only a few days, Amber’s profit was $71 after costs. She is well on the way to attaining her goal. With her money jar now looking very full, she was rearing to go for another visit to the tip! She has already begun developing an enterprise mindset around business and money and her financial IQ is growing!

We will let you know how Amber goes with her next “New From Old Project”.

Next up we will pay a visit to Flynn and see how his buzzing honey enterprise is going!