Students at South Mountain Elementary School in South Orange, NJ learned how to take an every-day problem and turn it into a big opportunity.

First, students worked together in groups of two to identify and solve challenges they saw in their community and learned how to create problem and solution statements. Then they pitched these ideas Shark Tank style to a panel of judges, including a peer vote.

After determining they wanted to solve for the lack of warm beverage options at the neighborhood sledding hill, more than 50 fourth graders conceptualized a pop-up cafe serving hot chocolate and coffee on snow days. The students broke into teams of 5 over four weeks to explore various components of launching a business, including branding, marketing, pricing, permitting, operations and staffing.

The branding and marketing teams learned to collaborate on design, messaging and brand identity, while the operations and pricing teams worked together on sourcing and costing materials. While the business, Hot Hills, never officially was able to launch due to the lack of snow, the students celebrated being able to present a business plan to their teachers and even had the opportunity to pitch and discuss their concept with the creator of Scream Truck.

“I liked Big Idea Machines because it helps you learn how to make your own business, but in a fun way. One of my favorite parts was making the products.”

Theo participated in the inaugural Big Idea Machines class where he took his fandom of Dungeons of Dragons and turned it into a business. Theo stretched his business muscles when learning about the competitive landscape, marketing materials and even pricing space rentals.