This morning, our 5-year-old daughter sold us 3 red apples for 3 quarters each.

The exercise was part of the annual Apple Market in her kindergarten class, where each student took on a different “job” to run a mini-market for class parents and teachers.

For the past month, the kids have been preparing for market day, and the energy in the room was palpable.

Every kid was beyond delighted to have a chance to take on a very real job as a vendor, a greeter, or a checkout person. And the parents reveled in the opportunity to see their kids in an entirely new mode.

What I loved about the mini-market was how closely it mirrored what we do in the “real world” to sell things.

The kids prepped for market day for over month, which included:

• Conducting “taste test” of different apple varietals and talked about words to use to describe the flavor profiles to different customers

• Making their own D.I.Y. apple-inspired art (i.e. bookmarks and digital apple art), which they laminated and sold

• Hyping up the market for weeks at home to make sure all of their parents were excited to show up (quarters in hand) and buy apples

As we left the market (after spending 36 quarters on apples, bookmarks, and apple art), Jason turned to me and said,

“You know, this is the kind of thing that I would really have remembered as a kindergartener.”

I knew he was right.

You can learn about things like apples and money for months on end, but until you actually do something tactile (like sell them), it’s hard to really get how all the pieces fit together.

This isn’t the first time I’ve worked with students to promote an entrepreneurial mindset in traditionally academic settings. But I’ve never seen it happen at such a young age.

What’s nice about project-based learning like this is that it takes an inherently complex topic (i.e. capitalism) and makes it immediately accessible to anyone (yes, even kindergarteners).

It was also a good reminder that great teachers are ones who can take complicated problems and make them accessible and relatable.

After all, if you can teach capitalism to a kindergartener, surely you can teach AI to a grown-up.

Maybe more of us should take on a kindergarten mindset when learning new things. Getting hands-on is what makes the learning stick.

This morning, our 5-year-old daughter sold us 3 red apples for 3 quarters each.

The exercise was part of the annual Apple Market in her kindergarten class, where each student took on a different “job” to run a mini-market for class parents and teachers.

For the past month, the kids have been preparing for market day, and the energy in the room was palpable.

Every kid was beyond delighted to have a chance to take on a very real job as a vendor, a greeter, or a checkout person. And the parents reveled in the opportunity to see their kids in an entirely new mode.

What I loved about the mini-market was how closely it mirrored what we do in the “real world” to sell things.

The kids prepped for market day for over month, which included:

• Conducting “taste test” of different apple varietals and talked about words to use to describe the flavor profiles to different customers

• Making their own D.I.Y. apple-inspired art (i.e. bookmarks and digital apple art), which they laminated and sold

• Hyping up the market for weeks at home to make sure all of their parents were excited to show up (quarters in hand) and buy apples

As we left the market (after spending 36 quarters on apples, bookmarks, and apple art), Jason turned to me and said,

“You know, this is the kind of thing that I would really have remembered as a kindergartener.”

I knew he was right.

You can learn about things like apples and money for months on end, but until you actually do something tactile (like sell them), it’s hard to really get how all the pieces fit together.

This isn’t the first time I’ve worked with students to promote an entrepreneurial mindset in traditionally academic settings. But I’ve never seen it happen at such a young age.

What’s nice about project-based learning like this is that it takes an inherently complex topic (i.e. capitalism) and makes it immediately accessible to anyone (yes, even kindergarteners).

It was also a good reminder that great teachers are ones who can take complicated problems and make them accessible and relatable.

After all, if you can teach capitalism to a kindergartener, surely you can teach AI to a grown-up.

Maybe more of us should take on a kindergarten mindset when learning new things. Getting hands-on is what makes the learning stick.