Sure, it's an old standby, but that's because everybody loves a lemonade stand.
A word of caution: Do this one on a weekend because, with the majority of Canadian women working, neighbourhoods tend to be empty during the week. Get the kids to Google lemonade recipes, go buy the ingredients, keep the receipt and then make the lemonade.
Facilitate (but do not control) a formal meeting to set the price of a glass of lemonade. Develop your junior MBA's biz minds by asking them to figure out first what it costs to make one glass of lemonade (remember that receipt you saved) and then help them figure out what they should charge per glass. Negotiate who gets what percentage of the profits. This is applied math – it will do them good.
Using found materials from around the house, make signs to advertise the stand, and make the stand itself. Create a roster of who stands behind the booth, and when. Great entrepreneurs have sprung from such humble roots.
Joanne Kates is the director of Camp Arowhon in Algonquin Park