The complete guide to entrepreneurial education at all ages.

Entrepreneurial education, or enterprise education, doesn’t begin or end in the classroom. It’s at home, when we’re out and about, in the questions we ask, the people we speak to and the books we read. Becoming a resourceful, positive and creative person and knowing how to inspire those behaviours in others is the crux of being ‘enterprising’.

Here is our list of entrepreneurial education books and resources, available online, for all ages. This is by no means the finished list, so if you know any more resources that we should be mentioning just get in touch.

Clever Tykes (6–9 years old)

These four storybooks and accompanying resources follow characters Walk-it Willow, Code-it Cody, Change-it Cho and Write-it Ryan as they each turn their passion into a business or venture that they love. The stories inspire creative, positive and resourceful behaviour through the power of role models and are read in classrooms and at home all over the world.

Inspirational books for kids. Available here.

The Juicebox Jukebox (elementary school)

A musical YouTube channel created by a songwriting daddy and his kids. Fun and original music for children and their parents including the song ‘the ABCs of you’ which teaches toddlers, preschoolers and babies great new words like “kindness” “joy” and “optimistic.”

Learn the words and sing along! Channel here.

Swingly Storefronts (suitable for ages 3+)

An entrepreneurial mindset can guide kids to be resilient, creative, confident, critical thinkers. Taking young people from dress up to start up, the Swingly Doorway Storefronts hang in the doorway, creating fun, beautiful entrepreneurial play spaces. They spark the creative play that nurtures the entrepreneurial skills required to dream big.

Inspire creative play, check out the entrepreneurial storefront designs here.

Tunes Times Tables (elementary and middle school)

Learning your times tables might not seem like the most entrepreneurial of activities. But wait until you see kids who didn’t previously know their times tables not only learn them perfectly, but also to teach others to learn theirs! The founder of Tunes Times Tables, award-winning and super energetic Mr NK, swears he has a formula for inspiring the children he teaches to believe that anything is possible.

Show them just how capable they are. Album available to download here.

Kidpreneurs (6–12 years old)

A book that teaches children the basic principles of entrepreneurship and how to get started early, founded by brothers Matthew and Adam Toren. The brothers see the skill of entrepreneurship as just as important as mastering reading, writing, math and social skills. The book gives inspiration, advice and guidance that enable children to start and manage their own profitable business venture, right now.

Not just a book, the gift of a promise-filled future. Available here.

Lemonade Stand (8–13 years old)

A programme currently running in Singapore and Australia, with plans to expand further, Lemonade Stand aims to foster a sense of entrepreneurship and development of tech-based solutions. The two-day workshops, delivered during school holidays, involve kids in looking at things like business fundamentals, elevator pitches, lean startup methodologies and building websites! Its students are given an opportunity to come up with problems they want to solve and helped in using the tools to simplify their success.

Providing kids with the mindset and tools to go after their dreams and create a better world. More information here.

The Startup Squad (8–13 years old)

A Macmillan-published novel series for 8–14 year olds, co-authored by a former executive. Brian Weisfeld helped scale and build companies such as IMAX Corporation and Coupons.com but was inspired by his two daughters to create a novel series to inspire girls to open their first businesses and to empower them with an entrepreneurial mindset.

The books have been called THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB meets LEAN IN and each book in the series includes a fictional story about friendship and entrepreneurship among four sixth-grade girls, a non-fiction section of business lessons for kids drawn from the narrative, and an interview with a real-life CEO. Find the books here.

You Are Awesome (9–13 years old)

From its description on Amazon, we learned that this motivational book and accompanying journal is ideal for sharing with any youngster who might need a little bit of a confidence boost, especially if they are struggling with school work or sports. They will learn that by practising again and again, they can do anything their heart desires. Ella, age 13, said “[This book]really builds your confidence and shows you how the right mind-set can help you achieve your dreams… It shows that you have to be brave, prepare for failure and have self-belief.”

Find your confidence and dare to be brilliant at (almost) anything. Book and journal available here.

Dinner Table MBA (4–18+)

Taking the concept of the humble family dinner and turning it into a tool for success. Dinner Table MBA comprises questions and conversations that families can have together, to enable lifelong learning. The homepage has a free download which offers 31 questions to ask your children, other than “how was school?”. It also has a blog, podcast and plenty of case studies of entrepreneurs, creatives and business leaders who have overcome adversity to be successful.

One meaningful dinner table conversation at a time. Find out more.

Enterprising Child and Can-do child (3–14 years old)

Nurturing children’s can-do potential, starting from a place of play from early years onwards. Lorraine Allman’s books and activity cards help nurture characteristics and skills in children such as confidence, problem solving, resourcefulness and the ability to play and work well with others. The resources are aimed at parents and guardians to enable them to carry out discussions and activities with their children.

Because their future starts with you. Available here.

VentureLab (ages 6–18) and their book VentureGirls: Raising girls to be tomorrow’s leaders.

The Washington Post bestselling book VentureGirls talks about empowering girls with the entrepreneurial mindset and provides tips and activities for parents and teachers to do with kids. Also, VentureLab.org, founded in 2013 offers free curriculum in entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial mindset for grades 1–12, with a major focus on empowering girls. VentureLab’s mission is to create the next generation of innovators and change makers.

Empowering girls with an entrepreneurial mindset. Available here.

Enabling Enterprise (11–18 years old, with an accompanying book for adults)

Founded by Tom Ravenscroft in 2009 whilst he was a business and enterprise teacher in East London, Enabling Enterprise is a not for profit that believes enterprise education is vital in preparing children for the real world. The organisation works in schools across the United Kingdom and Tom recently penned a book, The Missing Piece, to discuss the fundamental skills that aren’t addressed in education.

The essential skills that education forgot. Available here.

Enterprise Nation (ages 16+)

Started by London-based Emma Jones MBE in 2006, Enterprise Nation is all about supporting people of all ages to start and run their own business. The membership organisation matches business advisors from all specialisms with startups and scaleups in every industry, with weekly masterclasses, events, resources and member discounts. Emma practises what she preaches and has written 6 ebooks on every aspect of starting and running a successful business.

Start a business from your spare room. Available here.

Female Entrepreneur Association (ages 16+)

This online organisation is an international hub for female entrepreneurs to get inspired and empowered to turn their ideas into reality and build successful businesses. The entrepreneurial education aspect comes in the form of a members club containing webinars and courses on everything from branding to social media management to confidence building, whilst Carrie Green, the FEA’s founder, conducts weekly 10-minute masterclass webinars with experts from around the world. Carrie’s book, She Means Business, has over 500 5-star reviews on Amazon and gives motivation and inspiration to current and aspiring entrepreneurs.

Become a wildly successful entrepreneur. Available here.

Know any other books and resources we should include? Let us know!