Lemonade stands? Who needs lemonade stands when you have Kickstarter?

If you're thinking about unique ways to teach your children about entrepreneurship, you don't need to look any further than the Kickstarter project that Mark Carpenter and his three children recently launched.

Carpenter's team includes his sons Erickson (13 years old), Ansel (9) and Ellis (9). The $8,000 project is based on manufacturing a carbon fiber tile that can be used in conjunction with existing LEGO pieces. Carpenter says, based on their research, he feels it has real shot to be funded and become a profitable business.  

However, the project goes far beyond creating a profitable business. It's an epic journey.

"My kids have watched me put energy into various creative projects," Carpenter says, "including the ArtPrize Lights In The Night and a successful Kickstarter project. They thought it was magic how it happened and it was time to pull the curtain back and show them it was nothing of the sort. So when we they agreed to work with me to find a product to create and to launch a business, we started to really think about it."

Carpenter knew he wanted to work with Kickstarter. "So we sorted out the idea of using carbon fiber as being just right for us. We then decided on a LEGO tile - believing it had enough potential that our project had a real shot."

Making the journey even more interesting, Carpenter says the project is totally being bootstrapped. "The kids were given no money to start this, so they've had to ask others to contribute at no cost. That really then became my task: to ask on their behalf. We've had three people - videographer, photographer and carbon fiber vendor - all do work agreeing to be paid later. That has been a big lesson for the boys - that an idea is currency at some level, that others will join a good idea."
 
Carpenter says that, besides learning the value of hustling together resources, they also are learning the process: "The kids have helped make decisions all along. They are, as you can imagine, more excited about the prospect of a check every week or two than the effort. But that's perfectly acceptable; do the work, earn the rewards. They will be heavily involved in shipping, putting things together and writing thank you notes to each customer. More work is ahead of them than behind."

If the project fails to fund, Carpenter is relentlessly positive. "If we don't reach our goal on Kickstarter then we will have some interesting conversations about what we might do differently the next time - and there will be a next time. The boys and I will continue until we have success and they have a business they are running."

To learn move the project visit the Kickstarter project here.

Writer: John Rumery, Innovation and Jobs News Editor