The real work behind the confidence
What she’ll do
Nine months. Two public events. Every part of the business cycle — twice.
Real skills, real responsibility
Not a worksheet. A shop.
Most programs for this age group teach money with worksheets. We gave the girls a shop. They count the stock, work out what things cost to make, set the prices, defend them to each other, and sell to paying customers twice a year. Nothing about it is pretend, and by May she has done the whole cycle twice.
Seven sessions
Every skill taught twice.
Real deadlines
Real audiences.
The store
Seven sessions, every skill taught twice
Counting the stock
She counts and logs every item, then counts a second time against a partner. The numbers rarely match first time. That is the lesson.
Working out a price
Materials, plus her time, versus what a customer will actually pay. She sets a price on something she made and defends the number out loud.
Earning the money
She works at the Christmas Tea, providing service to real customers, with an adult beside her who has been told not to take over.
Making it sell
She redesigns the shop display — what sits at eye level, how to group things, and the line between presenting something well and overselling it.
Reading the numbers
She recounts the stock against October’s log. What sold, what did not, and why. The first time she sees her own data change over time.
Pricing and margin
She reprices everything for the show, and meets the difference between revenue and margin.
Running the till
Counting a float, running the sale, counting down at the end. By now she does it without prompting.
The two events
Real deadlines, real audiences
Setting a goal
One habit, written down, tracked on twelve beads she carries. In April she counts honestly how many weeks she actually kept it.
Designing
She plans a piece of clothing to customize, built from four symbols she drew back in October for the things that matter most to her.
Planning it
Materials, steps, a date on each one, and the name of the person she will ask when she gets stuck. Nothing gets built that night.
Building it
Her plan, her hands. Mentors help and do not take over — a piece she made imperfectly is worth more than one an adult rescued.
Running the event
Assigning roles, rehearsing the event, writing the order of the night, and saying her piece out loud until it stops being frightening.
Presenting
She wears what she made, tells a room what it means, sells to the public, and helps run the floor from a plan the girls wrote themselves.
Her account
She earns every point
Girls earn credit on their own account by showing up, taking part, volunteering for jobs and leaving the room clean — and they spend it in the shop twice a year.
They have no cash value and can only be spent in the club shop. Girls never receive money, no money is handled at club, and parents never send any.
She earns it
A points card she carries every night, signed off by the adult who actually saw her do it. Showing up, joining in, a job well done, a clean table.
She tracks it
Her own balance on her own card, checked at seven points across the year. A balance she cannot remember is not one she can plan with.
She decides
Spend it in December, or save it and have more in May. Saving is treated as the interesting choice, not the boring one.
She spends it
Twice — after the Christmas Tea guests leave, and again in May. A girl runs the till and subtracts from the balance. Not an adult.
The whole business cycle, twice
By May she can
Count stock and spot her own error
Set a price and justify it with numbers
Explain the difference between cost and worth
Take payment and give correct change
Read her own sales data and draw a conclusion
Track a balance and choose to save or spend
Plan a project backwards from a deadline
Finish something after it stops being fun
Set up and run a public event
Stand in front of adults and talk about her work
About our values
The character behind the capability
Maker Girls is a Christian organization, and the character side of this — honesty in what you charge, generosity, doing the job properly when nobody is checking, finishing what you started — comes from that. Your daughter does not have to be a Christian to attend, we never require it, and it is never a condition of belonging. Every skill on this page is taught to every girl in exactly the same way.
The whole business cycle. Twice.
Mondays 4–6 p.m., September through May, for girls in grades 4–8. 1330 N. Douglas Ave., Arlington Heights. Free to participate, materials provided.