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Project E–07 / Elementary

The
Upcycle
Shop

K–5 / Five Weeks / 27 pages
BSG
Now Available / Elementary

Make value from things people stopped using.

A real five-week product project. Kids find unwanted items at home, transform them through cleaning, painting, or decorating, and sell them as something genuinely worth buying.

Product Project Grades K–5 5 Weeks 27 Pages

A different economic lesson than a lemonade stand. With near-zero cost of goods, kids learn that value is created, not just bought and resold. They look at items others would throw out and ask: what could this become? They make something new, set a fair price, and sell to real customers. Five weeks. Real transactions. A genuine sense of "I made that."

$18
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The Hard Skill

Seeing what could be.

The hard part is visual judgment. Looking at a chipped flowerpot, a stained tote bag, or a forgotten picture frame and seeing past what it is to what it could be. That skill is not innate. It is taught by doing it on real items, with real feedback from real buyers.

The Stranger Test and the Five-Check Test in this kit teach the kid to step back and see their own work the way a buyer will. That habit is more important than any specific transformation technique.

01
Inside the Kit

Twelve pages from the 27-page kit.

Not a teaser. The cover, the parent intro, the full scaffolding pattern, and the artifacts your kid will actually run through. Grouped the way the kit teaches.

Group 01 / The Setup

Before the kid starts.

The brand sets the tone. The parent learns their job. Then the work begins.

Project E–07 BSG
Elementary / Product
The
Upcycle
Shop
Make value from things people stopped using.
K–5 / Five Weeks 27 Pages
p.01 / The Cover Editorial. Real. No stickers.
Front Matter p.03
For The Parent
How to use this kit.

Five weeks, one project. Your job is to listen, ask the prompts, and let your kid run it.

W1 Sit beside your kid. Help them choose items.
W2 Stand back. Let them transform the items.
W3 Be the first customer. Ask their price.
W4 Find the buyers. Be there for the sale.
W5 Ask the reflection prompts. That is the lesson.
"The work is what teaches. Your job is not to teach. It is to make the work possible."
p.03 / Parent Intro The roadmap before they start
Front Matter p.04
Kit Map
What's in this kit.

A map of every artifact, when it gets used, and what it teaches. Read this once, then put it down.

WhenArtifactWhat it teaches
SetupSkills ScaffoldingVisual judgment
W1Item HuntSourcing eye
W2Stranger TestQuality check
W2Five-CheckPricing logic
W3-4Pitch CardFirst sale
W3-4Sales LogRun the books
W5ReflectionWhat the kid keeps
Plus: Onboarding Workbook + Reflection Journal (universal across all BSG kits)
p.04 / Kit Map Every artifact, when it's used
Group 02 / The Teaching Layer

How the kit actually teaches.

A worked example. A weak counter-example. A self-check. The pattern other curricula skip.

Skills Scaffolding p.05
What Right Looks Like
An annotated example.

A worked example on a different item, with margin notes explaining each choice.

Before
chipped pot
After
painted & banded
1. Cleaned first. The chip got smoothed.
2. One color, not three. Looks intentional.
3. Gold band. Hides the chip. Adds value.
p.05 / What Right Looks Like Worked example, annotated
Skills Scaffolding p.06
What Weak Looks Like
The counter example.

Same item. Different choices. Why it doesn't read as worth buying.

Same Pot
chipped pot
Weak
stripes, chip showing
× Skipped cleaning. The chip is still visible.
× Four colors. Looks like a craft, not a product.
× No fix for the chip. Buyer sees the flaw first.
Stranger test: would you pay for this? No.
p.06 / What Weak Looks Like The mistakes most kids make
Skills Scaffolding p.07
Self-Check Rubric
Score it honestly.

Five criteria. Three honest grades each. One revision prompt per row.

Criterion Good Getting Not Yet
Cleaned first
One color story
Flaw addressed
Edges clean
Stranger would buy
If any row is "not yet": go fix one thing, then re-check.
p.07 / Self-Check Rubric How the kid grades their own work
Group 03 / The Work

What the kid actually does.

Six artifacts they run through across the five weeks. Two are shown filled in by a real kid.

Week 1 / Sourcing p.09
Source The Items
The Item Hunt.

Walk through the house with this list. Look for these. Skip these. Ask before you take.

Look For
Plain pots. Empty frames. Tote bags. Boring jars. Wood blocks.
Skip
Broken things. Items in use. Stuff with sentimental value.
My five items
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
p.09 / Item Hunt Week 1 sourcing worksheet
Week 2 / Quality p.13
Step Back And Look
The Stranger Test.

Forget you made it. Pretend you're walking past it on a table. Would you pay for it?

Does it look made-on-purpose, or like a fix?
Are the edges and finish clean?
Would I tell a friend it was hand-made?
Would I take it home if it were free?
If three or more are NO
Go back to it. The price won't fix what the work didn't.
p.13 / Stranger Test See your work like a buyer
Week 2 / Pricing p.15
Before You Set The Price
The Five-Check Test.

Five questions to ask before you put a price tag on it. Be honest with yourself.

1 Price. Is this number defensible?
2 Quality. Would you give it as a gift?
3 Story. Can you say why it costs this?
4 Fix. What would you change?
5 Fair. Is the buyer getting their money's worth?
p.15 / Five-Check Test The pricing self-check
Week 2 / Pricing p.17
Set The Price
Cost & Price.

What it cost to make. What you'll charge. The difference is what you earned for your work.

Item cost$ ____
Paint & supplies$ ____
Other materials$ ____
Total cost $ ____
My time (hours)____
My selling price
$ ____
p.17 / Cost & Price The math behind the price tag
Real Kid's Page
Weeks 3-4 / Sales p.21
Track The Sales
The Sales Log.

A real kid's completed log. Five sales, two months, what each buyer said.

ItemBuyerPaid
PotMrs. K (neigh.) $8
ToteAunt R $6
FrameDad's friend $10
JarCo-op kid $4
Pot 2Mrs. K (again!) $8
Total $36
"Mrs. K came back. That was the best part."
p.21 / Sales Log (Real Example) A 9-year-old's actual sales record
Real Kid's Page
Week 5 / Reflect p.25
Look Back At The Project
What did you learn?

A real kid's filled-in reflection. The lesson is in the answers, not the questions.

01 / What did you actually do?
I painted 6 things and sold 5.
02 / What was hardest?
Asking for the money. I forgot once.
03 / What did people say?
Mrs. K said the gold band was smart.
04 / What would you do differently?
More pots. The frame was hard to paint.
05 / Something you learned about yourself.
I can talk to grownups about money.
p.25 / Reflection (Real Example) The page that becomes the lesson
Twelve of 27 pages shown. The full kit includes all artifacts plus the universal Onboarding Workbook and Reflection Journal.
02
Everything Included

What's inside.

A complete five-week product kit. 27 pages. Every artifact does one job. The work scales from sourcing through the final sale.

01 / Front Matter
Parent setup
  • Cover and welcome page
  • Parent intro and roadmap
  • How to use this kit
  • Materials list
  • Item selection conversation prompts
02 / Skills Scaffolding
Visual judgment
  • What right looks like (annotated transformation)
  • What weak looks like (counterpoint)
  • Stranger Test self-check
  • Self-Check Rubric, 5 criteria
03 / Week 1: Source
Find the items
  • Project Onboarding Workbook
  • Item Hunt with Look-For/Skip list
  • Permission card (ask before you take)
  • Item inventory log
04 / Week 2: Transform
Make the value
  • Transformation planning grid
  • Cost & price worksheet
  • Five-Check Test
  • Stranger Test self-check
05 / Weeks 3 & 4: Sell
Reach buyers
  • Sales pitch script card
  • Display sign template
  • Sales log (printable)
  • Mid-project check-in worksheet
06 / Week 5: Reflect
Close it out
  • Final tally and total earned
  • Project Reflection Journal
  • Thank-you note template for buyers
  • Completion certificate
03
The Five-Week Arc

Week by week.

Week One
Source

Walk through the house. Ask permission. Pick five items worth a second life.

Week Two
Transform

Clean, paint, decorate. Run the Stranger Test. Pass the Five-Check.

Week Three
Launch

First sale. Real buyer. Real handoff. Practice the pitch out loud.

Week Four
Run

Find more buyers. Adjust pricing. Decide what to drop. Push on what's working.

Week Five
Reflect

Tally the total. Write the reflection. Decide what you want to make next.

Get the Kit

The full 27-page kit, instant download.

$18
PDF / Instant Download
Get The Upcycle Shop

One-time purchase. No subscription. Yours to print and use.

Cost is genuinely a problem? Read our access policy →

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