5 Tenants of Good Business Practice On An Air France Barf Bag

Caine Monroy, creator of Caine’s Arcade, was invited by JWT to be the youngest presenter ever at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

On the way home, Caine wrote a list of what he had learned.  This list could be applied to businesses, to projects, to life – and all from a 9 year old and all on the back of an Air France barf bag!

His list reads:

1. Be nice to customers.
2. Do a business that is fun.
3. Do not give up.
4. Start with what you have.
5. Use recycled stuff.

Such simplicity and yet who couldn’t apply these to their own business? At the end of the year, our kids participated in The Passion Project – the PYP Exhibition unit.  For some of them, figuring out what they wanted to do was a real struggle.  Some seemed to over-think what was required of them and some got caught up in the idea that whatever they were going to do had to be more than just playing with cardboard boxes.  When did kids lose their innate ability to play? to explore?

I have posted on Becoming An Enabler…Of Creativity and The Power Of Play and I hope I keep these ideas at the forefront of my planning for the next school year.  I know that creating an environment in which my students feel they have ‘permission’ to create and dream and wonder and explore is not going to happen overnight.  It is not always going to look pretty and it might not even always work.  But I sure am going to try! And I will start by:

1. Being nice to my students.
2. Reminding myself that I teach because it is fun.
3. Not giving up on my passion to MAKE SCHOOL DIFFERENT.
4. Starting with what I have and seeing where it takes me.
5. Using recycled stuff – including the ideas of other creators, recycled fresh for me.

Inspired by the success of Caine’s Arcade and as an act of celebration, there will be a Cardboard Challenge this September in LA, culminating in a Global Day of Play the first week of October to celebrate the creativity and imagination of kids around the world. The event will be a launch for the Imagination Foundation to help find, foster, and fund creativity and entrepreneurship in kids.  Mark your calendars and check out the Caine’s Arcade Wiki for a wealth of information.

This September, we are inviting everyone in the world to build something fun out of cardboard. Build an arcade or funpark in your class/school/kitchen/office. Start planning your event, then on the last week of September – Just Build It… and then on October 2nd (the 1 year anniversary of the flashmob at Caine’s Arcade), we will organize a global Day of Play, inviting a global community to play at local cardboard events around the world, and to support all of the kids who participate.