A cool way for kids to learn about entrepreneurship: The Johnny Money Online Game allows youngsters to simulate owning a small internet-based business.

Here is a great article about a book series that teaches the values of entrepreneurship to children. The first two books are Tyler & His Solve-a-Matic Machine, which won the 2007 iParenting Media Hot Product Award, and Tyler Passes The Golden Key. Their plots “interweave the characters as they become suppliers, customers and referrals for one another, emphasizing the power of networking and its influence on one’s business success.” The author, Jennifer Boudani, actually became an entrepreneur herself, establishing her own publishing company Bouje Publishing after unsuccessfully pitching the series to other publishers.

Meanwhile, FranChild offers children the opportunity to learn first-hand about what it takes to run a business. The company offers four ”franchise-like” business models for kids to choose from: beeswax candles, organic soap, jewelry or apparel. FranChild’s founder was inspired to start the company by his two young sons, who sold hand-rolled beeswax candles as a way to supplement their allowance.

In Clayton, CA two young girls’ fruit stand was shut down by local police on account of violating the town’s zoning laws. Tim Kane offers a thoughtful response to the incident: “The larger tragedy for those who care about economic prosperity is this case exemplifies a loss of America’s entrepreneurial culture. The younger a person learns the ‘hard lessons’ of real life, the stronger the odds are that they will become an entrepreneur and create jobs. When the bureaucratic impulse overwhelms the entrepreneurial impulse, meaning that a majority of the people thinks some kind of orderly system should be (or is!) in place to give everybody a job, then a [society] begins its great and subtle collapse.”