Stretcho | A Story of Entrepreneurship

A Story of Entrepreneurship

Idea on Paper

Squares Layout

Shower Curtain Drawing

Mats & Flashcards Design

Production Protoypes

Product Testing

My name is Mackenzie and I’m a high-school junior in Manhattan. This site is the home of my product, Stretcho Games, which is a project of mine specifically related to my school’s Entrepreneurs Club. It has been a big collaboration and educational learning experience with my network of teachers, mentors, family, friends, relatives, and little kids and I write more about this process in the Blog section.

What is my product and how did it get started? Soon to be launched with 6 editions, Stretcho is a learning and exercise game for children. With educational flashcards and exercise mats printed with answer squares that kids stretch to with their hands and feet and hold positions, Stretcho allows kids to have fun, exercise, and learn different school subjects. I created this educational game for kids after watching how other kids learn (lots of babysitting!) and seeing some of the difficulties they have in grasping things like multiplication, geography, vocabulary, etc. I also heard about a friend of my Mom’s who had used a magic marker to write sight words on index cards and place them out of the floor for kids to jump to, like hopscotch. With this experience and idea along with guidance from my school’s Entrepreneur Club and the help of several mentors, Stretcho Games was born.

Read the blog posts, which are like a journal for this project, and share this site with parents and teachers of elementary school children so they can pre-order and play Stretcho, the fun game that stretches a kid’s mind and body! …Also, please take the survey after reviewing this site. Thanks!

As an update to this story, I’m happy to announce my being awarded first place in the Business Plan Competition with Stretcho Games.

Stretcho Multiplication (Ages 7+)

Stretcho Spanish (Ages 6+)

Stretcho Geography (Ages 6+)

Stretcho Sight Words (Ages 5+)

Stretcho Food (Ages 5+)

Stretcho Animals (Ages 4+)

SETUP

Lay the Stretcho mat on a carpet and shuffle the flashcards. Choose 1 player (or a parent/teacher) to be the flash card reader and up to 3 players who will stretch to correct squares on the mat. (Take shoes off!)

START PLAYING

After determining player turn order, the flashcard reader draws a card and reads aloud the hand/foot and value/icon that corresponds to squares on the mat. The player stretches for the correct square and holds this position until his or her next turn.

ALTERNATIVE WAYS TO PLAY

Instead of taking turns, all players respond to all called-out flash cards and stretch to the correct squares simultaneously.

RULES

No more than 2 players on each answer square. (Alternatively, you can change this to only 1 player per square.)
(Suggestion) If a player stretches to an incorrect square, he or she is told it's an incorrect answer and they return to their previous position. If this occurs more than three times, the player is out.
If 2 players already occupy a square the flashcard reader will draw another card.
Only hands and feet can touch the mat. If a player loses balance and touches the mat with any other part of their body, they're out.
Whoever is the last one holding her or his position on squares with their hands and feet wins the game!