Imagination Knows No Bounds

I recently provided an after school enrichment program at a local elementary school. I was trying out some new ideas to spark creative thinking in kids. The program was only open to students in 2nd to 5th grade, but the principal of the school mistakenly invited kindergarteners and first graders to join, too.

When I arrived at school the principal told me that the little ones had no other place to go during the program, so I had to include them. I was concerned because I didn’t believe children so young could possibly keep up with the older ones. I was wrong.

I prompted the group of 14 to generate new uses for everyday items (see "What Can You Do with a Paper Clip?"), sketch imaginary animals, make up stories based on random images, invent new toys, and solve outrageous problems. The youngest ones eagerly embraced the challenges and ran circles around most of the 4th and 5th graders.

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Celebrate Your Child's Creativity

When I was in the fourth grade our teacher, Miss Malkin, gave us an unusual assignment. She wrote a word on the chalkboard and gave us ten minutes to list as many words as we could think of using only the word's letters.

When the time was up, Miss Malkin asked the top student in our class how many words she had. Bonnie announced that she had 34 words. The teacher asked if anyone had more.

I was the only other student who raised a hand, and I reported that I had 116 words. As Miss Malkin approached my desk she declared loudly, "You must have done it incorrectly." But when she scrutinized my list, she saw that I had, indeed, done it correctly!

Miss Malkin was slack-jawed, and sat staring at me for the longest time. (I didn't think I had done anything special — to me, the assignment was a snap.) But Miss Malkin was clearly astonished, for I was a bright student, but rarely earned the highest grades in our class.

Miss Malkin didn't know anything about creativity. If she had, she would have known that creative thinking embodies the skills at work in a task such as this...

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