Guide Your Kids Down the Creative Rapids

There’s a magical mind chemistry known as “Creative Flow,” where we feel in sync with our task, and fully focused on our goal. The term was coined by psychologist and author, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi at the University of Chicago.

“Flow” describes a particular state of heightened  consciousness. As Prof. Csikszentmihlyi describes it, creative people are at their peak when they experience a sense of “unified flowing from one moment to the next, in which we feel in control of our actions, and in which there is little distinction between self and environment; between stimulus and response; or between past, present, and future.”

Flowing On All Fours

We are most likely to get into flow when our environment has four essential factors. The principles of flow hold true for kids, as well. Provide these factors for your kids, and you may be amazed.

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Creative Connections

Creative thinkers play with metaphors and analogies. This means that they look at one thing as if it were another thing. They ask, “What else could this be like?” They make new connections between unrelated things. 

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Brainstorming: A Climate for Creative Growth

Try this the next time you have a rainy day and your child or classroom has free time. You can turn a rainy day into an amazing brainstorm!

Brainstorming is a technique for generating a free-flow of ideas to solve a problem within a short period of time. Brainstorming can be practiced by individuals or by a guided group of two or more.

Groups need a facilitator, whose role is to encourage participation, to embrace and record each idea, and to remind participants to defer judgment, however wild an idea may seem. 

Although brainstorming in a group may not always produce the best ideas, the sessions offer other valuable benefits. They boost confidence, warm up creative muscles, improve classroom spirit, and create a trusting social climate. Creative thought flourishes in positive psychological environments.

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