Creative thinkers are filled with curiosity. They want to know how things work – and how to make them work better. They want to know why things break and fall apart and run down – and how to fix them. They want to know about light, color, line, tone, and rhythm – and how to […]
Category Archives: early childhood education
The Joy of Knots (This piece originally appeared in my book “Teaching Creativity” (Whitmore Books, 2010). You can order it here.) What messages do we send children about problem solving? Many young children probably think something like this: “Problem solving is for grown-ups. And it’s not fun. In fact, it’s so not fun that it […]
“Explore the World” Learning About Children and Creativity from Richard P. Feynman I’ve learned a great deal about teaching creative thinking to young children from a man who wasn’t an artist, but a scientist. Richard P. Feynman was one of the greatest physicists of our time. He was well known for his work in quantum […]
Why you should use ASL with young children More and more schools and early childhood learning centers are teaching some ASL (American Sign Language) to their (hearing) students. It seems counterintuitive, to say the least. Young children are still learning their own language – receptive, oral and written. Isn’t that enough? Why burden them with […]
(This piece is adapted from my book “Teaching Creativity” (Whitmore Books, 2014). E. Paul Torrance, one of the pioneers of creativity education, suggested that to nurture creativity, “We can show children that their ideas have value by listening to their ideas and considering them” ( Torrance and Goff, 1990). Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? The key […]
A few of my schools offer day care for school aged children on their days off. Since last week was Spring Break for many nearby towns, I had a chance to reconnect with some of my former students. The most amazing experience was at one center, where I walked into the pre-K room to see […]
Early childhood friends, many of us are neglecting one of the best, biggest, most powerful resources available – the library. It’s greater than all the websites, Tweets, and (dare I say it?) Pinterest ideas put together. Here’s why. Picture books. Social media can show us all the fantastic picture books out there about poetry, math, chicks, […]
Exploring the Sounds of Egg Cartons I started using egg cartons in my early childhood music classes many years ago. They always interested me because they’re so light, yet because of their structure they can make sharp and impressively loud sounds. At first, I had my classes simply tap the cartons on the floor in […]
Drinking coffee can be very beneficial for the young children you teach. No, I don’t mean they should drink coffee! But if you do, you can get a free set of fantastic musical instruments for your whole class. Coffee cans! If you’re not saving them and repurposing them to be children’s drums, you should. Here’s why: […]
(This post is adapted from a chapter in my book “Teaching Creativity.”) In my music classes, we often do creative brainstorming with rhythm instruments. One child at a time offers an idea for a way to play the instrument, and then the rest of the group will experiment with that movement. One time, we were […]
Music (and Science) For Young Children 