There’s nothing mysterious about coming up with new ideas. As a matter of fact, there are no new ideas, only new combinations of existing ideas. Being creative is all about changing around different variables in different ways. When children seem stuck for ideas, suggesting one or two new variables can start their brains zooming along […]
Tag Archives: creative thinking
Of course, there are really no new ideas, only new combinations (or arrangements) of existing ideas. So learning to combine and arrange ideas in new ways is an essential part of creative thinking. When young children have learned the concept of timbre and heard many different examples, they can “create” their own timbres using familiar instruments, objects […]
Five-year-old Hannah was looking closely at a daisy growing on the edge of the playground. When I walked over to her, she remarked, “Flower petals are like fingers.” “Well, not really,” I pointed out. “Fingers can pull and hold things, and petals can’t.” The conversation stopped there, and I wondered later – had Hannah’s thinking […]
An important part of young children’s creativity is that “the young child is not bothered by inconsistencies, departures from convention, nonliteralness … which often results in unusual and appealing juxtapositions and associations (Gardner 1993, 288).” Unfortunately, we as teachers sometimes work against this, steering children right back to literalness and conventionality. A few years ago, […]
Young children express a remarkable amount of creative thinking through physical improvisation. They explore their bodies’ possibilities for power, speed, range of motion, directionality, and emotional expressiveness on a daily basis to an extent that would exhaust a professional athlete or dancer. Games and activities that incorporate opportunities for movement improvisation are a very natural […]
This article appears in the current issue of Creativity Portal (creativity-portal.com). If you’re not familiar with Creativity Portal, check it out- it has wonderful ideas and articles for artists, writers, teachers, and other creative people! The Creative Magic of Naming How to use the Naming Game to empower children and foster creativity. By Abby Connors […]
11 Strategies to Support Children’s Creative Thinking We often think of creativity as being kind of magical – a touch of inspiration, the voice of an inner muse – something you either have or you don’t. Creativity isn’t something that can be taught. Or can it? Of course it can! Creativity is a process of generating […]
“Flap Your Wings” You don’t have to be a chicken to sing and play along with this silly movement song! If you have arms and an imagination, you’re good to go! Have children stand in a circle. Tell them that in this song, we’re going to flap our “wings” and then clap. This is how […]
This article originally appeared in Creativity Portal in September 2010. How to Help Children Stay Creative Picasso famously stated, “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” Anyone who lives or works with young children knows they truly are artists, buzzing with creativity, filled with wonder, curiosity, and […]
A very insightful five-year-old girl named Dina once taught me a very important lesson. I was teaching her class a song I’d written, one of those songs where the children were supposed to supply the rhyming words at the ends of silly phrases – like “Today when I put on my hat, it started […]
Music (and Science) For Young Children 