One day when Lucas was two years old, we sat back on a tiny hill outside our house and looked up at the clouds in the sky. I introduced him to the concept that clouds take on different shapes, and that with our imagination these shapes can become objects or animals floating in the sky. Two years later this has become one of his favorite games in the car whenever we’re on a long drive (which for Lucas is classified as anything longer than five-minutes).
As I’ve referenced many times, the ability to produce and consider many alternatives is considered a characteristic of creativity, or more specifically one of the creative thinking skills identified by E. Paul Torrance. Below is a list of seven items that I remember Lucas coming up with for the cloud below. Unfortunately, he had to scream for me to look at the crocodile head before I realized he was even playing the game.
- Dragon
- Skeleton Dinosaur
- Turtle
- Snow Mountain
- Crocodile Head
- Spaceship
FREE FILM for parents and educators
We believe the first stage in counteracting the imbalance of creativity verses content, starts at home. Help us share the word on Facebook and Twitter.
Anyone who shares or contributes content* will receive a FREE download to Creativity in Education: Exploring the Imbalance.
Unfortunately, we’re not super sophisticated (or perhaps lack creativity) so in order for us to know that you’ve shared content we need you to tweet to @dads4creativity or share from our Facebook page. We’ll follow up with details via a private message.
*Contributing content includes comments on existing articles.
2 comments
i was just introduced to your blog by my creative friend kali quinn. The overlap between creativity and parenting is such a fertile space. (I have a 6 year old named Oliver.)
Thank you for sharing this rich perspective.
Hello Jeff,
Thank you for the feedback. Enjoyed our conversation today and hopefully we can expect some content from you and to learn more about your work in play.