Creativity and Imagination

What fun to be with children when the only real goal put forth is to allow them all the creativity and imagination they want in an activity. Children come from a very different perspective, and often we forget to take that seriously. This week, the questions were, "If you could come up with the craziest, wildest, goofiest imaginary friend ever, what would he/she look like?" AND "What are the many, varied and unusual ways you would use one million beach balls?" When we get beyond the typical and move into imaginative thinking, some really great things come out.

This type of thinking is definitely a part of social, emotional learning (SEL) - especially if the kids are presenting and listening to each-other present on their outlandish ideas! Why not even take this idea into academic and career planning (ACP) with having them present on their creative job ideas. Or, what about a student professional learning community (PLC) that was all about creativity, giving them ideas to run with!? Taking our major initiatives and making them into something exciting gives them a new twist. Why not?

Some of my favorite responses were:

"I'm going to eat all of my beach balls and then, look, here is a drawing of what I'd look like!"
"I'm making a flying pig and flying bunny who play with me all day!"
"I made a beach ball mountain so I can climb high - all the way to the top!"
"My imaginary friend is a ghost and let me tell you all about him...." - he went on and on!
"I'm jumping into a giant beach ball pool and look, beach balls are flying up as I jump into them!"