Stimulating Your Child's Creativity

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Hi,
Drawing and painting are very good ways to boost a child's creative thinking and imagination. You may have a little Picasso in the making. And examining children's drawing may give us important insights into how drawing fits into the overall physical, emotional, and cognitive development of the young child. Here is a kindergartener's artistic rendering of a pair of scissors. I wonder what her teacher thought about it....;-) Take care!

Thought for today:
" Instead of worrying about what people say of you, why not spend time trying to accomplish something they will admire. " - Dale Carnegie

Best Regards,
Andrew Loh
Andrew Loh
Publisher & Editor, BrainyZine
andrew @ brainy-child.com

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Stimulating Your Child's Creativity

Highly creative children have a reputation for having wild and silly ideas. Their work is characterized by production of ideas 'outside this world'. Find various non-authorization ways of learning to stimulate the development of creative thinking in your child here.

Q1: I am in my late 50's and have child just turned 2 years to a new partner. The child seems very gifted and has reached milestones well ahead of other children and in comparison to your gifted criteria. My new child seems to be a level or two above my first two children in intelligence. Some of the milestones reached for my son:

We are very careful when we talk around him as he picks up on every word we say, even if it appears he isn't listening or even asleep. Hope you can provide some advice.

A: From your description, it is obvious that you have a very special child who is milestones ahead of his age group. All of what you have described shows that he is indeed very gifted and it is a very legitimate concern that he gets the right nurturing to develop his above average potential ....Read Dr. Sandhu's complete answer on Above Average Intelligence here.

Q2: My son is 5 and has been reading since he was 3 years old. The issue we were most concerned with is his hyperactivity as he is slightly above normal, but not clinically significant. Academically, he scored well above average in all disciplines, including math, vocabulary, reading, etc. In fact, he scored in the 99.9 percentile in reading and is assessed at an overall reading level of grade
3.0. Yet his IQ came back at 89, which is below average.

Because of his test results, small stature and relative immaturity for his age, the evaluator is recommending we keep him back in Pre-K this year. Personally, I think his would be a HUGE mistake. Not that it means a lot, but I administered an IQ test to him that I found online (for kids age 4-6) and he scored over 130. So, where do we go from here?

A: I am very surprised looking at the IQ score, and I would also be very concerned if my kid shows such a mismatch. Something appears terribly wrong here, especially with the description you gave of your son abilities. It is still acceptable to get an average score of about 100 points, but in this case, the scores are below average with does not match your description ...Read Dr. Sandhu's answer on Mismatch between Academic Performance and IQ Scores here.

Q3: I have a six year old mildly autistic son. His school is requesting that I get him an IQ test. How would this be done since he is only six? Is it reading questions and writing answers?

Q4: I am a preschool teacher in Virginia. We have currently been discussing Multiple Intelligences and how my principal would like grade levels to have students take the MI evaluation. Is there any form of the MI evaluation directed at lower age levels (4 to 6 years)?

How to Foster Creativity In All Children
By Mary Mayesky

How to Foster Creativity in All Children is designed for those dedicated to helping young children reach their full potential. This book has also been written for people who want to know more about creativity, creative children, creative teaching and creative activities in all areas of the curriculum.

Young children will need to know how to ask questions and search for answers. Creativity is not limited to the art medium; it also extends to every curriculum area. This book was written to help present creative learning opportunities for children throughout the curriculum. Features a practical approach to creativity, a wide variety of activities in each chapter with all activities classroom tested.

More Ways Than One: Fostering Creativity in the Classroom
By Arthur J. Cropley

Current conceptualizations of children's thinking tend to be unneccesarily narrow, and to focus on what might be called "convergent" thinking. As a result, invention and innovation are often underemphasized in schools. This text aims to encourage a broad understanding of intellect, and attempts to help teachers to recognize and foster more varied forms of intellectual activity in their students.

It offers a review of recent theory on creativity, conceptualizing this as a matter of getting ideas, trying the new, branching out and the like, rather than of producing artistic or scientific products. It discusses the factors in the classroom which block this more "divergent" kind of thinking and suggests practical ways through which teachers can promote bolder and more innovative intellectual activity in their students.

Diet pill 'made children smart'
Guardian UK Mar 12, 2007

Four children whose brains and mental abilities were suddenly transformed after they took a simple dietary supplement have astonished scientists. Scans showed their brains underwent three years' of development in just three months. At the same time they displayed remarkable improvements in tests of reading, concentration, problem-solving and memory.

Sleep disorders in children may hurt IQ
EarthTimes March 15, 2007

Sleep disorders in children may contribute to intellectual impairment, say University of Virginia Health System researchers. Dr. Paul M. Suratt, a pulmonologist and director of the university's Sleep Laboratory, said vocabulary differences associated with nightly snoring are the same as IQ dissimilarities attributed to lead exposure.

Is a baby sling the secret of good mental health?
Scotsman.com Mar 25, 2007

Parents should carry their babies in slings and give them massages to prevent mental illness later in life, according to controversial advice from the Scottish Executive. Amid growing concern that a lack of parental bonding is adding to a mental health crisis, the government's panel of psychiatrists and child health experts say it is vital that a sense of wellbeing and security is encouraged in children.

Choosing The Best Room Colors For Baby Development
KSDK Mar 21, 2007

While most parents opt for pastel shades to both dress their baby and decorate their rooms, a new study in the US has suggested brighter colors could help develop babies' eyes and brain.

Horseplay is an important part of development
Eurekalert Mar 19, 2007

Playground roughhousing has long been a tradition of children and adolescents, much to the chagrin of several generations of parents who worry that their child will be hurt or worse, become accustom to violence and aggression. But animal research may paint a different portrait of rough and tumble play; one that suggests that social and emotional development may rely heavily on such peer interaction.

Kids Learn Words Best By Working Out Meaning
ScienceDaily Mar 16, 2007

Toddlers learn new words more easily when they figure out the words' meaning for themselves, research by a 22-year-old Johns Hopkins undergraduate suggests.

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