What child doesn’t love being a bit sneaky? From stealthily creeping down the hall way-too-early on Christmas morning to sneaking a peek at a friend’s nervous prom date, I’ve gathered seemingly valuable data that way! Fortunately, with his Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things, Cy Tymony has raised sneakiness to a new level and proposes “sneaky” … Continue reading
For most of us in the U.S., our primary association with April 15 is not a happy one: federal income taxes are due. But for 2015, April 15 can have a much more positive association—the beginning of World Creativity and Innovation Week. According to their website: During World Creativity and Innovation Week April 15 – … Continue reading
As more and more schools realize that creativity and problem solving are essential skills, we face a dilemma—how do we manage organize curriculum in ways that do both? One possibility is using design thinking to organize curriculum. And some schools are doing just that. For example, Vista Design and Innovation Academy, a magnet middle school, … Continue reading
What has more than 25,000 participants in 10 countries and inspires creative play with things usually thrown away? The Global Cardboard Challenge! It is that time of year again, and this time I hope I’ve finally managed to post the information in plenty of time to use it. Inspired by the YouTube video sensation Caine’s … Continue reading
One of the classic questions in the creativity strategy Synectics is “What animal is like….?” Or “What in nature is like….?” The problem at hand is compared to something in nature that solves a similar problem. There is wisdom in nature. You probably all know the story of Swiss inventor George de Mestral, whose examination … Continue reading
One of the joys (and time-wasting dangers) of the web is that you never know where an interesting link will lead. For me, today’s exploration involved LEGOs. It started when a friend sent a link to 50 States of LEGO, a creation of photographer Jeff Friesen, with LEGO scenes representing (naturally) each of the 50 … Continue reading
As those of us in the northern hemisphere begin to contemplate the crazy last-days-of-school approaching, it may be time for some off-the-wall teaching. Really. The Off the Wall Learning project of the Institute of Play is an informal learning approach for presenting creative challenges in poster form. The basics are simple. Create a learning challenge … Continue reading
I love the stream of imagination that comes out of Google. Recently I came across yet another great classroom resource: Google Story Builder. The original Google Story Builder allowed users to create a story as a series of Google searches. This version allows us to create a video conversation among characters as if they were … Continue reading
It is May, and even in Michigan spring seems finally to have taken hold. This has made everyone in our house very happy, including the tribe of resident cats. Sitting in a sunny window is much more fun when the window isn’t the temperature of an icicle. In their honor, this month’s family fun activities … Continue reading
One of the roots of creativity is the ability to look at the world in new ways. This may be one of the reasons that experiences in different cultures seem to be tied to greater creativity. A wonderful example of both flexible and multicultural thinking—along with a great teaching resource—comes from ethno-mathematician Dr. Ron Eglash. … Continue reading
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