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This month we are talking about Creativity! Creativity is more than just making things or creating art – it is about exercising our imagination to help make the world better! This is how we are defining creativity: Using your imagination to create something or solve a problem. One of the best things about being a human being is our ability to imagine! We get this cool part of our brain that allows to not just think about survival, but also about sparkly space pigeons or colorful caterpillars or a cardboard box that is secretly a rocket ship. Kids regularly use their Creativity to entertain themselves (and us!) with all the wacky and wonderful ways they view the world. Let’s make sure they never lose that curiosity! It is that same imagination that makes a sandbox into the moon that can imagine the world’s problems as opportunities for new, bold, innovative solutions. This month, we will be talking about and practicing solving problems, working in teams, and dreaming up new perspectives! The only way we change the negativity in our world is to have the Courage and Creativity to think differently!

Things to talk about as a family

-        Sometimes, when we are being creative, we can get frustrated if things do not go as planned. What strategies can you use if you begin to feel frustrated? How can you help someone else if you notice them getting frustrated?

-        What do you think it means to think “outside of the box?” What’s something you’ve thought about that might be “outside the box?”

To Do Together

Read the book Not a Box written by Antoinette Portis that you can find at your local library or listen to on YouTube www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMCKXaFsmCA Then find a large cardboard box and unleash your inner child as you work together with your family to create something new! What can the box become? Perhaps it will be a spaceship, an ice cream shop, a fairy castle, or a race car. Using craft supplies, work together to use Creativity to turn the box into a new creation.

For Your Reading: Read these articles for parents

10 Secrets to Raising Creative Kids by Jennifer King Lindley
How To Encourage Creativity In Our Children via The Parenting Junkie Blog