 |
| Chrissy's gift |
We all have it. It’s far more developed in some and if you ask some people they will tell you, “ Oh you are so clever, (artistic, musical, inventive etc.) but I couldn’t possibly do that”. So what is it? It’s that creative spark, that I think we are all born with.
I know we all have it because I used to teach Grade one and every single child had it. Just give kids of that age a piece of junk, a cardboard tube, a few felt markers and they come up with all kinds of interesting objects indeed some are so creative you really can’t tell just what they are !. Yes there are a few kids that stand out even at that age. I remember a little guy named Phillip who was so creative, that basic skills like writing and reading were not important to him. He was forever making things and drawing things and then inventing wonderful tales to cover his creativity. His parents didn’t understand but through his creativity he was learning not only his basic skills but lots of other essential skills as well. I often wonder how he managed in life.
What parent hasn’t bought a great toy for their young child for Christmas, only to find the toy discarded after a few moments as the box it came in was far more fun. A big cardboard box and an idea is a lot more fun than a pile of plastic. They even show these occurrences on YouTube these days.
The same way give a child a computer , show him the basics and let creativity take over. I imagine many parents gets surprised at just what their child can do.
In the 70s we bought our son Russ a pair of new skis as he was just learning to ski. At that time skis were extra long, measuring well over a person’s height. After only one outing, we heard sounds of sawing coming from the basement. Russ had cut a good 2 feet off the skis to make them work better so that he could ski faster. Have you noticed how short skis are today. ?
I was standing in my kitchen one day and turned around when I heard,”Mum??” and came face to face with my son’s waistline. Normally I could look over my son’s head easily. What had he done? He had taken an old pair of shoes and nailed blocks of wood on the soles to make himself taller because he was fed up with being one of the smallest boys at school. That idea only partially worked but it was
a lot of fun and he got an A for effort and idea.
When I was at college training to be a teacher we had an exercise which we had to do to develop creativity. We were put into small groups, given a brick, and an hour and told to come up with as many ideas as we could. For a while, we all sat stunned and then the creative juices started to flow; some very clever, some silly but everyone could think of something and at the end of the time period we were just amazed at how many ideas there were.
So I cheered aloud when I heard President Obama, say the way out of our current recession was to foster creativity and initiative in education. Without it we are dead in the water and any amount of memorizing facts and figures will not help. Sure basic skills are important but the ideas and with it, the motivation must come first.
 |
| Jain's champagne bottle top chair |
So creativity is still very much alive. Just check out the internet. For instance Go to StumbleUpon.com. Each page shows it in all kinds of forms.- music, jokes, photos, stories, writing etc. I find young people especially creative as they dare to do things and will find time for it as well.
Another fascinating video showing creativity in action is the Dreaded Stairs. See it on Youtube .I watched it and thought what a great idea for losing weight.
I also think it’s important to keep the creative spark alive especially as you get older and often have more time which does help . When you are making something be it a painting , a craft, a piece of music or learning a new skill, it makes you come alive. You can feel your brain tingling. You can’t get bored or depressed. You communicate with others about your ideas . You don’t get lonely so all in all it’s a good thing. So try something new. I have. I’m writing this blog but who knows, maybe tomorrow I’ll try to line dance!!
