Imagination

An artist uses his imagination to paint vivid pictures with his or her brush strokes. An author sketches the same out in words. When you read a book you are transported in an era where the author has decided to take you whether it is the dinosaur age, the modern times on Earth or on the Maritian land.

Nowadays children are too busy going from class to class trying to acquire various qualities that will boost their persona. Most parents forget that a child needs to play to be creative. Let your child play as much as they can.
 
Take your brain on a rollercoaster ride.

 DD's latest fascination has been aligning up shoes and socks to make a rollercoaster. She had recently seen the rollercoaster at Times Square. Since then, shoes and socks are taken out often inviting Mummy and Baba to sit in her rollercoaster. Anyone interested in a rollercoaster ride, just jump in.

A free mind loves to indulge in creativity. Watch your child as he merrily spins his own pretend games and plays to let his or her imagination soar.  

Is Creativity A Gift or A Barrier?

Could life be topsy turvy for a child trying to be too creative? Sometimes I have been made to wonder if the other way of looking at things could make your brain go haywire.
Nowadays, parents prefer stimulating their little ones right from the time they inhabit their mother's womb. Research shows that stimulation does help in increasing the number of networks created in the brain thus leading to multiple intelligences depicted in a child.
No wonder that children are becoming smarter with every generation. Not only that, innovation has become the need of the hour for every profession. Thus parents are trying to find means and ways to give children as much exposure as they can from childhood. That is how the Baby Einstein cds are going off the shelves.
What could be the consequences of all this? Are we trying to go against nature? Could there be a negative outcome to this? Would you fail from being a normal well-functioning humanbeing if you started seeing everything differently? Could you mature faster than your age leading to other problems in the future? Could it be difficult for a child to cope up with his/her peer group at school? Could your child be subjected to ridicule or to the contrary have too much of expectation to live up to? Could your child be made to feel different? Could he/she become a loner/a snob? Could your child's teacher penalize your child for trying to think more than is required not following the codes acceptable in the traditional education system?
It is worth pondering on all this and find your best possible solution for parenting your own kid. So, what if your child looks at the creases on your bedsheet and spots mountains and valleys. So what if your child watches her own little TV screen, 'the cushion' while Mom watches her own favourite soap on TV! (Yes, its my friend's daughter's story). Isn't that what creativity is all about? Should that natural urge be curbed? Life would be so boring if we just saw things the way they are. Finding meaning in things in day-to-day life is what makes life so precious, so meaningful.
So, what-the-heck! Let them be their own selves and enjoy their creative power as long as it lasts! Gulp all your fears and fearful thoughts with a sip of kopi-tarik.
The other day my daughter was sailing in her boats of fancy. She was singing 'Row row row the boat' when she dropped two cushions on the floor while I watched with intrigue what she was up to.
She enjoyed her boat ride while I enjoyed watching her easily transcend into the world of her imagination from reality.

Do I smile when I watch the video. I must admit, "yes, I do".
So, is creativity a gift or a barrier? Do share your thoughts.

Visual Imagination

Children can see complex things in simple stuff. It is for us parents to understand, appreciate and encourage more such creative thinking.
While it is easier for us to just focus on the obvious, for example, tell her these are three balloons (see video below), by appreciating her ability to see a 'choo choo train', opens up possibilities to increase imagination, by seeing similar other objects in day-to-day life.
As Freud says that 'poetic imagination is a form of substitution and can be seen in the play of childhood. Fantasy is playfulness. Fantasy is the adult's potential for play. It involves a flight from reality'.

Let us all transcend into the world of fantasy and imagination and see the wonders out there, thereby encouraging our little ones to think alike.

The Wings of Imagination

It is so wonderful to live in a world full of imagination. A child sees this world in his own light. He can think beyond what appears to his eyes and can connect to other non-exisitng images. But, we adults choose to stop living in this imaginary world and prefer reality instead.

Simple things that go unnoticed to the adult eyes, things that we take for granted, look so interesting to a child's innocent eyes.

Here is an example.

Yesterday we went for dinner outside. While my daughter was seated on her highchair she suddenly started making noises of 'Zoom Zoom Zoom'.


Then she pointed out that she had just seen an aeroplane. Look at the image below to spot her aeroplane.


Jamie Paolinetti quotes, "Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless."

I am reminded of the song by R. Kelly that I used to love singing once.
Listen to the song here


It goes something like this:

I believe I can fly...
I believe I can touch the sky...
I think about it every night and day...
Spread my wings and fly away...
I believe I can soar...
I see me running through that open door...
I believe I can fly.

Is imagination more powerful than knowledge?

ABCD is the starting point of formal education. I have been singing the ABCD song to her since she was a baby. She is 2 years old now. I am glad that she recognizes the letters of the alphabet though she does get confused at times.
This is my first attempt to capture her singing the ABCD song.

While she fishes out all the alphabets, her subconscious fingers are busy with something else. Its her imagination at work again. She is making a fishing rod. Remember I posted about this a few posts back. This time its a straw and a cloth peg. It is interesting to see how children can make such connections in their day to day life.

Last time it was the rope hanging from the xylophone rod and a peg. 

What is Creativity?

Often the word 'Creativity' has knocked our doors and we wonder exactly "what is creativity?" Is it about the courage to "Look out of the box?"

There is always another way of looking at things. You may be amazed to see what an object can reveal once you look at it from another angle. It is about looking at it from different perspectives. The bird's eye view of a garden can be very different than the eye view of an ant in that garden.

Creativity lies in being able to observe those little things that are not easily evident to the eye. We have often heard the phrase, "Is the glass half full or half empty?"

For example, when we stop looking at an object as an object and wonder if anything else could be done with the object, that is when we are trying to be original, or think creatively. An object can be used for a number of things at the same time. It can be quite funny to think of the number of uses of an object besides the one it is generally used for. It can be a very fun game that you can play with your older child. I've never really played this game with her. But she surprised us today.

DD loves playing her xylophone and sometimes manages to bring out some pleasing notes out of it. (Sometimes only). ;) The xylophone was gifted to her on her birthday by a close friend of mine. The over usage of the xylophone has led to the cord getting snapped off the main xylophone.

DD showed me what the xylophone rod is now. Wondering what?



"Look Fish!" she said holding up the rod which is now a fishing rod. She has put one of the cloth pegs on it.
Do you play any interesting game to cultivate creative thinking? Think of 10 uses of a spoon besides being used for eating.
Here I begin the game...
1. It can be used for playing mini-golf/hockey.
2. It can be used for scraping off things.
3. It can be used as a hand for a clock.
Put on your thinking caps and write down some more creative ideas.

How imagination shapes reality

Have you ever experienced imagination take over your reality? Have you ever imagined something in so much detail that at the end of it you weren't sure if that event actually occurred or was a figment of your imagination. Children love to imagine things. It is essential for parents to encourage the thought process and not distract the child with logic or negative comments.
 
Pablo Picasso said "Everything you can imagine is real."

Our DD was loves playing with her set of colourful blocks. Normally, she just makes some structure with the blocks and then throws it all down. She enjoys watching the way all the blocks fall down on the floor. The mother in me curbs herself from asking her to stop. It would be left for Mum to clear up once the game is over. But fascinated, I watch her eyes as she pushes against it and follows the line of path with a gleam in her eyes.

While we watched from our breakfast table today, she stood at another corner of the room. She put a set of three blocks one beside the other and put one more set of 3 blocks on that...so it looked like three towers...and then we caught her singing...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU...
While we watched her singing, we saw her blowing on to the three tower blocks. It was amusing to see her colourful block candles. She has a long way to go to reach 3....just 22 months old now but I can see her imagination shaping out and forming a reality while she plays with her same old blocks.