Life is fun — work can be too! (let’s not risk losing that)

So often when we think of “imagination,” we err by attributing it to kids only, says C. J. Ellis of KidsReadUs.com, and maybe it takes some really “big kids” to remind us that’s simply not always the case!

While recently checking out http://slate.com/, Ellis browsed through Gretchen Rubin’s “The Happiness Project.” Although not exactly filled with Ellis’ definition of imagination, it was linked to Eepy Bird’s Sticky Note Experiment.

Now that’s using your imagination and letting it fly! Coined as “Entertainment by the Curious Mind,” this is a heads-up reminder that “play” isn’t just for kids (the video is definitely an awesome example of creativity!).

Which can be a real cause for concern, Ellis says. Real play — play that is initiated and carried out by kids — bubbles up from within rather than being imposed by a stuffy adult. Joan Almon, author of “The Fear of Play,” expands:

Real play has largely disappeared from the landscape of childhood in the United States. There are many reasons for this, such as the long hours spent in front of screens each day or being involved in activities organized by adults. In addition, preschools and kindergartens that used to foster meaningful play and exploration often spend long hours on adult-led instruction instead.

Are adults not doing enough "sticky note experiments" in their everyday lives? Are we unconsciously curtailing the growth of imagination in children, and, by doing so, are we risking the danger of producing a future generation of stiff-minded adults?

What do you think?

LEGOs, Wiffle ball versus ‘Wordle’ away, ‘Google Earth’: for kids, storytelling can be at the heart of imagination

The Boston Globe, July 26, “Future shock made child’s play” by Christine Murphy sets the stage: In Hartford, Conn.,

... a wavy roof that seems to hover over the Connecticut Science Center like a silver magic carpet. . . my curiosity was piqued upon entering the six-story, light-filled atrium with open-structured elevators and a wall of glass overlooking the Connecticut River.

Murphy goes on to describe the 150 exhibits and all their technologic advances that were designed and developed by adults in an effort to encourage children to learn through hands-on interaction, a gallery scientist, a computer that creates a 3-day weather forecast, exploring space — you get the picture.

But Murphy shows surprise with the setup at the LEGO Imagination Zone, describing it as “really just a table with LEGO blocks that was surprisingly popular.”

“That’s no surprise to me,” counters C. J. Ellis of KidsReadUs.com. “LEGO sets, Erector sets — even Wiffle Ball — help children develop their own imagination. Hands-on joysticks might take a child on a ‘tour’ of the known or unknown, but really, is the child creating anything? To me, creativity is at the heart of imagination and there is no better way to do that than letting the child actually use his or her hands — and not just on a joystick.”

Sometimes kids know better than adults what captures their imagination and keeps their attention and minds occupied.

Not that Internet technology can’t be channeled to encourage creative thought, Ellis adds. On that same day — July 26 — the Dallas Educational Technology Examiner ran a story by Elaine Plybon. The approach was a bit different than the Murphy piece. Plybon shows how teachers can use their technologic savvy to promote a child’s imaginative spirit.



Take, for example, Wordle — a free website that takes kids’ words and creates a graphic that represents those words. How can having a website create an image for the child encourage creative thought?

“You can then ask each child to print the graphic created and expand on it, making one that reflects his or her own creative images,” Ellis says. “LEGO blocks stored in a container do nothing to create imagination. But once the child opens the container and removes some blocks, that’s when the creative process begins. Using Wordle effectively can have the same effect.”

Plybon also suggests that teachers take advantage of Google Earth. Here children can create a virtual trip showing where they went on vacation or where they visited their cousins or where they want to go next year. By creating placemarks at each location, the child can then add images, text, video or audio. Again, Ellis says, there is no reason that parents can't use Google Earth the same way in a home setting.

But, Ellis insists, the best technology lesson Plybon describes might be the power of storytelling — digital storytelling, that is.

“Although Plybon describes how the teacher can break the classroom into groups of four,” Ellis explains, “there really is no reason you can’t have individual children in the family be involved in digital storytelling because the catch is the same — using Photostory 3 [free Windows program] to create a picture — it’s the same picture for everyone. Then each child writes a story about the picture. No two stories will be alike and the kids can enjoy sharing their unique with family and friends.”

An offshoot of this can be having a round-robin sort of storytelling event at the dinner table, Ellis adds.

It sure beats staring at a computer screen! What do you think?

I did nothing today — you’ll see!

Summer vacations are a time when kids can just be kids, reminds C. J. Ellis of KidsReadUs.com. But what are we REALLY doing for summer fun as adults?!

Ellis quips: Gee, it was hard enough to remember what I even did today!

And that sentiment is aptly captured by elementary educator Cindy Middendorf, author of Differentiating Instruction in Kindergarten.

Although Ellis finds Middendorf's classroom instruction book a bit too rigid, Middendorf has filled her blog with imagination, play, and enthusiasm. And so it is with great pleasure that Ellis shares this educator’s fitting blog poem:

What Did You Do Today?
When children come home
At the end of the day,
There’s a question they’re asked
As they scurry to play.
“Tell me, what did you do in school today?”
“Nothing, I did nothing today!”
Perhaps nothing means that I played with blocks.
Tied my own shoes, or found beautiful rocks.
Maybe our monarchs hatched today.
Or maybe I found a new friend to play.
Maybe today was the very first time
My scissors followed a very straight line.
I learned a new song, and sang all the words,
Or I touched a feather from the strangest of birds.
When you’re five or six and your heart has wings,
“Nothing” can mean some wonderful things!

Keeping these words of delight in mind, here is what Ellis says about her own day:

What Did I Do Today?
When it’s all said and done
Work days can be boring or fun.
Trying to create just the right words,
You must admit is for the birds.
But then you can exclaim with lots of glee,
I really did nothing, today, can’t you see?

For some kids, imagination a chilling reality

Today on CNN.com/living, the world of art and the reality of heartbreak caught the attention of C. J. Ellis of KidsReadUs.com. “Our focus has been to encourage children to use their creative talents and imagination to help them have fun while learning. But for some children, using their imagination can leave a chilling memory.”


In “Heartbreaking art helps kids with inmate parents," Dana Rosenblatt of CNN explores a macabre world where children create drawings many of us would like to forget:

. . . stick figures writhing in pain and confusion, a knife dripping with blood and a broken heart. Next to the heart, the child artist has written: "My heart is bleeding, my heart is a broken bleeding heart." Another child has drawn a red bubble, inside of which is written: “I want 2 die."

The powerful drawings communicate their experiences with pain, hopelessness and confusion as clearly as a thousand spoken words.

With those words, Rosenblatt describes the plight of a population of at-risk children that most people don’t even think about — the children of those in prison.

The statistics on prison parents are staggering. According to U.S. Justice Department estimates, 2.3% of children under 18 years old in the United States have at least one parent in prison. More chilling facts:

• 52% of state inmates have minor children
• 63% of federal inmates have minor children

But one former Texas parole officer, Marilyn Gambrell, was determined to help overcome the fears and despair shared by these young minds by forming No More Victims, Inc. , a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to helping the children of parents in prison. For some in-depth coverage of her program, CNN produced a 10-minute eye-opening video http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/07/27/bia.children.of.inmates/index.html?ref=werecommend#cnnSTCVideo.

Without a doubt, what kids draw is a reflection of their thoughts, feelings, and day-to-day life, says Ellis. Mary Ellen Hluska, a child life specialist at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center agrees:

It helps them have a safe place to express what they’ve been through
without using words. It’s there, and they don’t have to say it.

For one 15-year-old teenager in Gambrell’s Houston, Texas, community center, drawing gave her the courage to overcome a troubled life, press charges against a man who had abused her, and become a role model for other children in the No More Victims center, all while her own mother was in prison.

Today — 5 years from when she confronted her fears — this young lady is attending college and working two jobs — with lots of imagination to go around!

It's an awe-inspiring reminder, Ellis says, that much can be done while helping kids channel their imagination and letting them grow into productive, creative adults who know how to pass the message along.

Cloning Marilyn Gambrell would be a start!

kidsreadus.blogspot.com/

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Does “stranger danger” interfere with imagination and play?

Wondering what this image has to do with "stranger danger"? You'll find out really soon.

Here, once again, Joan Almon, an early childhood educator with more than 30 years of teaching experience, talks about the dangers of fearing play.

“Real play — play that is initiated and directed by children and that bubbles up from within the child rather than being imposed by adults — has largely disappeared from the landscape of childhood in the United States,” Almon said. “There are many reasons for this, such as the long hours spent in front of screens each day or activities organized by adults. In addition, preschools and kindergartens that used to foster meaningful play and exploration often spend long hours on adult-led instruction instead.”

Unfortunately, says C. J. Ellis of KidsReadUs.com, many parents are concerned that their kids will accidentally get hurt while participating in playful activities. “It seems that parents do not understand how kids can rise to the occasion.”

In her recent article, “The Fear of Play” published by Exchange Press, Almon agreed: “Playgrounds that offer genuine risk, such as Berkeley’s adventure playground, where children build two-story play structures with hammers and nails, tend to have fewer accidents than traditional playgrounds. Give children real risk and they rise to it; they learn how to handle it.”

On the other hand, when children are subjected to “sanitized” play spaces, they have been known to take risks just for the thrill of doing so, Almon added.

There is also a widespread fear of 'stranger danger,’ Almon wrote. "Most parents will not let their elementary-age children go out unattended. Yet most crimes against children, such as abduction or abuse, are perpetrated by people the family knows rather than strangers on the playground.”

In an effort to be ultra organized, parents also risk abandoning simple activities that can foster imagination. “All of us like to feel in charge of daily events and activities involving our children,” Ellis explains. “But the result has been asking children to sit quietly while completing adult-prepared worksheets.”

“No wonder people love to see young children working at computer screens,” Almon said. “It’s so tidy compared to play, which [can be] messy.”

Play is full of symbols and metaphors, she added. Some elements come from everyday life but the next minute the child will be filled with magical-like thoughts.

That lesson is well exemplified in The Culprit Was a Fly written by educator Lisa Funari-Willever. “Theodore is a precocious child who tangles with a pesky fly that refuses to leave his sandwich,” Ellis explains.

“He considers various creative ways to make the fly disappear but finally realizes what the right solution really is,” she says without giving away the story’s ending. It’s a prime example of how daydreaming and imagination can play a role in a child’s dvelopment, Ellis adds.

In fact, Ellis and Almon said, play can be so powerful that it can help parents Let Their Child’s Imagination Fly!

[Almon is co-founder of the U.S. Alliance for Childhood and co-director of its Restoring Children's Play project. For 30 years, she taught preschool and kindergarten in Waldorf schools in Maryland and abroad.]

Kids’ Korner: The Angel of Science loves the number ‘one’

All of the activities posted each month on KidsReadUs.com reflect the dreams, hopes, and aspirations of children everywhere.

“Kids learn through the eyes of other kids,” explains C. J. Ellis, founder of the website. “That’s why it is important for parents and educators alike to resist temptations that discourage development of each child’s unique imagination and play activities.”

The holiday project created by Adrienne Rudolph for C. S. Mott Children’s Hospital involved art, science and discovery, as well as dramatic play. “Each child had a very special interest, ranging from basketball, to science, to becoming a nurse, to being a teacher, to wanting to cook or dance.”

The Angel of Science, created by Aaryn Fulton when he was 9 years old, captures the true spirit of the project. In this activity, which can be downloaded free, his angel tests your child's knowledge of words that contain "one."

The book Angels are Everywhere truly is an inspiration that encourages children of all ages to Let Their Imagination Fly!


[All activities appearing on KidsReadUs.com were developed by author Maureen McKinney.]