Wonderment. Have we forgotten its importance?May 30th, 2008 @ 2:23 pm
My children are full, absolutely full, of “childhood wonderment.” I can see it in their eyes when I call them over to see a bird’s nest newly full of baby birds. I see it in their expressions when they hear an unfamiliar noise, or when they bend down to inspect more closely how something moves or operates. It’s what fuels learning….it’s what fosters creativity. The sad part? I see it slowly slipping away in this “advanced” age of television and other media onslaught. The natural curiosity is not as easy to find with today’s distractions, busy schedules, and plug-and-play mentality, I’ll bet.
I want to tell you about a book that celebrates the simple things impeccably well. I have had my eye on Ginger Carlson’s Child of Wonder: Nurturing Creative and Naturally Curious Children for a long while….but when The Opinionated Parent gave me an opportunity to review it, I literally jumped at the chance with all of me. I knew this book was meant for us.
This wonderful text not only celebrates the natural wonderment of childhood, but it helps us as proactive parents know how to better inspire it further….as well as tips on how not to squelch it. This book is so full of good tidibits and exciting activity ideas that I was literally highlighting almost all of it — all the while taking notes on a separate page, noting things I have to start/stop doing, things I want to let my kids try.
I would even go so far as to say, if you are seeking to find more ways to incorporate learning in your household, stop researching tons and tons of books, emptying library shelves and scouring yard sales. This book should be your first pick, the one you start with first…and in our case, it will be one we reach for most often from now on.
This book gently prods you to realize that our kids are overstimulated and over-spoilt. Even just inside Chapter 1, I was hooked by phrases such as this: “Overabundance of things and stimulation has led to thrill seeking rather than children having a genuine desire for creative problem solving. Find the balance between excess and having just enough to stimulate creativity.” And this: “While popular culture, its art and music, can be very creative, it can also be a creativity inhibitor if it means that children are primarily being guided by toys bearing the likeness of certain characters from television and movies.” Oh, wow, and amen.
After the book’s (and author’s) main philosophies are underlined, the pages turn towards practical ideas for how to inspire creativity in your child’s life. From how to create a top-notch costume box to how to explore creativity through music and movement….and ideas for toys that build and edify creativity, as well as ways to take creativity outdoors. I told you this was a one-stop shop for all things of “wonderment!”
This book not only gave me helpful, tangible ideas to use in our schooling, it also inspired me to help our family become a little more creativity-friendly, as well. I will say that her idea of creating “me space” in each child’s room is going to be implemented here soon….I can see our son’s closet becoming a cozy “pirate ship” complete with steering wheel, creative lighting solutions, and tons of books to fuel his “indoor sailing adventures.” Several times, I was so inspired, I almost set the book down right then (even at 11:33pm) to begin work on some of these changes and projects. It was that good.
Great news, guys. You can, for a limited time, order a customized, autographed copy of Child of Wonder here at Carlson’s site!
And, guess what? You can win an autographed copy here! All you need to do is, in a comment, tell me one thing you’re already doing to help inspire and blossom your child’s creativity and adventurous/curious spirit. I’d love to hear.
Please leave only one comment! Offer good to US addresses only. Contest will run until 11pm EST on Saturday, June 7th. I’ll randomly draw a winner and put up an announcement post! Good luck!
Giveaways · Learning and doing · rants, raves and recommendations
)
The Opinionated Parent
said,
May 30, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Great review!
Melissa A
said,
May 30, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Great review! I definitely need to get a copy of this book. Hopefully, I’ll win one
One small way that I am inspiring O’s creativity is by not allowing her to watch tv. She doesn’t know about characters (other than Winnie the Pooh), and she doesn’t own any character toys. She has TONS of books, and we try to buy mostly open ended toys for her, such as a bilibo and a rainbow stacker.
Julie
said,
May 30, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Since The Artful Parent interviewed Carlson
http://artfulparent.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/ginger-carlson-on-nurturing-creativity-and-curiosity/
I’ve been salivating over the book…wanting to get it. As for inspiring creativy in Mr. Intensity - I’m still trying to figure that out. If it involves “bamming” (or other gross motor skills) he’s all over it.
Amber
said,
May 30, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Sounds like a great book!!! We try to inspire creativity by positively channeling our son’s adventuresome spirit! We build forts with boxes, play pretend and roll around on the floor together! Thanks for this recommendation - I will be checking it out!
Connie H
said,
May 30, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Thanks for the book recommendation…to encourage and inspire, we have recently set up an art cart with two shelves of art supplies that the kids can manage themselves including glue sticks, tape, variety of writing papers and lots of markers and crayons…lots of good things and ideas have come from this
Connie
cmhesh at yahoo dot com
Sarah T.
said,
May 30, 2008 at 7:09 pm
This sounds like a fantastic book…we’ll be putting it on our wishlist if we don’t win it! To foster creativity, we do tons of reading, playing outside, and open-ended “crafts” (which mostly involve lots of glitter glue, pom-poms, and google eyes).
LaDonna
said,
May 30, 2008 at 8:37 pm
I love books like this! I think for us one of the main ways we foster creativity is to leave the TV off. We enjoy spending a lot of time outside. I think my son could walk for miles exploring all the new things that cross his path.
Clara
said,
May 30, 2008 at 9:10 pm
This book sounds great! Two things we do to encourage creativity (1) our “craft stuff” is in a cabinet in the kitchen and the kids just have at it whenever they want to not just at specific “craft times.” and (2) they play outside a lot. They don’t have any toys outside other than a swingset and some buckets for the sand, etc but they can stay out there for hours at a time.
Serena
said,
May 30, 2008 at 10:37 pm
This book sounds like it’s right up my alley! With my 2 1/2 year old, we always have art supplies out. Whenever inspiration strikes, the materials are there for her to use.
Michelle at Scribbit
said,
May 31, 2008 at 3:18 am
Oh great book–I’m completely interested. One thing . . . .hmmm . . . well I let the kids make their own mistakes (almost always, though not always). I think learning to handle making mistakes and fixing your own problems is an important part of learning creativity and problem solving skills. Oh, and this is irony because you’ve won the Growing up Green book I offered today so please email me with your address and I’ll get it shipped out. Scribbit at gmail.com.
merideth
said,
May 31, 2008 at 10:32 am
this book does sound interesting and i’d love to have it! i despise that i can hardly even buy clothes without characters on them! let’s see . . . fostering creativity . . . no television. (except when daddy’s home in the evening after dinner, we watch a half-hour or so of “america’s funniest videos.”) we play outside a lot, looking at bugs and birds and worms, etc.
jodi
said,
May 31, 2008 at 1:55 pm
ooh this one does sound like a goodie! to help foster W’s creativity we try to allow him good free play time outside - we keep him a bucket of rocks that he can throw into our water garden - one of his favorite things to do! We try to let him play with lots of outside objects, not just “toys” so that he’s learning to entertain himself with nature. So much fun watching him learn and grow - I never knew you could get so much pleasure out of rocks! Great giveaway!
5 Minutes Around the Blogosphere - Week 36
said,
June 1, 2008 at 1:09 am
[...] Muses of Megret - Child of Wonder: Nurturing Creativity & Naturally Curious Children by Ginger Carlson (June 7th) [...]
Alyson
said,
June 1, 2008 at 7:06 am
great review. I would love a copy
Mom to 2 Boys
said,
June 1, 2008 at 8:44 am
I would LOVE a copy of this! To help foster creativity we do lot’s of imaginative play. My boys have created a little clubhouse in the trees just beyond our driveway. One day we brought over stumps for a table and for sitting on and the other day hubby cut down a log into plates and cups. They LOVE playing out there. We also read TONS and try to keep character toys to a minimum (tough with grandparents & friends of the family who LOVE character stuff).
Thanks for the give away!
Colleen
said,
June 1, 2008 at 3:57 pm
This looks like a great book! We already do a lot of pretend play and share stories with stuffed animal friends. I try not to get upset when my daughter makes a mess if she’s actually stumbled into something creative…
Belinda A.
said,
June 1, 2008 at 5:28 pm
We bent the ’superyard’ safety gates into a u-shape and draped a sheet over the top, now every evening my 16-month-old daughter and myself ( or my husband) crawl inside and read books by flashlight, or we line up all her stuffed animals and make them ‘come alive’, or we shine the flashlight up at the top of our ‘tent’ and we try and catch the light and so on, a new game is invented inside the tent every night!. She thinks it the best thing ever!
Ziva
said,
June 2, 2008 at 6:15 am
One way I try to keep my daughter, T, creative is by sticking some of my art books in with her board books. Although not every painting catches her eye (she’s only 16 months), and the pages aren’t as secure as the board books for kids, but I try to pick out some paintings that may interest her and then point out things she knows - bath, ball, dog, animal, mommy, daddy, baby, etc. I’d like to think it gives her some other visual options that aren’t so cartooned or brightly colored (ie. for kids specifically) but she can relate to nonetheless.
Michael Patterson
said,
June 3, 2008 at 2:34 am
My wife is known as the Kool-aid Mom, since our house is always open to our children and their friends, so more often than not they could all be found at our house. If you give children trust and treat them like adults, they will become trusting and they will act like adults. The answer to creativity is to offer you children and their friends the opportunity to be creative.
Michael Patterson
said,
June 3, 2008 at 2:41 am
When my son was about 2 I made a book called the See Touch Feel book. It was merely a 3 ring binder notebook with pages made of cardboard and many differnt things attached. Back then we received small pieces of material (1″x3″) in all different colors. patterns and textures and I glued them in the book. I pasted in pictures of al differnt types of items. I took pieces of corrugated cardboard and split them apart and added that and any other items I could find with different textures. I also took a hole punch and placed 8 holes on one of the pages in the pattern of a pair of shoes and laced it so my son could learn to someday tie nots.
He seemed to love the book and it inspired him to become and even greater puzzle solver as he got older. He loved doing mazes and solving any kind of puzzle.
TopazTook
said,
June 4, 2008 at 12:15 am
When my not-quite-two-year-old points out airplanes in the sky, I ask her where she thinks they’re going. She hasn’t answered that question yet, but I offer up some wild suggestions in hopes that someday she’ll have ideas of her own. We also let her “free play” with colors, some paints, sidewalk chalk and play dough.
Shawn
said,
June 4, 2008 at 9:45 pm
I’ve been doing routine art and music with my girls since they were 2 (twins) and we are now in the process of building an inspiration wall. We flipped through my magazines and every picture that made them smile, point or laugh I tore out and we will hang up. One picture was a girl climbing a fence … we talked about where she might be climbing, why and what happens (she gets a boo-boo, apparently). This part of motherhood makes my day!!! We’ve also started scribbling in various locations with various materials. Today was black construction paper and chalk — on the steps! Would love to have this book on my shelf.
Jawan
said,
June 6, 2008 at 12:56 am
This book has been on my wishlist since it was released. I guess I’ve just been waiting for an official “giveaway” before actually clicking on the “purchase” button. Now it’s up for a random number grab and I hope it falls on me.
I think the one thing that I continually do with my children in order to push their creativity as far as it can go is that I allow them to get dirty and messy when playing outdoors. I’ve never wanted to be a mother who hovered over her children with a washcloth or constantly worried about their clothes. I either clothe them in “play wear” or let them roam shirtless, etc. Their amazement during exploration and outdoor play is far more important than keeping them clean (at least momentarily!).