Play and Grow Smart-er Tips

Nancy Pyne-Hapke, author of “Play and Grow Smart, A Guide Supporting Brain Development, Birth through Five,” has been giving tips to aid your child’s optimum skill development through proactive neuroscience-based activities. These ideas come from scholarly sources to personal interviews, from the internet to periodicals to books.

“CREATIVITY” involves imagination, ingenuity, invention/originality, creative thinking, dramatic/visual/musical arts.

THE CRITICAL WINDOWS during which the circuits of the brain are being most heavily wired for Creativity is 1 – 4 years with lifelong expression. The more opportunity children have to experience healthy, positive and nurturing Creativity experiences during this critical period, the more efficiently their brains will work over the long run.

A FEW DEVELOPMENTAL LEARNING TOOLS (toys and other objects) for CREATIVITY: • blocks • dolls and stuffed animals • books • sandbox • water • costumes and props • play figures • child-sized dishes and tools • art materials • construction sets • music and instruments

Forms of creativity: ART (visual), LANGUAGE (written or spoken), MUSIC/MOVEMENT (bodily movement), FANTASY (pretending).

Some general “Creativity: FANTASY” tidbits:

•• CONTINUE TO talk about, pretend and discuss Toddler’s feelings and other people’s feelings (children’s and adults’).

•• FROM ABOUT 4, having a vivid imagination, he sometimes has imaginary playmates. He has difficulty, however, separating make-believe from reality.

•• HE IMITATES Dad (she imitates Mom), particularly in play.

•• SHE PRETENDS she’s at preschool, the grocery, the mall, in the car.

Next week – “Creativity: Fantasy, Pt. 5”

?’s – email msmarm@roadrunner.com

Comments

  1. Puzzles are a great way to stimulate your child’s logical thinking skills. Fine art puzzles combine exposure to great works of art with the exercise of analytical thinking skills. The process of doing a puzzle encourages your child to slow down and notice more about the picture and become familiar with the artist’s style and technique.
    Amazing WIZ Kids believes that exposure to different art and ideas will make a child more creative. Children spend so much time in front of licensed character images, and there is nothing wrong with the characters, but it is never too early to broaden your child’s horizons.