Promoting Creativity in the Young

A recent report from Rhodes College in the US has suggested that your choice of toys might have an impact on the development of creativity in your child. I considered myself fortunate to grow up in a time when Meccano, Lego and jigsaws were in pole position on the Christmas wish lists, together with model railways and construction kits.

These toys allowed us to construct a world limited only by our imaginations.

I know that the current crop of computer games, with their interactive features, serve different purposes, and are used as training tools in industry, but few things seem to beat a construction kit to fire the imagination…

Photo: Alamy

APS press release: Playing With Puzzles and Blocks Could Build Children’s Spatial Skills | Association for Psychological Science

Rhodes College News: Blocks and Board Games Can Boost Children’s Spatial Reasoning Skills, According to Prof. Jamie Jirout
Psychological Science abstract: Building Blocks for Developing Spatial Skills

This story was also reported in the UK press: Traditional toys like jigsaws and Lego boost children’s problem solving skills | Telegraph

About educationalist04

I'm convinced we can, as a species, do much better than this if we set our minds to being much more positive and productive towards our fellow humans. The solution is learning - creating independent and autonomous learners who can problem solve, innovate and create a better more equitable and sustainable world. My books, Future Proof Your School and Re-Examining Success together with this blog, explore how better learning outcomes for all can be achieved.

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