I am hoping we can create a thread where we share ideas on how we develop thinking in our children. After watching Jacob Barnett’s tedtalk, it really got me thinking. Its all about taking the time to stop learning and spend that time thinking. Jacob Barnett is truly set apart because he has taken lots of time to think in between his extraordinary time learning. I think that its one’s thinking skills that truly empowers a person or child when going after their passions.
Here I hope we can share what we do to help our children develop and explore their thoughts in relation to their passions.
With my 3 year old daughter, she is my story teller. She is always telling a story, so here is a video of her directing an improv show of her version of “Little Red Riding Hood.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzCDluk6wKc
My thought is that this type of activity helps her to build upon a framework of knowledge while allowing her to use her own mind to create a new perspective. She is very passionate and excited about it. I think its this passion that allows her to think so freely and creatively. Its terribly funny when she gets going, and her siblings really indulge her by following along with her crazy stories.
What do you do with your child to help them build upon the framework of the knowledge they have? Maybe its something they came up with on their own related to their own passion. Something that they built. I would just love to hear from everyone. I think we can really inspire and encourage each other in finding new ways to develop opportunities for creative and independent thinking for our little ones.
There are lots of types of thinking so please share all your examples. Critical thinking, implementation thinking, conceptual thinking, innovative thinking, intuitive thinking, etc. Maybe they use the Scientific method or design thinking. Whatever it is please share.
Whether its science, math, literature, architecture, art, history, etc, how can we create opportunities for thinking using this framework of knowledge we have given them? I hope lots of you share even the smallest things! Every thing big or small will develop insight. Please don’t feel like you are bragging. If we don’t share, we hinder our growth. Thanks!
Related to this subject, what I do is a lot off pretend play.
I don’t recall since when I do it, but last month I saw my son doing it by himself. For example: I take one car and pretend that this car is calling another car for a race. The other car accepts the challenge and they go. Or sometimes the car A just calls car B for a ride. So, last month I saw my then 21 month son taking two cars and saying this simple dialog:
Car?! – A says
Yes Car! – B says
And both cars go for a ride.
Now we do a lot of this together, and I take one car and he takes the other. I ask a question and he answers or receives the command for the other car.
Also, sometimes I pretend we were trains on tracks. We use lines between blocks on the floor as tracks. I say something like that I was Thomas (from Thomas and Friends) and he was Percy. I take some stuffed animal to be Sir Topham Hatt. He loves it. I believe that this can stimulate creativity and require the use of known language and knowledge.
Thanks for bringing this topic. Storytelling and acting is a very efficient way of developing creative thinking skills. I remember my grandson acting the different animals walking styles while singing ‘El bosque de la amistad’. He was 2 year old at this time. At 4 yrs and 8 month he narrated ‘Caperucita Roja’ to her cousin, my 8 month old grandaughter. Now, my grandaughter at 2.5 yrs enjoys telling us the story of 3 little Pigs and the Bad Wolf…
A different skill related to thinking is what i experience this week with my grandson. Being in kindergarter he is not yet doing much addition. Nonetheless he proudly told me he could add ‘big nimbers’. He said 32 + 32 = 64. I was impress in the way he describe learning that. It did not came from sckool nor his parents. He just reason that 30 + 30 was 60 and 2+ 2 was 4 so the sum was 64. My son ask other examples and he got them right. Maybe our friend from brillkid are not surprise about this cause babies are expose to numbers very early but not being this the case with him, i was really amazed.!
Thanks again for sharing and giving more ideas.
