How to Strengthen Your Child's Creativity?

Have you ever noticed how creative children are? A rock becomes a fortress. A tree becomes a house. A cloud can become a monster. Anything can become anything. Their imaginations are amazing. One of our jobs as parents is to strengthen our children's creativity. Some children are creative artistically. Some are creative in sports. Some are creative mathematically. Some are great at building. Each child has different strengths. We as parents can see that. Even in one and two year olds, it often is visible to parents and we can start building on it. If we can help our children give voice to their strengths, we give them a huge gift. In addition, as parents, if we can do that for ourselves, if it hasn't already been done for us, we help our children. We can share in each others creative strengths. For instance, if we have a child who likes to do jigsaw puzzles, it might be something we like to do too. In doing it together, it becomes a bonding activity that strengthens our relationship.



Recently, I was able to view a couple of the amazing structures at Brickon 2010 in Seattle. It struck me the lego builders were amazingly creative. One gentleman said that he only had 55,000 legos, whereas a number of other builders had 1,000,000 legos. People built these without kits, just from their own creativity. It was also a brick by brick by brick endeavor. One small, teeny lego on top of another small, teeny lego multiplied thousands of time over thousands of hours. Putting legos together, sorting them and figuring out how the legos were going to fit together. That was all part of the creativity process and the fun. To someone who doesn't like legos, this might be a form of torture. To someone who loves legos, it is work, but it is a type of work that you get lost in. It becomes a labor of love.




As parents, anytime we can help our children find the things that are their individual labors of love -- and task that they are willing to get lost in for hours and hours and hours while building one lego at a time, or one drawing at a time, or one note at a time, we are strengthening their creative muscle. Learning a sport is one kick, one throw, one run at a time. Writing becomes writing a sentence, then a paragraph, then a page, then a story. Each lego, each note, each word is a tiny step that builds into a beautiful creation that means something to each of us. As parents, if we can help our children find that thing that they love enough to build and then help them when they want to knock all the legos over because they are overwhelmed, or frustrated, or bored, they will take their creativity to levels we cannot begin to imagine.

TAKING CONTROL OF THE FAMILY SCHEDULE or WHAT SPIDER'S HAVE TO TEACH US ABOUT ORGANIZATION!!!

School has started. Homework is being assigned. Spelling words are being memorized. Lunches are being packed. The schedule is getting filled to the brim. The vacations we took this summer feel like a dream. Did they really happen? Bummer -- It's only September!

Often, the worst part of the start of school for moms, dads and caregivers is the loss of control. Evenings and weekends are no longer leisurely and relaxed. The are crammed with helping with word problems, correcting punctuation, folding laundry, calming a frazzled child's nerves and making sure everyone gets into bed at a semi-decent hour. It's a feeling of being caught in a web of someone else's making.



In the Pacific Northwest, fall is spider time. Each morning brings a new artistry of spider web magic in corners of porches, alcoves of doors, across walking paths and hidden in bushes. The most beautiful webs are the ones that have survived a slight morning mist or rainstorm and are covered with little diamond shaped water drops illuminated by the morning sun.




To a spider, the web is a beautiful work of order and precision. It goes between two to four points. Then weaves marvelously around in little squares or rectangles until a bigger web is completed that will catch some nourishment, some delicious protein for dinner. If you're the spider's dinner == if you're caught in the web -- it's yucky. We all know the feeling. It's sticky. It's claustrophobic. We try to pull our legs out as fast as we can.

Imagine, for a moment, the power of weaving your own web. You have a family you love. You want the best for them. Schooling -- sports -- good dinners. You also want family time. Quiet moments together just laughing. Unscheduled times where the games come out. Gentle times where you color together or finish a couple of pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. So -- weave a web for your family. Mark off a couple of squares in your calendar for totally free time. It doesn't have to be long. 15 minutes is one little spider web square. It's enough time for one game of King's in the Corner. Yet, taking that 15 minutes makes you the Web Weaver for your family.

Get out the Play dough and practice making letters with your toddler. It's one of the activities in "What Your Children Need to Learn to Read" by Michelle Vallene. Your child will have fun and you will feel more relaxed when it's over. Just for fun, get out a box of Raisin Bran and see if you and your child can actually count how many raisins are in the box. It doesn't matter if you get the correct number. It matters that you weave the web of some fun, silly, unscheduled time with your family.

Be a web weaver today. Make it a beautiful web for your family. Go heavy on the special web squares of laughter, hugs and tickling. These are the things that make every family web really strong! Happy weaving!!

HOW TO CHALLENGE TODDLERS & PUPPIES!!!

We added a puppy to our family this spring, Bailey. As with all puppies, kittens and babies, he is energetic, inquisitive and curious. He runs when he could walk. He bounces everywhere, starting first thing in the morning, jumping out of bed, excited to see what new adventures will come his way.





We showered him with puppy toys. Squeaky toys, red and orange balls, toys that hide food, stuffed animals just for puppies. One morning, while I was working on my computer, Bailey walked past all his toys and started trying to pull one of my daughter's toys off the windowsill. It was really hard for him to reach. He had to stand up on his two hind legs. He would push it with his nose to get it closer to the edge of the windowsill. Then, he would rest on all fours for a few minutes and stand back up on his back legs. He repeated this for several times before he was able to grab my daughter's toy with his teeth from the windowsill. He proudly carried it over to his blanket and laid down and started chewing on it. I took it away from him.

He walked past all his toys again. Went over to the windowsill and repeated the whole exercise again. Up on hind legs. Reach for toy. Rest a little. Back up on hind legs. Stretch a little more to try and reach toy. Rest. Stand up. Finally reach toy. Carry it proudly over to blanket. Sit down and start chewing on it. Have it taken away. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

After a few days of this, I realized that Bailey really didn't care what he got in his mouth. He cared about the CHALLENGE. He wanted something more demanding that just a pile of toys on the floor. So, he went for the ones that were harder to get -- out of reach -- slightly beyond his two front paws.

Our children need challenges also. They need toys, games, activities which are just enough out of reach that they have to stretch for them -- stand on their tippy toes -- try something they haven't tried before to figure it out. Creating challenges for our children is as simple as putting blocks in a tupperware container with the lid on and letting our children figure out how to get the lid off. If our children aren't ready for writing, we can encourage them to make letter shapes with mismatched socks from the laundry. Using one of the activities from Michelle Vallene's, "What Children Need to Learn", they can write letter and number shapes in shaving cream on the kitchen table while we make dinner. Our children, like Bailey, will create their own challenges. We can help direct them by providing windowsills with different skills and activities and challenges. See "What Children Need to Learn to Read".

If you would like some more ideas, visit our website, Learnerslane.com or feel free to e-mail me at klittle@learnerslane.com

The Magic of Fountains

Suzie and Michelle’s most recent picture of their travels is of the fountain in Central Park in New York City. There are two things I thought about when I saw this picture. One is water. Have you ever thought about how free water is and how much children love water? They love just putting their hands in water – running in water – stamping in water – getting wet in water. The best kind of water is water they are not supposed to be in as opposed to a bath. The amazing thing about water is how natural, easy and free it is. It isn’t hard. In it’s softness, it can wear down anything. It can wear down rocks and mountains. In that way, it is incredibly strong. You would never expect that it could be that strong.

The other thing I thought about this square is that if you’ve ever been to New York, or the center of most big cities, there seems to be an area where no matter when you go, there are people around it. The water seems to draw them there. There are jugglers and dancers and singers and people just sitting on the fountain, looking and watching and being with other people.

Children seem to know innately that they learn better when they are interacting with other people, especially with people they love. When it’s natural and easy, they learn easier and faster. This art of learning in a natural, easy way is what Michelle’s new book is about. “What Children Need to Learn to READ” is full of ideas and activities that make learning a part of our everyday lives. It is full of dancing, singing, playing, rhyming games that make learning to read as easy as flowing water. These are the types of activities that children are naturally drawn to and love. They do these games easily and in the process, become strong readers.

As parents, we try many different things to help our children learn. We buy videos to make our kids smarter. We purchase piles of workbooks with sticker activities that sit unused in our cupboards. Many times, we come back to those things which are simple and easy and that our kids ask for, because they fit in our lives. These are the things our children are drawn to the most. We encourage you to check out the activities in “What Children Need to Learn to Read”. Go to our website and look for our free downloads at LearnersLane.com. Let us know what you think.

In the meantime, go play in a fountain!

NYC and Collaboration

Michelle and Suzie continue their adventure in New York City at the National Publicity Summit. Suzie's second picture was of Ground Zero.

When I first saw the title in my e-mail, I wasn't sure I wanted to look at the picture. My memory of Ground Zero is full of images of flames, smoke, loss and sadness. The picture I opened from Suzie was a surprise. It is a building-to-be, surrounded by familiar buildings and landmarks. With a lot of collaborative effort, stone by stone, Ground Zero will become a new landmark.

Helping our children learn to read is like building a landmark. Successful readers have collaborative help from parents, grandparents, teachers and friends. My younger daughter needed her 2nd grade teacher to help her find books that met her unique sense of humor and sense of curiosity. Without her, a lover of books might never have been born.

As we build Learners Lane, we want to be a collaborator in helping parents and caregivers help their children love reading. In order to love reading, children need to love letters. They need to realize that with two and three letters, they can make an endless amount of words. Suddenly, the child is the creator, the reader, the writer. What was once a jumble of letters:

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H

becomes

BAD, HAD, FAD, DAD, ADD

Oh, wow, a game!! How many letters can I make?

My friend's father just turned 92. He was born blind. Everyday he gets the word of the day out of the newspaper. He sits down at the kitchen table with his Braille tablet and types out as many new words as he can make from the word of the day. I think his current best total is 95 words. He definitely had some collaborators in childhood who helped him love letters, words and reading.

Be a collaborator with your child today. Find a word. Sit down with your child. See how many new words you can make together. Know that you are helping to build a child who loves reading.

Learners Lane Team

Learners Lane Hits NYC

Michelle and Suzie are busy in New York City at the National Publicity Summit. It is a crash course in learning the best way to tell parents and caregivers about Michelle's new book, "What Children Need to Learn to Read."

While there, Suzie sent me pictures from sights they had time to visit. As always, Lady Liberty stands tall and proud.

This picture seems to represent Learners Lane's mission -- empower children to reach their full potential by learning how to read. The Status of Liberty's spirit has empowered, motivated and encouraged people from all over the world to try new things and enter new lands.

More than almost anything, the ability to read well opens new doors for children. A child who has mastered the ability to read can teach themselves anything they want to know. The sky really is the limit. Surround a creative preschooler with letters, phonetics and pictures. As these items become more and more familiar, they become keys that open future doors for that child.

Michelle's book and our website, Learnerslane.com, give parents tools they need to help their children learn to read in a fun, light-hearted way. The reading activities can be done while at the grocery store and while driving around with your child. They fit into your life, instead of you trying to fit them into yours.

Join us on this new adventure of empowering ourselves to help our children reach new lands.

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