Your child doesn’t have to be an aspiring artist to reap the benefits of a creative life. Creativity enhances all facets of existence because it opens us up to boundless possibilities: professionally, educationally, socially, and personally. Whether playing the violin, shooting a basketball, or doing a complex math problem, we use creative thinking, which takes practice and requires that we replace old thinking habits with new, playful approaches. It’s never too late to foster creativity, though the sooner we begin, the better.

Creativity, like any other ability, must be noticed and nurtured to bloom. Parents play a large role in recognizing and providing opportunities for creative talent to be expressed. Ways of thinking, personality factors, and physical attributes all influence the development of creative talent. The characteristics of creative individuals include openness to ideas, curiosity, persistence, intellectual risk taking, metaphorical thinking, originality, and thrill seeking.

Though creativity has been a buzzword in education for over 50 years, we still struggle to define and identify it. DGL recently asked Jane Piirto and Alane J. Starko, two experts widely known for their research in the area, to help clarify this complex concept. Their responses follow.

For budding creative artists, two excellent products are available. Silver Dolphin’s Fine Arts Studio Drawing, by Jim Bradrick, is a pencil drawing kit, while Chronicle Books’ Sumi-e: The Art of Japanese Brush Painting, by Shingo Syoko, uses ink as a medium. Each kit provides instruction for both beginning and experienced artists.

Arts with the Brain in Mind, by Eric Jensen (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2001), details how schools can make arts education a core subject and how to integrate the arts into every subject. Jensen, who reviews what programs should be considered and how to implement and assess them, asserts that the positive effects of a fully implemented arts program include

Most preschool children would benefit from the innovative curriculum at University Primary School, but it caters primarily to those three- to five-year-olds who are gifted. Located on the campus of the University of Illinois at Champaign, the private primary school serves as a site for the university’s College of Education students to research early childhood teaching practices and to observe and study young children learning.

When parents think of their children as gifted, they usually think of high IQ scores, high SATs, high ACTs, high grades, and the like. But research shows that there is much more to giftedness than the academic ability and achievement that U.S. society values.

Literary magazines—periodicals that offer talented young writers, photographers, and other artists a venue for their creations—are the topic of this issue’s review. With gifted middle schoolers in mind, I looked at two periodicals targeted at girls and two at boys and girls alike.

Have you ever been amazed by your child’s imagination and inventiveness? Understanding Creativity, by Jane Piirto (Great Potential Press, 2004), explores the creative process and gives biographical examples of artists, musicians, dancers, entrepreneurs, architects, and writers. Readers gain insight into recognizing creative talent in children, encouraging creativity in them, valuing their work without evaluating it, and incorporating creative values into everyday life.

The concept of creativity is fraught with myths and negative stereotypes that prevent people from being creative. Enhancing creativity often involves dispelling these beliefs.

Myth: The stereotype of the creative person includes the following traits: seeks sensations, is open to the irrational, is impulsive and uninhibited, and disrespects authority.