Child Imagination: Igniting Your Child's Power of Imagination

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Hi,
As parents, we do recognize the critical importance of play and leisure time in our kid's life. However, aspects like peer pressure, a burning desire to make our children academically better and a fierce need to make them excel in almost all fields, have made us exert too much pressure on our kids, just to perform better in their classes. But, the biggest question is how much pressure can we exert on our kids to help them perform better both in their classes and other activities? We may never realize that such a pressure may be quite counter-productive to our kid's life! Ultimately, we may need to bring semblance of balance in our kid's life, as well as how we think about our kids.

Parental experts and child psychologists suggest that providing enough playtime to your kids could be highly beneficial and advantageous to your kids. In fact, playtime can induce a sea of changes and transformations in your kid's personality and psychology. Playtime can also bring about plenty of intellect and imagination into your child's personality. In fact, you need not provide a dedicated playtime for your kids. It is possible that opportunities for play can arise and take birth at any time and in any place.

When you provide your kid a chance to play, you are ensuring proper growth in terms of brain development as well as the physique. It is also a very good move to assure your kid's well-being. It is also true that kids become extremely sharp and intelligent, when they are indulging in meaningful play activities. Useful and beneficial play activities can help your kid to develop a sense of extraordinary imagination. A capacity to imagine will help your kid to become successful in life. They can solve complex problems by thinking through different and challenging scenarios. Imagination skills will also help your kid to practice and master life skills and it can assist your kid to face any adverse situations in the future life.

A capacity to imagine and think will also help your kids to be efficient and creative thinkers as well. Imagination is as important and critical as any other branches of study, be it science or math. The first thing that you can do as parents is to learn how you can help your kids to imagine and be creative, all the while they are playing and having fun. All the best!

Thought for today:
"Children are the world's most valuable resources and its best hope for the future " - J.F.Kennedy

Best Regards,
Andrew Loh
Andrew Loh
Publisher & Editor, BrainyZine
andrew @ brainy-child.com

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Igniting Your Child's Power of Imagination

A number of kids seem to be extraordinarily gifted and endowed with a keen sense of imagination and creativity. These kids are always lost in their own world of deep imagination and creativity. On the other hand, a number of other kids are not so much imaginative and creative in their approach.

Simple Steps to Develop Creativity and Imagination

All kids display a tendency to be very imaginative and creative. They are naturally curious and automatically creative. But, in a growing environment that is negative and suppressive, they tend to suppress and restrict their natural talents and skills.

Q1: My daughter was tested for the gifted program in Kindergarten and they decided that while she didn't test gifted - she probably was gifted. She had a seventh grade vocabulary and a fifth grade comprehension - (tested 135 and 128, but on the third section of the test she got a 74 and needed a 130 average to test gifted)....

A: From your description, your daughter is definitely above average. I can understand your concerns when she goes to a bigger school in the fourth grade. Different schools use different methods in their identification procedures for gifted programs. Intelligence tests are one of the primary (and preferred) measures used to assess giftedness; however many schools these days incorporate more than one measure of giftedness that may include achievement test scores .... Continue to read Dr. Sandhu's answer on Gifted Child with Behavioral Concerns here.

Q2: Would you please explain what the non verbal reasoning part of CAT is about, and the kind of questions that test would have included. My boy of 12 has done fine (within the average scores band for chronological age) in the verbal and quantitative tests but less well in non verbal reasoning (i.e. below average).

A: The CAT test is a way of assessing strengths and weaknesses of individuals in the way that they learn. It can be used to support a student to address their weaknesses and ensure that each student is actually using their inherent strengths. Now, the results from the test is usually used by the school to initially set target grades, to assist teachers with planning appropriate activities and support; and to assist teachers in creating seating plans and group work... Continue to read Dr. Sandhu's answer on Non Verbal Reasoning of CAT here.

Creativity for Kids of All Ages
By Bill Costello

This book will help children develop their creative intelligence, which is an important ability for achieving happiness and success in school and at home. It enables children to be more creative at whatever it is they want to do, whether it is writing, science, math, music, arts, sports, to be popular, to make money, or to get better grades in school.

In today's information age, everyone has data. In order for children to become successful adults, they need to be able to produce creative ideas with that data. People who are creative and innovative always raise to the top. This book helps children and parents to be more creative. It is also a fun book that is fully illustrated with cartoons and pictures. It is also a book that helps parents to find new innovative ideas for their kids to work upon and excel.

Kid's Play: Igniting Children's Creativity
By Michele Cassou

Teach children to use intuition and spontaneity to fuel their creativity and gain confidence in themselves. A must read for art teachers and parents. In Kid's Play, the author brings her unique method of creative instruction to children and shows parents how they can inspire their children to discover the world of art.

Too often, a child's creativity is stunted because he or she feels the need to produce something specific that will meet with the expectations of teachers and parents. Cassou explains that it is the creative process that should be encouraged in children, and criticism, evaluation or even praise of the end result can actually be very damaging.

Why first-born children have higher IQs
Times Online UK Apr 11, 2008

Does your older brother think he's cleverer than you? Well, he's probably right. According to new research due to be published this week in the journal Intelligence, the oldest children in families are likely to have the highest IQs, and the youngest the lowest. The research is based on more than 1,000 children whose IQ was tested through childhood and adolescence up to the age of 18. The Dutch study shows a birth-order effect on intelligence in each of the tests. Overall, the IQ of the first-born child was higher than the second-born, which, in turn, was greater than that of children who had two or more older siblings.

Research: Diet Change Could Improve Child's IQ
Koco.com Apr 23, 2008

Research shows DHA, a fatty acid, plays an important part in brain function, memory, thought processes and vision development. Cook’s report will explain the importance for all children to receive DHA, share information about foods that contain it and how parents can also find it in supplement form at local stores.

Omega-3s linked to infant brain development
Bounty Apr 11, 2008

Intake of Omega-3 during the final trimester of pregnancy boosts the cognitive and sensory development of the infant, new studies suggest. A study published in the latest edition of The Journal of Pediatrics found that exposure to Omega-3 fatty acids in the last months of pregnancy can be linked to visual acuity, cognitive and motor development in infants been six and eleven months.

Eating for brain health
Williams Lake Tribune Mar 28, 2008

Want a smart kid? Nutrition is one of the most important things to consider along with brain stimulation. Food-good food- is the building material your child's brain needs to grow and run properly. It needs carbohydrate for energy, and protein and healthy fats to build connective pathways between the brain cells. Vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients help the neuro-transmitters that relay signals between these brain cells.

Games, talk and reading help children learn
M call Apr 18, 2008

This is the National Week of the Young Child, a time to remember that parents play the biggest role in helping their young children become talkers and readers. Acquiring a fast hold on language starts the foundation for successful readers, which has the strongest association with later academic success. Years of research have shown that a child's brain development is the most active and receptive during his/her earliest years from birth to about 5 years old.

Your Child's Emotional, Social And Intellectual Development
Discovery Articles Apr 21, 2008

Recent research on brain shows a dramatic spurt in learning between ages 4 and 10 when the brain is most biologically equipped to learn and understand. Although the brain can learn new skills throughout life, it will never again be quite as active as it is during these years. During this time, the brain eagerly seeks information from the senses as it decides which brain cell connections to keep and which ones to eliminate. Connections that are not reinforced by stimulation from the outside world are trimmed away until, the brain's basic architecture has been formed.

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