Sesame Street
Sesame Street: Creativity and the Arts
Advice for parents of preschool-age children, but pertinent to anyone interested in early child development, for using the arts to prepare children for school success.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Wilson and Ditch: Diorama Activity
Using this activity, have students design, create, and discuss a diorama of a particular location from Wilson and Ditch, and then create a Wilson and Ditch script about that location.
PBS
Pbs: Creativity and Play: Fostering Creativity
One of the most important types of creative activity for young children is creative play. This article discusses the benefits of creative play and other ways to foster creativity in your classroom.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mit: Media Lab: All I Really Need to Know (About Creative Thinking) I Learned in Kindergarten
This paper in pdf format focuses on how kindergarten students learn about creative thinking and emphasizes that their approach is ideally suited to the needs of the 21st century.
Primary Resources
Using Sketchbooks in Primary Schools
Get your young students involved in the creative process by introducing sketchbooks in your classroom. Not sure where to start? This article will give you great beginning tips on how to get young imaginations flowing.
Other
Jump Start
Sometimes it is difficult to initiate your creative process. This simple online tool can help spark your creative thinking ideas.
Other
Encouraging Creative Thinking With Awareness Questions
Often times getting your students to think creatively is as simple as asking the right kinds of questions. This excellent article discusses the types of questions to ask and provides valuable insight into the creative thinking process.
Other
Aha! Puzzles: Creative and Lateral Thinking
A well-written article explaining what the creative thinking process is. Included on page two are a couple of interesting "matchstick" puzzles that require creative thinking skills to solve.
Other
Techniques for Creative Thinking: Yes, They Work
A nice article that explains some of the processes that can aid in the creative thinking process. Some of the processes explained include analogical thinking, brainstorming and attribute listing.
Other
Creative Techniques: Tips, Tools, & Techniques
A top ten list that provides information and ideas about how to spark your own creativity. Each of the ideas are briefly explained and include a "what to do" to help you get started using them.
Other
Techniques for Creative Thinking
If you are stuck on ways to teach creativity in your classroom, you will find many various techniques on this site. Everything from mind mapping to fuzzy thinking is listed here. Each technique has a link to its description.
Other
What Can I Do to Increase My Creativity?
This author introduces some ideas that can help you increase your own creativity. Most of the information is philosophical in content but can help you to think more productively about the creative process.
Other
How Do Creative Thinking Techniques Work?
We know that it is important to teach students to be creative thinkers. We also know there are many websites that show how to encourage the creative process. This site explains how those creative thinking techniques work.
Other
Increase Creativity in Two Steps
There are many ways to help you increase your creative thinking skills. This site focuses on just two simple things you can easily do to foster your own creativity.
Other
Best100 Ideas: The Six Hats of Creative Communication
One of the more popular models of initiating creative thought is that of De Bono's six hat thinking strategy. This article explains the role of each hat and how they are used to develop creative ideas.
Other
Creative Thinking and Lateral Thinking Techniques
Developing your creative thinking skills is increasingly important in the 21st century workplace. This page lists several techniques and tutorials for helping you develop your own creative thinking skills.
Other
Watercolor painting.com: Creating Journal Art
Journaling with words or pictures can be a great way to empty and open your mind. Here's a no fail art lesson that will have you seeing things out of thoughtless lines and squiggles.
Kidsource OnLine
Kid Source on Line: Encouraging Creativity in Early Childhood Classrooms
An excellent article providing insight for how to encourage young children to be creative in their educational development. The article gives suggestions for what teachers can do to foster creativity by using time, space, materials and...
Other
Valuing and Developing Creativity
With the emergence of the 21st century skills in education, creative thinking and creative teaching are beginning to have more prominence within the educational structure. This article addresses the need to put creativity in the center...
Other
Creating Systems to Reinforce Creativity
Although this article was written from a business perspective, the ideas throughout can easily be adapted to the classroom. The formula for creative output is explained and is a good way to encourage creativity among your students.
Other
Why Study Creativity?
With the new push for 21st century skills in education there is an increasing need to teach creative thinking skills to students. This page lists 12 reasons why we should study creativity and why it is important.
Other
Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy Creative Thinking
With humor and an easy to understand common sense approach, this article explains how easy it is to be a creative thinker. It provides good practical ideas that will enable you to find your creative side.
Other
Mind Mapping: Visual Creative Thinking
Mind mapping is an effective tool that can help with the creative thinking process. This article explains what mind mapping is and it shows you how you can effectively use it to help with your creative process.
Other
Michael Michalko Creative Thinking Techniques
As one of the country's leading experts on creative thinking, this site offers a brief overview of some of Michael Michalko's techniques.