Creative Excitement at NAEYC

Sonia and I just returned from a marvelous NAEYC Conference in sunny California. The sessions were wonderful and filled with enthusiastic early childhood teachers and a variety of others that work with young children.

Our Saturday morning session, “My brain is full of ideas! Unleashing young children’s creative thinking in an exciting learning environment”, was attended by participants from all over the world including Japan, Indonesia, China, Australia, and the US. We tried something new by inviting the folks to participate actively in a unique way. First, they created a “Fling-a-maginga” using colorful crepe paper and pipe cleaners. Then, they used their creations to positively respond to ideas they liked by shaking their Fling-a-maginga over their head! This produced a visually interesting effect, as these interactions were exhilarating for all of us!

 

During the session we discussed the essential need for creative thinking for the young children in our classrooms that will be living in a very different world in 2032. We investigated the amazing abilities of creative young children and shared ways to nurture their creative confidence in early childhood classrooms.

We also celebrated the creative teachers who are working with young children every day by inspiring the four C’s: Creativity, Communication, Collaboration, and Critical Thinking in their programs. These teachers are planning, questioning, and designing an environment that inspires creative thinking in their young children.

An important component of NAEYC’s conference is reconnecting with friends and colleagues.

Plan on attending NAEYC conference in Atlanta next year—we hope to see you there!