activity to enhance thinking skills

1. Activities to Enhance Thinking Skills
Creativity and Fluency
by Sandra Anselmo
i ~ J i iiiii iiiiiiiii
We live in a world with problems that
seem to grow ever more complex. Con-
tamination seeps into water supplies,
drought and flooding altemately affect
large parts of the globe, and peace
seems elusive. Creative solutions are
required for these and many other
problems that we face.
Alas, the solutions for many of our
problems will not be found in this
generation. Young children of today
will eventually meet and deal with our
unresolved problems as well as new, as
yet unanticipated ones. The coming
generations will need all of the creativ-
Sandra Anselmo is an Associate Professor
in the School of Education at the Univer-
sity of the Pacific in Stockton, CA.
ity that they can summon as they en-
counter these challenges.
Those of us who interact with young
children must consciously nurture the
creativity that exists within all
children. By valuing children's good
ideas, their alternate suggestions, their
new approaches, we show children that
what they think is important. And, by
the activities that we plan, we can help
to develop children's creative poten-
tial.
There are many components of
creativity--fluency, flexibility, ori-
ginality and elaboration, to name four.
In the activities that follow, we focus
on developing fluency--defined as the
ability to generate a ready flow of
ideas. Fluency is very important in pro-
ducing many, many possible solutions
to a given problem or question. The
technique introduced in these activities
is called brainstorming.
Activities are specified at three levels
to correspond somewhat with the abili-
ties of toddlers, preschoolers and
young school-age children. No particu-
lar equipment is needed except a chalk-
board and chalk or paper and pencil.
However, brainstorming and other
creative activities do require a certain
type of atmosphere, one in which
children feel good about themselves
and trust that their contributions will be
received positively by adults and peers.
No "put downs" are allowed, and no
evaluation of the brainstorming takes
place until afterwards.
38 0992-4199/84/1300-0038,~,75~1984H.... s~i..... ~ DAY CARE AND EARLY EDUCATION

2. Beginning: for toddlers or as
a first step for older children
Introduce by your example a game of
"I see... " to a small group of
children. Model possible ways to com-
plete the sentence in that particular set-
ting ("I see an airplane, a doll, a block,
a truck..."). Probably the children
will be eager to help you as soon as they
get the idea of what you are doing. Ac-
cept all responses with enthusiasm and
encourage them with questions, such as
"Is there anything else that you can
see?"
Toddlers vary widely in their expres-
sive language abilities. Some toddlers
are able to name many objects in the en-
vironment, but others may make their
contributions to brainstorming by
pointing or touching something. Espe-
cially at these early ages, emphasize
children's understanding of language
and the fluency of their ideas. If they
understand and can respond, we know
that fluency in expressive language will
be likely to follow.
Be prepared for many repetitions of
ideas, especially at first. Accept each
contribution as valuable, even if it re-
peats an idea already given. When
children have developed fluency
through activities of this type, they will
show more variety in their answers.
After children feel comfortable in
brainstorming, begin to record their
ideas on a chalkboard or on paper as
they give them. You can then follow the
brainstorming with a review of their
good ideas and comments about their
progress.
I I
Intermediate: for
preschoolers or as a first
step for older children
Propose a classification category
with which children are familiar. The
following ideas wilt get you started, but
be sure to select from this list concepts
which children in your group under-
stand and with which they have had
successful previous experiences:
parts of the body
wild animals
tame animals
round objects
square objects
triangular objects
foods
furniture
articles of clothing
objects of a certain color
objects of a certain texture
(hard, soft, bumpy)
Ask children to think of as many mem-
bers of that classification as they can.
Record ideas on a chalkboard or large
sheet of paper. Encourage all contribu-
tions.
You may find that children are eager
to evaluate ideas as they are proposed.
Because the process of evaluation im-
pedes fluency, though, you should re-
direct children's attention to the brain-
storming activity and promise that
evaluation will follow.
When children have used all of their
ideas, the appropriate time for evalua-
tion has arrived. As a group, go
through the ideas to determine if each
contribution fits the classification. In
cases of disagreement about the suita-
bility of an idea, encourage discussion
and then vote whether to keep the idea
on the list.
The more fluent that children be-
come, the longer brainstorming ses-
sions last. Therefore, at some point, it
is usually" advisable to introduce a time
limit for brainstorming.
Advanced: for young
school-age children
The advanced brainstorming activi-
ties follow the same procedures as the
intermediate but also introduce a sec-
ond property for classification. The
following suggestions should be used
only if they incorporate concepts with
which children have worked:
small and round
big and soft
red and rounded
tall and rough
green foods
These advanced brainstorming activi-
ties are challenging and exciting to
children who have had positive expe-
riences with beginning and intermedi-
ate activities. Brainstorming at all three
levels develops fluency, an important
component of creativity.
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