Hooray for Non-Fiction

We had a delightful evening with our daughter's family. She and her husband have two wonderful sons, 9 and 6. They love reading non-fiction books. Around the dinner table we had a lively conversation about what the fastest animal was, the fastest chicken, what is the deepest ocean in the world, and on and on.

I was amazed at what these boys know about the world around them! They just love checking out stacks of library books--especially non-fiction. How cool is that!

Got a Lot of Reading to Do

Never happier than right after a trip to the library. "I got a lot of reading to do," he says with a smile!

Flight to the Imagination

I love this quote by Plato:

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything."

Let There Be Music!

Music for the Very Young Child

It's never too early to introduce a little child to a variety of music. A love of music seems instinctive even to a baby. A mother's lullaby can calm the newborn.

I remember visiting in the home of my son's family. Their young daughter was (and is) a very active child. She had trouble falling asleep because her mind would continue racing and imagining. Her wise mother would play peaceful music softly on the CD player. It set such a sweet, calm atmosphere.

I remember as a very young child dancing as my mother played the piano.

Expose your child to a variety of music styles. Play some Souza's marches and all march around the house waving flags. Hand everyone a rhythm instrument and enjoy playing Latin music. Tape a strip of crepe paper to a stick and twirl it around as you dance to Swan Lake. What a fun way to develop creativity.

Let your child see you enjoy many types of music.

What a marvelous smorgasbord of musical genres are out there to be enjoyed...by all ages.

Cool 3-D Art Project

Here's a fun art project to do with the kids--drawing your hand in 3-D!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10203388520264353&set=vb.1552160823&type=2&theater

Thank You, Mrs. Cummins

Yesterday my granddaughters went shopping for school with their mom. When they got back, they showed me all of their cool new outfits. One granddaughter is entering third grade and I told her that one of the great things about third grade is you start doing more writing.

It got me to thinking...I can trace my love of writing to my second and third grade teacher. I had Mrs. Cummins for two years. She encouraged our creativity in writing in such a simple way, but I'll always be grateful to her for it.

She had us cut a picture out of a magazine and then write a story about it. My mother saved all my stories. I read them now, and they're very primitive but when I read them, I remember the feeling I had when I wrote them.

There's not a red pen mark on any of them. Even though my spelling was less than perform, Mrs. Cummins was focusing on something else. She was wanting us to learn to love expressing ourselves through the written word.

Thank you, Mrs. Cummins. I hope my granddaughter has a teacher like you for third grade.

Ready...Set...Get Playful

Years ago I took a creative writing class. One of the most helpful things that I learned was this: Before starting to write, loosen up...get playful!

Children are naturally creative. Watch them at play. What do they do? They use their imagination. They giggle. They have fun. They play games.

Got writer's block? Before writing, try this: Act like a kid. Get down on the floor with your 4-year-old and have a tickling contest. Play dress-ups with your grandkids. Share knock-knock jokes with your tween.

If you don't happen to have any children around, think of something playful to do. Stand on your head. Call someone up and share a hilarious joke. Play Chopsticks on the piano. Pat your head while rubbing your tummy.

Do something...anything to loosen up. You'll be amazed at how much more creative your writing will be after this exercise of acting like a kid.