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• Published date: 06 November 2021
• Publication title: Mix, The

By creativity I don’t mean what might loosely be called “the Arts”, but rather innovative thinking. Imagination got Richard Pearse and the Wright brothers off the ground, motivated Peter Beck to 3D-print rockets and led Alexander Bell to invent the telephone. It was imaginative thinking that turned that phone into a powerful, pocket-sized computer and communication tool.

If we only expose our youngsters to what is, we limit their world view. Now more than ever we need new approaches to problems that we’re only just starting to face up to; problems that, ultimately, they will need to address along with many more that we cannot even begin to predict.

Reading books is a very easy way for us to develop their “critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills”, in other words, their imagination.

Unlike the visual interpretations of stories on screens, reading allows greater engagement between the story and imagination because a youngster has to imagine what the setting looks like, what the characters are doing and form their own picture of what the latter look like. Then there are the “what happens next?” moments.

As they identify with various characters, they begin to develop feelings and emotions towards them – the beginnings of empathy.

Kids four years and older know that fire-breathing dragons don’t really fill our skies but that doesn’t stop them enjoying and getting involved and enthusiastic about dragon-taming.

Andy Griffiths, author of the Treehouse...