Visit to the ‘Reader’ library in SFS colony

• Even young children have the power to question; they do not accept things the way they are told to them. It has to make sense to them.
• Children love to make up their own stories. If they are shown a picture, they will not hesitate to interpret it the way they see right.
• A child’s creativity should not be stifled; rather the teacher and the parent should nurture it. Often there is more than one right answer, a parent or teacher must accept that and not admonish the child for thinking differently.
• Some things are facts and therefore not questionable. For example one cannot dispute that the state of Karnataka lies in south India, or that the sun rises in the east. But other things, like the answer to the question ‘what flies in the sky?’ may have many possibilities, each of which may be true. One may question why something is a certain way and come up with many ideas to answer the question, but these questions must have scope for interpretation. Proven facts are separate from ideas that have scope for interpretation; the designer should keep this in mind.
• While creating exercises for children to encourage creativity, one must as a teacher or designer provide a trigger for the creative process to take place. Young children may need a starting point to help their creative process.
• The exercises should be created in such a way that they guide the child in the right direction. Freedom should be given along with some sort of boundary so that the child stays on track and learns from his/ her creative process.