An Easy and Scientific
Way to Increase a Child’s Creativity and Imagination
Courtesy of FeatureSource
Creativity and imagination are premium qualities that all
parents want their children to have. Creative people can
solve business problems, create scientific advances, write
books and songs and become leaders in many areas. They are
the architects of culture and therefore are highly prized.
Children’s literature
author Conrad Blomberg believes that reading to your child
is vital to developing creativity and imagination.
“Most parents intuitively know
that creativity is valuable, but they may not know an easy
way to enhance this ability in their children,” Blomberg
says. “Science has now validated that reading aloud
for only 30 minutes a day — and doing this with consistency
— is one way to reach this goal.”
This simple method is based on leading
scientists’ solid work at well-known research facilities.
Magnetic resonance imaging machines can look into the brain
and indicate where activity is taking place. Researchers
have mapped the brain extensively, which enables them to
pinpoint the center for creativity and imagination. Thus
when activity centers in this place, new synapses are created
in young brains.
Synapses are the connections between
brain cells. We have billions of these necessary connections
in our brains. Young people need to form synapses and then
use these connections repeatedly to strengthen them as they
grow and mature. Reading aloud to children creates new synapses
and reinforces old ones.
Starting around age 11, some brain
cells begin to die and disappear. This is a natural process
necessary to prune myriad weak connections that youngsters
have formed. It also institutes order in the young brain.
It is important to make as many strong
synapses as possible while humans are young. All unused
cells do not fade away immediately — the process can
take several years — but this mechanism is inevitable.
Cells that are not connected by synapses or that are only
weakly connected will disappear.
Three prestigious organizations have
strongly recommended that parents read to their children
from birth onward. The U.S. Department of Education, the
National Education Association and the American Academy
of Pediatricians all agree. Perhaps the strongest recommendation
comes from pediatricians. They say that unless you read
to your child for 30 minutes a day, your child is not healthy.
"Teachers can't do it all, although
we try,” says Carla Burneson, a third and fourth grade
literacy teacher from Aurora, Colorado. “Reading to
your kids at home is a strong reinforcement for what goes
on in school. Your kids can only benefit from such an outstanding
ongoing activity."
Blomberg has zeroed in on these recommendations.
He has written seven children’s novels that are tailored
to this concept, and he has read them aloud to hundreds
of students in many classrooms. He has a specific idea of
why the "read aloud" advice works. "I call
it the ‘Theater of the Mind,’" Blomberg
says. "Every time I read a chapter I ask my listeners
if they could see a picture in their mind about what I was
reading. I've found that virtually everyone hearing the
chapter creates a mental movie.”
"The kids really love Blomberg’s
books,” says Jennifer Zarcone, a fifth grade teacher
from Northport, New York. “They get so excited when
it's time to read the story. I think that his books hold
a world full of adventure, imagination and tons of laughter.”
"I write books that are tailored
to this task," Blomberg says. "All my books are
in chapters that can be read in about 30 minutes. Thus parents
have a convenient stopping point."
Blomberg’s books enable parents
to spend 30 minutes a day reading to their children, which
meets the recommendations of leading national organizations.
The time spent reading to your children will inevitably
increase their creativity and imagination by allowing them
to create a “mental movie” of what they hear.
To learn more about Blomberg’s books and reading to
your child, visit www.newadventurebooks.com
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