Encouraging creativity in children is easy, and creativity itself is a trait that can translate into a lot of great emotional bonuses as well.

According to studies (and quoted from WikiAnswers):

It has been proven that children are very creative for the reason that they think recursively. To give an example of how a recursive thinker thinks, For instance, if you would ask two people how to put a giraffe in a car, they would probably tell you to open the door and put it in. now if you ask them how to place an elephant in the car, a person who is not a recursive thinker would probably say open the door and put it in. The one who is would probably say take out the giraffe and put in the elephant, because such a thinker can link one situation to a previous one. This linking to different situations is the essence of creativity.

• Fostering that creative growth isn’t difficult, especially in younger children.  Encouraging creative play by letting your child play with and decorate cardboard boxes of different sized can push imagination further. Letting them use their own minds and creations, you may be surprised with what they can come up with.
• Another amazing item? Sidewalk chalk. Even if you don’t have an accessible area for the chalk, simply by laying down some large poster board or even butcher’s paper, your child can have a lot of fun drawing and creating . If chalk isn’t for you (or the mess is too much to think about) you can also substitute the more traditional crayons.

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Pixar’s Toy Story 3 is coming to theatres soon, and you have a chance to get a sneak peek on June 12 and 13 on ABC.   You can check out both a look at the movie itself, and a bunch of their famed short films all divvied up between the two dates.

On June 6, the network will broadcast "Toy Story 2 Trailers" from 9-11 p.m. The same day the netowrk will also some new clips from "Toy Story 3." On June 13, ABC Family will televise "Pixar Short Films," from 3:30-5:30 p.m. The Pixar short film will include 20 film shorts with such titles as "Presto," "Jack Jack Attack," "Adventures of Andre and Wally B.," "Mike’s New Car," and "Tin Toy," among others.

(Source)

Pixar is famed for it’s wonderful offerings, and it’s short films are sweet (and seriously funny).  Pixar’s films manage to be enjoyable for all members of the family, even for mom and dad (who may be able to catch a few more jokes that the little ones).

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Limiting television and computer time is important, especially with younger children, whose brains are still in the process of growing and developing.  Finding a limit that everybody can agree on is a harder solution to stick with, but it can be done.

With so much concern about the obesity epidemic, encouraging kids to go out and play can be a tremendous first step.  While it is much harder than it should be, it can help push exercise habits.  If your child is interested in a sport or another activity that can be done outside, it is important to encourage them to play. 

Even getting the ball rolling by thinking up some fun activities to do outside (a personal favorite is picnicking) can encourage more outdoor time, and it’s also a great way to spend time together with all of our limited time and busy lives.

Even if the indoors may be more preferable (on rainy or stormy days, for instance), turning off the television and computer and just spending time having some other fun is a huge boost.  Doctors are finding more and more all the time that there are issues related to too much stimuli (which is drastically increased by our flashy gadgets) so getting kids into the habit of turning things off can set up a lifetime of healthier views on moderation later in life.

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Babies are adorable, and most people don’t need to be told that.  It’s hard coded into humans to adore and faun over little tykes, and Babies uses this as an entire premise for a movie.  Using little dialogue, and no narrations the Babies movie is a surprising hit.  It uses a documentary format to walk viewers through the first year of four babies lives.

It shows the wee ones growing up in Mongolia, Namibia, San Francisco, and Tokyo.  It manages to highlight the differences with no social commentary, and no bad feelings.

From Tokyo’s Mari and San Francisco’s Hatti having fun with their high tech toys, and baby yoga (respectively) while Mongolia’s Bayer and Namibia’s Ponijao having their own run ins with the local livestock.

Babies is a fun movie that is really breaking the standard mold, it doesn’t have what many have now come to expect in the theaters.  However, for what it lacks in the dramatic moments that many audiences are used to, more than makes up for it with a still sweet and feel-good aspect.

French filmmaker Thomas Balmès banked on the audience’s human nature for babies overall, and has created a smart movie overall that could also be enjoyed by the title audience as well.  If you are lucky enough to have a tyke that could sit through a just over an hour movie, they would love to see the wee ones on the silver screen (plus mom would love it too!).

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Healthy Kids Challenge, a leading non-profit educating families to eat, move and enjoy a healthier balanced lifestyle, has announced the winners of their 8th annual Stirring Up Health national recipe contest that started last fall at the beginning of the new school year.

Almost 2,000 middle school students from across the country participated in creating or modifying existing recipes using healthy ingredients from the contest sponsor, Del Monte. Students were asked to incorporate Del Monte canned fruits, vegetables or tomato products as a primary ingredient.

The five winners included middle school classroom teams from New Jersey and Hawaii, as well as individual contestant winners from Hawaii, Ohio and Oregon.

Read

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