Product Description

A myth-shattering "how-to" by the established authority in the field that proves creativity must originate from within the child and shows parents and teachers how to help foster it. Based on more than 12 years of research with thousands of children, and rich with examples from real life, here are answers to the questions parents ask most often. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1288696 in Books
• Published on: 1992-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback

From Publishers Weekly
The thesis that "creativity can and should be a part of the daily life of all children and adults" is illustrated with charm and conviction here. Amabile, a professor at Brandeis University, emphasizes that motivation rather than talent is the crucial element in creativity, and the home environment can either crush or spark a child's urge to be creative. She provides samples of creativity, e.g.: as Christmas presents one child gives services, such as car washings; a 10-year-old has established a public library in his underserved neighborhood. Research, observations of her own child, interviews with parents and teachers, and with novelist John Irving, are the foundation for Amabile's innovative, multi-faceted approach to an encompassing concept of creativity in the development of children. Suggestions, example and practical techniques make this study an ex cellent resource for parents and teachers of young children.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

An excellent guide for raising creative and curious kids!
I originally bought this book in 1990. It was such an excellent book I lent it to many friends and teachers. Unfortunately the last time it was not returned and I have looked everywhere for a replacement. I'm so happy to have found it. This is an easy reading book with fun and easy suggestions on how to create an atmosphere so your children will grow up to be more creative and curious about the world around them. I feel it makes raising children more fun and allows them to grow up feeling more secure about themselves. This book makes a great teacher or school gift!

Nurture creative potential
When you are trying to help a child develop her or his creative potential, you don't have to worry about the nature-nurture debate. Nurture is your only option. This book is a useful introduction to the developmental social psychology of creativity, and it is a good place to start for nurturing the realization of creative potential. Helping kids become more creative is a good cause, and "Growing Up Creative" is a good book.

Not my kids you don't
This book is wonderful in a number of ways, none of which, unfortunately, really get to the point of creativity. It is a light survey of the actual research results on creativity done in a very well communicated way that most people can understand. It does not distort or exaggerate points so it is above the zillion books on 6 ways to be a genius and 12 ways to think like Linus Pauling. It is comprehensive, balanced, and comprehensible. So, what is it missing? It is missing something important.

I guess, my gut reaction was--I want my kids to be about 20 times as creative as this book wants them to be. The soul of creating is what is missing. You get an academic researcher soul showing you what creating is. I would rather have a creator's soul showing me. In a perfect world you could get onto Harvard's faculty while having a creator's soul; in our actual world you have to publish little research articles and be liked by journal editors and well placed colleagues. There is too much intangible fitting in and playful insoucience where there needs to be drive, passion, persistence, immense challenge, penetrating tough fields for year after year, visiting conferences with mom and dad, playfully spotting hot and dying subfields at them, imagining what thought operation produced some new conference topic and so on. THis book is a great foundation for creating "creative" people who lack the soul and toughness to create. It is too polite in some ways.