Creativity in Young Children: What Science Tells Us and Our Hearts Know

Unleash the power of creativity for young children and yourself. Follow the authors of Cultivating Creativity in Young Children on a journey of curiosity as they unlock the secrets of creativity, deepening understanding of the what of creativity, its connections to child development, and how it shapes and is shaped by the people, communities, and world around us. Creativity is so critical to the way humans grow and learn that it should be at the center and not the periphery of early childhood education. When you nurture creativity and original ideas in children, you are providing them with everything they need for cognitive and social emotional learning. Featuring seven Big Ideas about creativity, case studies, and the authors’ personal stories, the book is a call to action to change how we raise, nurture, and teach our children to honor their innate creativity.

Thomas Rendon has worked in the early childhood education field for more than 25 years as a trainer and policy maker. He served as the Head Start State Collaboration Office Coordinator with the Iowa Department of Education for 18 years. He is coauthor of Saving Play: Addressing Standards through Play-Based Learning in Preschool and Kindergarten. Tom has a BS in Speech from Northwestern University and an MBA from the University of Iowa and is working on a PhD from Kent State University.

Zachary Stier is the director of children’s services at Ericson Public Library in Boone, Iowa. He develops and facilitates workshops for librarians, early childhood providers, and families through his company, Mr. Z and 2 Company, LLC. He is an adjunct lecturer for the University of Illinois Champaign iSchool graduate program, teaching early literacy. He holds a Masters of Library and Information Science from Drexel University, a Masters of Early Childhood Education from Concordia Portland, postgraduate studies in Early Childhood from Erikson Institute, and a Doctorate in Education from Concordia Chicago.