Eight Books for Children to Inspire Creativity.
Eight Books for Children to Inspire Creativity.
I have compiled 8 great books to help us explore and inspire creativity.
I have looked for books that show creativity not only through drawing and painting, but also through music, dance, construction and problem solving.
I have included links for you to find the books - these are not affiliate links, I just thought you might find them useful to have.
Let me know in the comments which books you would add to the list.
the dot by Peter H Reynolds
Vashti sits with a blank piece of paper. She tells her teacher, “I just can’t draw.” But, her teacher encourages her to make a mark.
She puts a dot on the paper, and the teacher tells her to sign her name.
The next week, she sees her dot framed on displayed on the wall. She decides she can make a better dot and starts to paint. We see her confidence grow as she makes lots of dots in many different ways.
When she meets another child who does not think he can draw. Vashti helps him take the first step - drawing a squiggle on a blank piece of paper. And of course, sign his name!
Questions, prompts and ideas
How do you think Vashti is feeling?
What is she using to make this dot? (look at the different tools Vashti uses)
Which dot do you like most?
Check your resources - make sure there is paper and brushes of lots of different sizes
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-dot-peter-h-reynolds/2612194?ean=9781529512328
Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg
A tear, a spill, a folded piece of paper …these might seem like problems or mistakes but in Beautiful Oops we see they are possibilities.
A tear can become a crocodile’s smile, spilled paint can be so many things.
This book can help children see that even something that might be viewed as a mistake can be seen differently.
Questions, prompts and ideas
I wonder what else the tear/spill/hole could be?
What can you see in the hole?
Play ‘what could it be?’ You could do this looking at the shapes of clouds outside, with a squiggle or a splash of paint. And chat about everyone’s ideas.
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/beautiful-oops-barney-saltzberg/1177555
The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires
A little girl decides she is going to make a magnificent thing, but it does not work out as she planned straight away. Despite some frustration, she keeps going until she makes just what she wants.
Creativity involves trying different ways of doing things. This story will help to start a conversation about the value of things going wrong and the importance of carrying on, even when things do not go to plan at first.
Questions, prompts and ideas
What is the girl going to make?
Do you think her assistant is helping?
How do you think she feels? (Look at how she feels when it goes wrong and after when she has worked it out).
Think about the language you use - do your areas, displays and comments encourage children to see that persistence is important?
The Most Magnificent Thing a book by Ashley Spires. (bookshop.org)
Not A Stick by Antoinette Portis
This is a simple book about how using your imagination can transform an object. When is a stick not a stick…? - when it is a fishing rod, a sword or a paintbrush!
You could chat about why the voice of the unseen character is concerned about how the stick is being used! This means as well as conversations about imagination, you could use this book to talk about assessing (and reducing) risk.
Questions, prompts and ideas
I wonder what the stick will be?
Why is the voice saying, “Be careful with that stick?”
Where’s the shark?
Collect some sticks - you could look for them with the children or find some and add them to your role play, outdoor or small world areas.
Give the children time to look at the sticks and decide how they might use them.
Think about other open-ended resources you could add to your areas of provision to encourage children to use their imagination.
Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts (illustrator)
Rosie waits until night time to make her inventions. She goes up into the roof to build them and does not show them to anyone.
When she was small she shared her inventions with her family. Until one day her uncle laughed and laughed at the hat she made to keep him safe from snakes. After that, she hid her inventions away, but then Rosie’s great-great aunt arrives. She shows Rosie the importance of getting things wrong on the journey to success.
This is a story to inspire children to take risks with their creations and not be afraid of things going wrong.
Questions, prompts and ideas
What do you think Rosie is making?
How do you think Rosie is feeling? (when her uncle laughs, when great-great Aunt Rose celebrates things going wrong)
How can we help each other when we’re making something new?
Make a place for children to put ‘work in progress.’ Encourage them to go back to their models, constructions, pictures and other creations and make changes.
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/rosie-revere-engineer-andrea-beaty/3234104?ean=9781419708459
Where did you go today? By Jenny Duke
A visit to the park is transformed by a little girl’s imagination. The trip becomes a journey through different landscapes until getting back home. The pictures give you lots to talk about as you look at the varied places the little girl imagines.
Questions, prompts and ideas
Where do you think they are going?
Can you see a …? (ask about different aspects of the landscape and animals and objects in the illustrations)
Which is your favourite?
Provide materials (pieces of fabric, sand, ice, mud or grass and so on) for the children to create landscapes. Encourage them to tell their own stories set in different settings.
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/where-did-you-go-today-jenny-duke/1237988?ean=9781786282002
Music Is in Everything by Ziggy Marley and Ag Jatkowska (illustrator)
This is a book based on Ziggy Marley’s song Music is in everything. It can get the children moving and making music - or listening to the sounds around them.
The book shows you do not need instruments to make music and singing and dancing together is really good fun.
Questions, prompts and ideas
What noise does …. Make? (talk about the pictures on each page)
Can we make a noise like that?
Let’s stand up a wave like the tree in the wind…
Make a music area (you could do this inside or outside) with resources that the children can use to make a noise.
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/music-is-in-everything-ziggy-marley/6190041
The Visitors by Clare Thompson
The Visitors is a beautiful, wordless book. The book is illustrated with pictures made from natural loose parts. You can look at the pictures and tell the story together, or simply look at and chat about one page.
You can use the book to provide inspiration for storytelling, as you can tell a different story together every time.
The illustrations could be used as a provocation to children’s play with loose parts. If you decide to do it in this way, think about how you support the children to follow their ideas rather than them simply copying the pictures they see.
Questions, prompts and ideas
What can you see?
I wonder what …. is doing?
Who is that?
Gather resources for transient art - give the children a surface to arrange these natural loose parts. Help the children to take photographs of the children’s art and display this alongside other creations.
THE VISITORS HARDBACK picture book A4 — Naturally Creative Early Years