We are said to be creative geniuses by the time we are 5 years old, yet this level of creativity has declined greatly by the time we are an adult. As we consider how to live our most creative life, it is important to reflect on why our creativity may wane throughout childhood and if there is anything we can do to stop it.

In this podcast I am speaking with American psychology researcher and scholar, Peter Gray about his book, "Free to Play, Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life".

Our natural human instinct is to play and explore. This is how we learn not only skills and information but also who we are, what we believe and what we are passionate about. Yet in today’s society, a lot of children’s freedom to play has been replaced with adult designed and monitored activity.

By removing the onus of control from children and constantly measuring them in environments where they all learn the same thing in the same way, are we necessarily helping kids develop the confidence and curiosity they need to solve their own problems and let their creativity thrive?

This conversation offers a compelling argument that to sustain and develop our innate creativity throughout childhood, we need to give our children their freedom to play back!

When it comes to creativity, we often praise the idea that sparked the change, rather than the question that inspired it all!

During this podcast, I am speaking with Warren Berger, journalist, author and questionologist, about the art of asking questions and how curiosity can unlock our creativity.

In today’s modern world, our tendency is to rush to an answer rather than find a more beautiful question to solve for.

Yet, where we can more confidently practice and express our curiosity, we have the potential to discover new possibilities where fresh ideas can be found!

This podcast is an invitation to become a questionlogist and embrace the art of asking questions to ignite your creativity!

For more information, please go to Warren's websites:

https://amorebeautifulquestion.com/

https://warrenberger.com/

In this podcast I am speaking with Ruth Churchill Dower, renowned author, advisor, educator and media commentator in the field of creative early years practice.

I was inspired to reach out to Ruth to understand if we truly are born to be creative and how our childhood may or may not influence our creative confidence in adult life.

Ruth highlights how engaging in creative practice helps children to connect with their most authentic self and ultimately helps them to make sense of the world and who they are in it.

Ultimately, a child's confident connection with their own creativity helps them to shape who they are and who they want to be in the future!

However, to help our children achieve this, we as care givers must also be willing to embrace our own creativity. We must be willing to create conditions for possibility to emerge, for our children to fill, and go on the adventure of their design!

It is clear that humanity faces many challenges in the world ahead and arguably, creativity is one of the most important tools we will need to thrive. Therefore, a focus on creating confident problem-solvers for the future is critical and is something we can nurture and unleash from the early years and beyond!