Defining Creativity

What is creativity? I asked a few people I know and love and every single person gave me a different answer. 

T "something good and new is creative"

A "making stuff with your imagination"

Colleague "problem solving, thinking outside of the box"

Our friends at Urban Dictionary

Our friends at Ninja words

Good ol' Webster Dictionary

Creativity is important no matter how you define it and my definition would be a combination of these adding maybe "at any age." While at Type A, I was super lucky to hear Gary Buchanan, the Social Media Manager for Disney Parks blog talk about being creative. While listening as a mom and blogger, I was hearing him as a teacher, too. 

He spoke about Walt Disney's creativity and how he designed the park....with such intention. Did you know he designed Walt Disney World like a movie theater-with a grand entrance, Main Street as  the preshow, coming together for the feature event-the CASTLE! He wanted a place to tell stories. He wanted a place for people to use and share their creativity and imagination. I love that. I love telling stories and hearing stories.....especially from children.....especially my son.

Gary reinforced what we already know. Disney is committed to celebrating creativity. (Hello, imagineers!) But he also discussed how Disney pays attention to the little things. The wall paper from Andy's room in Toy Story I, is the final scene of Toy Story 3. Such a geek, but I just love this. It is a story in itself. We discuss all the time in our classroom the importance of detail in reading, writing, and math!

Gary also talked about IDEA KILLERS. You know the ones~they smoosh your ideas, make fun of your dreams, laugh when you fail. Yucksville! Ignore them. Ignore them. Ignore them. Again, something I tell my students all the time (and sometimes remind myself!)

Gary encouraged us to ask questions. I actually have a sign in my classroom that says that! ASK QUESTIONS! WONDER! We play "wonder" in the car with our son. Hey T, I wonder what lives in those woods? I wonder how many things you can name that are blue? I wonder where we should go on our next trip? This quick talk time is good for him, good for me, good for our family. 

He shared a couple of powerful quotes from Walt Disney. (You know I'm a quote girl!) 

"If you're coasting, you are going downhill." This one came to life for me this year professionally and I am better for it!

"Curiosity keeps leadings us down new paths." YES! Children have this. We need to help them keep it and while we're at it, rediscover it in ourselves.

Ok, so I know this is a lot, but it was an amazing session. I left inspired as a mom, blogger, and teacher. 

Thank you TypeA for the opp and thank you Gary for sharing your enthusiasm! 

What creative aspect do you love about Disney?