Power of Creative Play

Give a child a cardboard box and some inspiration and imagination comes to life. We call this Creative Play, and fueling it is one of the most important things we can do to prepare children for the future. It develops valuable 21st century skills and prepares kids to be next-generation innovators. Our different programs are designed to help adults from all walks of life use Creative Play to develop these skills in children everywhere.

Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn..

Learning through Creative Play

Creative Play begins with inspiration and culminates in the sharing of an original artifact made by the child using whatever tools and materials are available. In this process, kids open up their minds to what’s possible, take chances, solve problems, collaborate and become better creative thinkers and doers. These are the critical “21st century skills” the whole world is talking about.

Want to see what Creative Play looks like? Our signature project is the Global Cardboard Challenge, which is a showcase of Creative Play that takes place all over the world. From schools and classrooms, to homes and backyards, kids use cardboard and recycled materials to build whatever they imagine. Many of our participants have uploaded their videos, and you can watch a few here.

The Process of Creative Play

Creativity, entrepreneurship and 21st century skills are easily fostered by tapping into a child’s natural creative powers. Though decades of research supports the power of Creative Play, it’s important to remember it’s a natural process for children, requiring few resources and little facilitation.

The five components of Creative Play are Inspire, Imagine, Build, Play, and Share. Though an effective Creative Play experience incorporates all five components, it doesn’t necessarily mean following a particular order and components can be repeated numerous times (it can look messy, and that’s good!).