Encouraging Imaginations

One of my all-time favorite quotes:

I clearly remember my mother reading us the Lion, Witch and Wardrobe series well into the ages that we could have effectively read them ourselves. I know there has been a big push in the last few years for adding more non-fiction text to the primary grades, because that's what kids often see in their standardized testing. And although, I do agree it's important that kids get exposed to that genre, I do also think that fanciful tales meant to encourage imagination can be vital for instilling that spark of creativity in our kiddos. After all, if we expect them to be creative in their writing, we need to show them what that looks like.

Here are a couple of books you may not have heard of that I think promote a creative spirit:

"When Lily Brown starts to paint, her world starts to change." 

A fanciful tale of tooth-fairies-in-training attempting to pick up their first tooth. I think a modern-day fairy tale!

This one caught my eye on display at Valentine's Day. My kiddos love wordplay, so the title alone I knew would catch them. But it's about what would happen if we literally "planted" a kiss.

A great little story about a Safari adventure-the twist at the end is that it's a boy playing with his toys imagining the whole thing!

A story about an imaginary friend.