Topic > A critique of the giant book of creativity for children, a book by Bobbi Conner

The Giant Book of Creativity for Children is a curriculum resource book for early childhood educators written by Bobbi Conner. The book contains various activities that encourage creativity in children aged two to twelve. Bobbi has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and has been a radio host for Parents Journal for twenty-four years. Bobbi's books, articles and programs have been featured nationally through various forms of media. Although Bobbi has no specialized training or education in the field of early childhood education, she is revered online as a "mother of three grown children with a heavy dose of creativity." Bobbi is the author of other curriculum resource books such as: Unplugged Play, The Book of Birthday Letters, Everyday Opportunities, and The Parents Journal to Raise Great Kids. Bobbi currently presents workshops and programs to educators, professionals and parents across the United States of America on topics related to childhood creativity and the importance of unplugged play. The book is well organized through the table of contents. We begin with a section on the principles of childhood creativity. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The importance of creativity and play in the learning process is outlined. The summary is further organized into three specific age groups: toddlers, preschoolers, and school ages. These categories are in bold and divided by chapter. Within these chapters there are activities such as: art, construction, music, dance, dramatic and cognitive activities. Activities are play-based and can be modified to meet the needs of various interests and abilities. Each activity encourages learning through interaction with objects, people and information (Applied Curriculum). The index is also a good way to navigate the book. Activities can be found by turning to the index and searching alphabetically. Scrolling through the index, it is clear that the activities are game-based. Some play-based curriculum content that can be found in the index includes: Carlton dancing, charades, and a woodworking project (Conner, B. 2015, p.364). The book also includes a resource page divided into the following sections: arts and crafts, building/building, music, and fiction/theatre. Each section includes materials that may be needed for each activity and websites that early childhood educators can use to purchase these materials. The Giant Book of Creativity for Kids is published by Roost Book Publishing, an imprint of Shambhala Publications, and is distributed by Penguin Random House, a nationwide American publishing house founded in 2013. Penguin Random House was created by the merger of Random House and Penguin Group. Roost Book Publishing is a family-owned independent publisher that has been producing books for fifty years. Their books are used to inspire people and focus on cooking, creativity, family and nature. Roost Book Publishing offers a variety of other books that can be used as educational resources, such as: Playful Learning, Tinkerlab, and Made to Play. I chose this educational book for various reasons. One of the main reasons for my choice is that the activities are clearly structured. Each activity in this book is divided into three main sections: target objective, clear list of materials in bullet form, followed by a list of clear and simple instructions. As a beginning early childhood educator, I believe I am very likely to get overwhelmed when it comes to tasks. With this book I consider myself an educator of the first.