The holidays can feel like a very uncreative time of year. The same tree, tinsel, sugary-icing and plastic toys. It’s tricky to tamper with traditions, but there is one aspect of the holidays where it’s easy to raise the bar. With just a little extra thought, you can give gifts that spark curiosity, encourage creative thinking, or pique a new interest. Here’s our gift to you, a few ideas to get you started:
For Kids
The Briefcase: Head to your local office supply store, select any kind of container that could serve as a briefcase and fill it with supplies. Here’s your potential inventory: a small whiteboard and whiteboard markers, a mini clipboard, receipt books, bank deposit slips, lots of tape, correction paper, Post-Its, pens, paper clips, index cards, name labels, dot labels and small notebooks. Use letter stickers to monogram the briefcase for a touch of personalization.
Different from art supplies, office supplies have an aura of importance because kids often watch adults use them and hide them in desk drawers. New tangents of dramatic play emerge, from police writing tickets with receipt books to school with a changing daily agenda written on the whiteboard.
A Cardboard Box: We’ve all watched kids play only with the cardboard box that contained the elaborate and expensive toy. Skip the plastic toy and give kids the tools to make anything they can dream up. You’ll need lots of cardboard, multi-colored masking tape, some fabric scraps and a little paint. Here are directions and inspiration for making everything from a city to costumes to pizza to full-sized furniture all from cardboard. As an added touch, wrap the book Not A Box by Antoinette Portis in a cardboard box and use the story as a springboard for your projects.
An Endless Story: Find a special box or bag and fill it with small objects that inspire storytelling. I’ve used tiny people, plastic animals, rubber bands, marbles, paperclips, scraps of yarn and buttons. Use the objects in the box to play storytelling games. You might select three random objects and tell your child a story incorporating the objects. Then ask your child to select three objects and tell you a story. To keep the game fresh, surprise your child with new objects.
Blocks: Wood blocks are one of the best catalysts for open-ended, creative play. These blocks are offered by City and Country School, whose founder Caroline Pratt invented the unit block that is a basic material in schools across the United States. Kids develop an intrinsic understanding of math concepts like patterns and fractions while collaborating to build cities, castles, skate parks and any other structure they can imagine. The re-emergence of blocks in education is profiled in this article.
Books: Giving kids books feels good. Giving kids books with messages about thinking differently, the value of making mistakes and using simple tools to create new things, feels even better. For a great list of picture books that inspire creativity, click here.
For Adults
Movement: New research suggests a possible link between movement and creative thinking. Most people don’t need research data to convince them that engaging in unfamiliar physical activities stimulates their brain in new ways. Just the suggestion of trapeze school takes my mind in new directions (and sends lightening bolts of fear across my heart). Sign your giftee up for a movement class that is a bit of a stretch, and one you know they’ll be excited to try. For some people that may be a one-hour yoga class or a trial session with a personal trainer. For others it may be rock climbing or STREB’s PopAction class.
Books and Resources: Perfect for the non-artist, Make Art Make Mistakes is full of fun exercises like “Draw a fight between yellow and purple,” and “How might you show blue and red dancing?” It’s an open-ended coloring book for adults. The Observation Deck is a card deck of prompts like “Create a Conflict” and “Raise the Stakes.” The prompt cards can be used on their own to suggest new directions and ideas, and you can consult the accompanying book for stories about how famous authors have used each strategy. If someone on your gift list needs to make a personal or professional change, give her a boost with Innovation You by Jeff DeGraff. With a conversational tone and engaging anecdotes, this book translates the innovation practices used by corporations into strategies individuals can use to bring more creativity into their lives.
A New Interest: I practiced metalsmithing for years because a friend signed me up for classes. I can make a decent pizza crust as a result of a class I was given. It’s true that I could have signed myself up for these things, but because of time, I might not have. By giving me gift certificates for these classes, my friends made trying new things a priority for me.
Find a class that might be interesting to your giftee and sign them up for a new experience. Check with local colleges and universities for classes on everything from botany to literature to improv to architecture.
Food: Help the adventurous foodies on your list bring the latest culinary trend home with a molecular gastronomy kit. Maybe they’ll invite you over for some frozen chocolate wind or grapefruit air. Simple, unique ingredients can light a creative spark for the home cook. Preserved lemons aren’t usually on my shopping list, but the jar I received last year inspired me to create two new dishes. A jar of blueberry syrup became the focal point for winter desserts at my house (imagine freshly fallen snow topped with blueberry syrup). Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything is the only cookbook that makes me feel like a creative cook, as opposed to one married to recipes. While there are specific directions, they are somehow sketchier than other cookbooks, leaving more to my imagination. And Bittman provides endless variations that encourage me to keep generating ideas where he left off.
A Collection: Think about what your giftee truly loves and help them start collecting it. Collections of favorite things inspire us because of their design, color or our emotional connections to them. On every vacation, my family collects rocks from the places we visit. My husband collects antique levels. A family friend has a collection of drinking glasses from all 50 states. Other ideas include unique buttons, concert posters, and picture frames. If a collection can be connected to a memory you’ve shared with the giftee, all the better. A collection’s display can be as important as the objects themselves. Provide what your giftee needs to display their collection in an appealing way.
Have you received a gift that inspired your creativity? Tell us about it.
Author: Michelle Conrad
Excellent gift ideas for the holidays.