Marney's Musings:
The Mini Da Vinci in You
Artellagram 9-22-12


Barbe Kobe


Little Kai responds really well to positive rewards, and so we've initiated a "reward chart" where he gets to put little magnets for making good behavior choices. In his new Pre-K class, the kiddos get a certain color cube to represent their choices each day, and I love that the very highest level is a "sparkle cube"! Talking to Kai about having "sparkle days" has certainly inspired me!

We also wanted to incorporate other types of rewards into his chart since he enjoys it so much, and my husband had a fun idea that Kai gets to put up a magnet on his chart whenever he comes up with a creative invention. This idea started off as a lark, but it really took off, as it turns out that Kai, like so many young children, loves coming up with new inventions.

He will often preface his description by telling us "Ok may be this is really silly but …" and it turns out that while the ideas are far out, LOL, the fearlessness he possess while coming up with them is really inspiring. He isn’t afraid of failing or looking silly, even while he acknowledges the ideas may be silly. In fact, the silliest ones are often the ones he personally enjoys the most! Some of his latest ideas:
  • Using different scents as a code to deliver an important message to someone far away ("Maybe that smell might be a message from someone in London, warning us of danger!")

  • Waterproof Kleenex that scuba divers can use if they need to blow their nose underwater

  • A car that drives by itself so that the driver can sit in the backseat with the kids

  • A store that is in a car, so it can come to your house so you don't have to leave home
As "silly" as some of those ideas might be, it's amazing how creative we can really be when we have no inhibitions of what other people will think or say, and instead, we just allow ourselves to have a lot of fun. As it turns out, a lot of Kai's silly ideas actually have been incorporated in a number of technological inventions…as can be the case with all the new crazy new flowers that bloom in the fertile garden of your own imagination.

Kai’s seemingly never-ending supply of creative ideas reminds me of the very powerful relationship between play and productivity. That is the very heart of next week's free new  teleclass, ~Work du Soleil~ part deux: The Enchanting Product Playground! You'll get to experience tapping into your childlike brilliance and come up with new ideas for products of your own. Connect to the amazing "Mini Da Vinci" that's inside you and join the free class!

For more creative play, I invite you to join us on Thursday September 27, 2012 for a Free, New Teleclass: ~Work du Soleil~ part deux: The Enchanting Product Playground!
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