A Problem To Solve
Earlier today, Mr Six was outside riding his bike around our street. Two unfamiliar older boys of about 10 years entered the scene carrying a mattress with difficulty down the sidewalk. I glanced up from my work in the garden as Mr Six stopped his bike to openly observe the unexpected sight.
“…So many kids are not allowed to flourish their creativity. But I was the kind of kid that would take apart the family piano. I can remember I had a perfectly good bicycle I got for Christmas and a few days later I had sandblasted it and painted it a different color. Not that my parents understood why I was always ripping things apart and redesigning them but I was certainly tolerated. So I think it did contribute (to my future career) in a lot of ways. I wish for a lot of other kids that they could tinker like I did.” —
~ David Kelley, founder of IDEO and the Stanford d.school.
Read the full interview here.
Roominate – a new line of dollhouses for girls aims to spark interest in science, technology, and STEM rather than reinforcing the gender stereotypes of traditional toys. The startup comes from three female engineers.
(Source: springwise)
“So few people seem to realize that everything’s designed. And until we get some good people telling the story, that’s probably going to continue to be the case. So I’d love it if there was a consciousness in the public mind that mathematics and reading and writing is not enough — you also need to learn how to do design. Because everything is designed, and the way our world exists around us depends on how well it’s designed.” — Bill Moggridge R.I.P.
(Source: vizualize, via dontoverthink)
Children play to learn but they are also playing for fun. How much of childhood play do we remember later in life and what type of play creates the best memories? How do these experiences contribute to who we become?
It’s not just about open-ended play opportunities to nurture creativity, but also about letting children hold onto their ‘favourites’ that allow play to evolve and grow with them. Maybe even sparking deeper creative connections later in life.
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“We’d like every kid in America to have an experience of design by the time they are twelve and have the opportunity to study it in high-school if they want to.” — ~Bill Moggridge, director of the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum and an outspoken advocate for the value of design in everyday life, died September 8th, 2012, following a battle with cancer. He was 69. Designer of the first laptop computer and co-founder of the renowned innovation and design firm, IDEO, Bill pioneered interaction design and integrated human factors into the design of computer software and hardware.
“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” — ~ Albert Einstein
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~ Margaret Mead
Unexpected Discovery
It was a visit to the barber for two boys haircuts that resulted in a new found fascination in music instruments, a less than obvious connection which made it an experience to remember…
“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus” — ~Mark Twain
“This is Math that makes me sweat!” exclaimed Mr Six tonight.
“Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.” — British philosopher, mathematician, historian, and social critic Bertrand Russell
