Creativity in the classroom isn’t optional, it’s essential. It’s motivating, engaging, and supports the idea of taking risks to develop new ideas. Here are ten discoveries from around the web can inspire your kids next week….
1.) Tiny Worlds in Jars: Ever see a tiny world created in a jar? These are inspiring to the imagination. Give kids a jar and ask them to create a world. Write stories about the world. Design a new land, or a past land.
2.) Codea: I have to really love an app that’s $9.99, but this one? Wow. Touch code. Create games. So many kids have ipads in their hands playing games like Angry Birds, why not give them the tools and time to create their own games?
3.) Toys in Action: Ever wonder what your toys do when you are sleeping? A photographer captured them. Imagine if kids brought their favorite toy to school, or if you teach older kids, ask them to take the photos to provide younger students with writing prompts. These photos could engage kids in solving math problems, writing poetry, or most of all, thinking outside the box. It would be great if students left their favorite toy at school overnight, and the teacher snapped photos of them in the classroom as a surprise writing project.
4.) Animals On the Metro: Just take a look at one of these photos and think of all the questions it would spark… better yet, ask kids to come up with questions about the photo. Examples: What would happen if a giraffe rode the metro? How would you find the volume of a metro car? How many giraffes, based on your estimate of their size, might fit in one metro car? Write a letter from the giraffe to another telling about his experience on the metro.
5.) Host a MakerFaire.. on your Ipads! Caution: Looking at this list is going to result that you end up down the rabbit hole of making… you’ve been warned. 
An amazing list to satisfy kids who love to design, create, problem solve, engineer, and learn.
6.) Makey Makey: The possibilities are endless when you give kids something to create with… and that includes making something with Makey Makey. Instead of trying to figure out what kids could make with it, just hand it over to them and ask them what they would like to create. Oh, and that science standard about circuits that usually contains a bland “please draw a diagram of the circuit” just got real interesting. Here’s a great article about how one teacher integrated Makey Makey.
7.) Soundation: Looking for the perfect music? Create it. What would a song telling the story of the design of the Statue of Liberty sound like? What type of music would you play to fit this week’s chapter in our current novel? Create a song with our partner class in {insert location in the world} using Google Hangout!
8.) Book Creator: I’m a firm believer that giving kids a global audience empowers their learning by showing them how much their work matters. By creating a book that is displayed on a classroom blog or shared with parents via email, their work is no longer going home in their backpack bottom. Imagine the possibilities for any age group, working collaboratively, designing curriculum materials based on their learning, and sharing with each other. That’s not the only app for book creation, more are shared here. 
9.) Inklewriter. Remember those Choose Your Own Adventure Books? You can write those on Inklewriter. Create options and allow the reader to choose. I immediately thought of historical events. What if kids summarized a historical happening, but then also contained parts where readers could choose what would happen if? The thinking required to analyze a historical event and re-create history? Powerful, engaging, and fun.
10.) Markers and Cardboard: I know, it’s not a link. It’s not digital. But it’s a reminder that creativity isn’t about expensive tools. Some times, the only thing kids need to get creative is a pile of cardboard, markers, and freedom. Set their creativity free. And watch their learning soar.