Creativity

Have you ever felt a little tingle in your brain when you imagine a dog with butterfly wings. Or maybe you've felt a wiggle in your fingers right before you grab a crayon to draw a bright purple sun. I am that feeling. I help you build the tallest towers from blocks, make up the silliest songs in the car, and see brand new shapes in the clouds that float by. I am the little voice inside you that whispers, 'What if.'. I help you dream up something brand new, something that has never, ever been seen before in the whole wide world. You have known me your whole life, because I live inside of you. I am Creativity.

I have been with people for a very, very long time. Way back, around 40,000 BCE, I helped the first artists paint amazing pictures on dark cave walls. They used me to draw wonderful horses and strong bison in places like France, leaving their ideas for everyone to see thousands of years later. For many centuries, people thought I was a kind of magic. In a place called ancient Greece, they believed I was a special gift from goddesses they called the Muses. They thought you had to wait for me to show up, like waiting for a surprise visitor. But then, during a special time called the Renaissance, a famous artist and inventor named Leonardo da Vinci showed everyone a new way. Around the year 1503, he used me to paint the famous Mona Lisa and her secret smile. But he also used me to design incredible flying machines that looked like giant bird wings. People watched him and realized I wasn't just for a few special people. I was a superpower that lived inside everyone, just waiting to be used.

Today, I am everywhere you look. I am in the fun stories you write for school, the clever ways you solve a tricky puzzle, and the new games you invent with your friends at recess. I help scientists discover new stars in the faraway galaxy and I help engineers build amazing robots that can dance and explore. I am your imagination when it comes out to play. I love seeing what wonderful things you dream up, from a drawing of a friendly monster to a fort made of pillows and blankets. I am always here, ready to help you share your special and unique ideas with the world. So, what amazing thing will we create together today.