Question 1

How do I raise a curious child in a world full of screens and AI?

Accepted Answer

Protect a little space between your child’s question and the instant answer. When they ask “Why?”, occasionally say, “What do you think?” before looking it up. Keep a family “wonder list” for questions to investigate later, take a walk where the goal is to notice five things you can’t explain, let kids take apart safe broken objects, or choose one question to test with a simple experiment. Technology can expand curiosity, but children also need practice wondering, predicting, and investigating before an answer appears.

Question 2

How can I encourage creativity without constantly planning activities?

Accepted Answer

Set up conditions for creativity instead of planning a craft. Keep a small bin of creative "junk" (one man's trash is another man's treasure!)—scrap paper, cardboard, used gift ribbon, playdough, rinsed out to-go containers and bottles—and offer loose prompts like “Build a new toy for the cat.” or “Make a new game with these objects.” Then step back and let them figure it out. Don't hold them to the original prompt if creativity takes them in another direction. Consider motivating with a treat upon completion if you think it will help.

Question 3

Does boredom actually help children become more creative?

Accepted Answer

Yes! When kids run out of external stimulation, their brain doesn't shut off; it shifts into what researchers call the default mode network, the same system active during daydreaming and imaginative thinking. A well-known 2014 study, Does Being Bored Make Us More Creative? (Mann & Cadman, Creativity Research Journal), found that people who were deliberately bored before a creative task came up with more original and varied ideas than those who skipped the boredom altogether. The catch: boredom only turns into creativity when kids get the chance to sit with it — especially without a screen filling the space for them. So the next time your child says "I'm bored," it might be less of a problem to solve and more of an invitation — the beginning of their own great things.

Question 4

What are the best screen-free activities for creative kids?

Accepted Answer

Choose activities with many possible outcomes rather than one finished example to copy. Try designing a board game, building a marble run from household materials, inventing a creature and its habitat, making a comic, creating a restaurant for the family, building a miniature world, writing a ridiculous advertisement for an ordinary object, or taking a nature walk and turning found shapes into a drawing afterward. A good sign is that your child starts changing the rules, extending the activity, or taking it somewhere you didn’t predict.

Question 5

Can AI hurt a child’s creativity?

Accepted Answer

Research is still catching up, but a recent small-scale adult study points to cause for caution — and what we do know is that creativity, like any skill, strengthens with practice. A 2025 MIT Media Lab study, "Your Brain on ChatGPT," followed 54 adult participants over four months while they wrote essays using ChatGPT, a search engine, or no tools at all. Researchers found that the no tool group showed the strongest brain activity, while ChatGPT users showed the weakest.  Separately, a 2016 study published in Human Brain Mapping found that divergent thinking, a core component of creativity, significantly improved after training. So a safe conclusion to draw is that the brain that does the generating is the brain that gets stronger at it!

HUMAN SKILL 03: CREATIVITY & CURIOSITY

Where curiosity becomes possibility.

Open-ended, hands-on activities that spark imagination, creativity and a lifelong love of wondering, "what if?"

WHAT THIS SKILL LOOKS LIKE

Wonder doesn't need permission — just room to grow.

Curiosity sparks learning and creativity turns ideas into possibilities. Spark + Stone gives children screen-free sensory opportunities to ask questions, explore open-ended ideas, make things, tell stories and discover what they can create through their own imagination.

WHY IT MATTERS

AI can generate ideas, but true creativity stems from curiosity + a unique point of view.

Technology can produce images, stories, songs and answers in seconds. But genuine creativity still begins with a person noticing what matters, asking original questions, making choices, taking risks and shaping something of their own. Originality cannot be commoditized.

CREATIVITY

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WHAT

IF?

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How do I raise a curious child in a world full of screens and AI?

How can I encourage creativity without constantly planning activities?

Does boredom actually help children become more creative?

What are the best screen-free activities for creative kids?

Can AI hurt a child’s creativity?

QUESTIONS WORTH EXPLORING

THE HUMAN SKILLS THEY NEED