Generally speaking, art is a way to encourage the process of thinking in an innovative way and art-related activities have been proven to boost a child’s self-image by instilling a sense of pride on the self-directed project.

Lynda Barry, the patron saint of creativity has published a new book Making Comics which argues that the creative impulse in intrinsic to human nature. In one of the most memorable excerpts, the page aptly titled On Seeing Things, Barry expresses her belief on the basic human inclination to find patterns and meaning in random information. She presents two "monster" doodles and wonders if would it be hard to imagine their relationship? In another page, she focuses on how we draw before we are taught, we also sing, dance, build things, act and make up stories long before we are given any deliberate instruction... In yet another page, she introduces the notion of creative intentions ebbing and flowing organically: there may be intention but it's but it's easily abandoned when what started as a ladder becomes a torch.

IR Approved Here Comes Ingo picture book also knows that children thrive when they create, experiment and discover things on their own. This is a special book which uses the visual story on the page as the starting point. The "readers" are encouraged to add to the story via painting, drawing and writing ON the page thus search for and create new meaning, test their comfort zone and take risks by finding patterns and meaning in random information in the complete absence of any deliberate information. They are free to start and abandon one idea after the other at will until they feel fully satisfied with the way their imagination has given rise to yet another exercise in creativity.

I've spent time with young toddlers gleefully pouring over the pages of Here Comes Ingo just like I' ve marvelled at how engaged secons graders were at "making their own story" during workshop. It truly goes to show how the joys of creativity go beyond mere arts&crafts and help enrich the learning experience as well as retain information in the long run.