Creative Minds

CREATIVE MINDS CLUB (C.M.C.) is an after school activity for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders involving team work, problem solving, experimentation, construction, language play and performance.  The goal of the club is to encourage children to see themselves as CREATORS, to see their peers as collaborators, and to develop skills to think outside the box and use common materials in unusual ways.

C.M.C. activities at Stoneleigh are based on material associated with 2 well known national programs: Destination ImagiNation and Odyssey of the Mind. Unlike these programs, the Stoneleigh program will not be involved in inter-school competitions.

C.M.C. members get together in Ms. Link’s art room on alternate Wednesdays after school and build things out of odd materials, figure out ways to communicate while maintaining silence, and solve mental puzzles. In the past, we have experimented with spaghetti, mini marshmallows, drinking straws, and toothpicks, made towers and cantilevered structures that can hold weights and withstand wind. Doing that, we learned that structures don’t have to be pretty to be stable, but weight does have to be distributed.

This spring we will build some things that move, work on our ability to communicate with someone who cannot see us, act out some ideas and figure out how to build a tower that can hold an egg (yes, a raw one).  This after school activity is funded by the PTA, and there is no cost for participation.  The program is led by Amanda Konradi, parent of a Stoneleigh fifth grader.