Creativity in Play

We'll explore how to nurture children's creative intelligence, ways to incorporate nature into learning experiences and more with Marghanita Hughes. Marghanita is a nature art teacher, an award-winning children’s book author and illustrator, a naturalist, and founder of the “Let’s Go Outside” Revolution. “I grew up in a home where art, nature and books were the stuff of everyday life. My parents, both art teachers, allowed me the freedom to roam wild and my young mind was free to wander, explore and discover in the beautiful country-side of Scotland. That sense of awe and wonder has never left me. It’s what drives me to explore more, not just in art and nature but in life itself. The more I discover and learn the more I wish to share. I believe if we inspire a love for nature in a child, it will lead to a desire to protect it. My overwhelming goal is to nurture the Body, Mind and Spirit in each child in my classes I teach and indirectly through the teachers in my workshops.” -- Marghanita Hughes

We'll talk with poet, essayist and author Sheila Bender about tapping into our creativity to write from personal experience. Sheila is an accomplished author of many books about writing, including Creative Writing Demystified. She teaches university courses and workshops about writing for several organizations and conferences, as well as online courses.

We'll talk with Jeff Smithson about bringing play, creativity and clown to learning, work and healing. Plus, find out how the developmental power of play can improve communication and create flourishing communities. Jeff is the founder of Proponent of Play, which creates safe atmospheres for people to develop through mindfulness and movement. He's also worked with kids with chronic and life-threatening illnesses as part of The Big Apple Circus Clown Care program and Paul Newman’s The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. FROM THE SHOW: Listen to our full interview -- and create and share your own #‎eyesshutselfportrait?, created with your eyes closed! Post to our Creativity in Play page at https://www.facebook.com/CreativityinPlay!

We'll talk with author Fran Sorin about the connections between gardening and creativity, and how gardening can be a creative tool for enhancing joy and well-being. Fran is the author of Digging Deep: Unearthing Your Creative Roots Through Gardening.

We'll talk with writer Cheryl Merrill about her applied creativity work documenting elephants in Africa, as well as her forthcoming book, Larger than Life, Living in the Shadows of Elephants. Find out what elephants have to teach us about creativity, learning, writing ... and being human. Cheryl writes about her experience with elephants: "Together. Inhabiting the earth. Lives enlarged."

We'll explore what it means to plan, design and implement accessible and inclusive playspaces for children with and without disabilities, as well as how different types of organizations -- from manufacturers and retail stores to parks districts and community groups -- can ensure that all children have the best play opportunities possible. Our guest is nationally recognized play and playspaces expert Mara Kaplan, founder of Let Kids Play! RESOURCES: Accessible Playgrounds Playworld Systems: Playground 101

We'll explore with Krylyn Peters how to overcome fear and use creativity for wellness and good mental health. Plus, we'll find out more about the online "Creativity & Wellness Summit 2014" that Krylyn has curated. Krylyn is a licensed professional counselor (psychotherapist), certified life coach, and singer/songwriter. Find out more about Krylyn and the summit.

We'll explore with Shelley Sacks how socially engaged artistic processes can help individuals and communities find new ways new ways of engaging with the world to create a more sustainable future. Plus, we'll find out more about two of her key projects -- University of the Trees, and Exchange Values. Shelley will lead a three-day "University of the Trees: U.S. Summer Institute 2014" from August 1 to 3, 2014, at the Jane Goodall Center at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, Connecticut, USA. This is the first intensive training on University of the Trees to be held in the U.S., building on similar trainings Shelley has done in England, Germany and South Africa. Space is limited to a small cohort of co-learners. Shelley Sacks works internationally in connective practices and social sculpture, exploring the relationship between imagination and transformation, the individual and community, and rethinking responsibility as an ability-to-respond. She leads a master’s and doctoral program in social sculpture at Oxford Brookes University, where she is Professor of Social Sculpture and Interdisciplinary Arts, and Director of the Social Sculpture Research Unit. She is the co-author of the recently released Atlas of the Poetic Continent: Pathways to Ecological Citizenship.

We'll explore how quality play space design can emerge through collaboration with one's community, as well as the importance of public space for children's health and well-being with award-winning landscape architect Adam White. Plus, we'll find out more about Adam's latest project, Dinton Pasture Nature Play Park in Wokingham, England. Adam is director of Davies White Landscape Architects in London, and co-author of Nature Play: Managing & Maintaining Playful Landscapes.

We'll explore the early learning link between the body and the brain and how to guide this connection in young children. Our guests are Gill Connell and Cheryl McCarthy, authors of the new book, A Moving Child is a Learning Child: How the Body Teaches the Brain to Think. Gill is an expert on child development, learning, movement and play; and the founder of Moving Smart. Cheryl is a former vice president for Hasbro, and creative director of Moving Smart.

We'll explore with Michael Conforti and Loralee Scott-Conforti how to understand and tap into the creative unconscious, how creativity can be better understood from an interdisciplinary perspective, and the role that archetypes play in creativity. Michael Conforti is a Jungian analyst and the founder and director of The Assisi Institute, and Loralee Scott-Conforti is the executive director of The Assisi Institute, as well as a producer, writer, lecturer and choreographer. The Assisi Institute is an educational center dedicated to the study and application of Archetypal Pattern Analysis.

We'll explore with Karyn Lu how she is making Turner Broadcasting more playful and creative -- with inspiration from her parents' childhood in China and her own experience as an immigrant. Karyn will share specific play activities implemented at CNN Center and other Turner offices, as well as how she helps her HR colleagues integrate play into the organization's culture. Plus, get tips from what Turner Broadcasting has learned to help you make your organization more creative and playful, and find out how Karyn is applying these ideas to make her city of Atlanta a more playful city, as well! Karyn Lu heads the Insights & Inspiration team at Turner Broadcasting, which is charged with looking to the future and around the globe to identify emerging trends and opportunities, helping to drive innovation across Turner brands. Previously, Karyn was a user experience designer at CNN.com, where she co-founded CNN iReport. Check out Karyn's recent TEDx talk on "Create Play Where You Are."

We'll explore creativity, learning, art, democracy and more with artist and gallery owner Kimberly Camp. As an artist, Kimberly's paintings and dolls have been shown throughout the US in over 100 solo and group exhibitions. As an arts administrator, she held leadership roles at the Smithsonian Institution and the Charles Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, as well as headed the Barnes Foundation (where John Dewey served as the first president and director of education). She is the author of the forth-coming book, Defending the Dead: The Totally True Story about the Barnes Foundation Transformation, about her time at the Barnes Foundation and its many recent changes. Kimberly currently runs Galerie Marie in n Collingswood, New Jersey, just outside of Philadelphia.

We'll explore Lois Holzman's new book, The Overweight Brain: How Our Obsession with Knowing Keeps Us from Getting Smart Enough to Make a Better World, and how she is writing it publicly through social media. Plus, we'll talk about Discover Development NYC, a 3-day exploration of New York’s development community that Lois is leading later this month, and her social therapy work, an approach to human development and learning that she has pioneered with Fred Newman. Lois is the director and co-founder of the East Side Institute, convener of the Performing the World conference, and author of several books, including Performing Psychology: A Postmodern Culture of the Mind and Vygotsky at Work and Play.

We'll explore the "Playtime in Africa" project and Mmofra Foundation's work in Ghana with Rachel Phillips and Amowi Phillips.