As educators and business people consider what children need to be successful in this rapidly changing society, creative and critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration, and persistence are recognized as the most important skills for success in education and the workforce. Among these, creative thinking is referred to most…

Young children's outdoor play serves important and diverse purposes, including physical exercise and opportunities for growth in all developmental areas. Unfortunately, the amount of time that children spend engaged in unstructured, child-directed outdoor play has diminished significantly in the past generation. In this article, the authors…

Proposes using illustrated fictional literature to promote in young children aesthetic appreciation of human creations and the natural environment. Defines aesthetics and recommends both "good" stories and books with vicarious encounters as two useful categories of stories with moral reasoning accessible to primary grade children. Offers three…