"You cannot use up creativity. The more you use the more you have. "-Maya Angelou
Go outside and play. -Mom
Are these the eating spoons or the digging spoons? -Janine
Do you want extra chile in your burrito? (a question from the depths of the backyard mud pit, July 1983) -Ariana
Mom, we need clothespins, a ladder, and a long piece of rope. It's a secret. -Lisa
It's a big house for my family to live in!With few exceptions, children are innately creative. When we listen to them as they play we hear about complex worlds, (starring their designers, of course) intricate plot lines, and ever changing themes. When one isn't burdened by years of experience it may be a little easier to imagine all things - or maybe it's just more fun. We know that children develop and mature through the vehicles of play and invention and the lucky among us can remember long hours spent in acting out rich fantasies. Ropes were snakes with magical powers, kitchen spoons were wands for casting spells (and could do double duty for bug funerals) and shrubbery between our 
The proud spacemanhouse and Mrs. Marshall's became enchanted (impenetrable, of course) briar. An old sheet served as a cowboy's tent, a movie screen (flashlights and shadows) or the queen's long brocade train. Dusty tree wells (my childhood was staged in southern New Mexico) could be transformed into intricate houses if the dirt was pressed into service as walls or valleys in danger of horrible floods (yep - garden hoses in the summertime.) If you'll promise not to laugh, we also made fabulous "forts" with carefully stacked dry tumbleweeds. One man's invasive weed is another man's castle or dragon cave. The only limits to our play were time and freedom to create.
A kite craftsperson of the highest orderChildren's art play is often intertwined with their dramatic games. Humans make tools they can use and decorate their lives and our smaller artists craft brilliant examples. With a little thought and some time to apply it a piece of yellow cellophane can be a sparkly kite cover or the visor of a space helmet. In the hands of a creative child, different colors of plain construction paper change to a fancy house and clay tools are pressed into service as rays of the sun. Tissue might be used as an insert of a greeting card or be attached to an outrageously jaunty party hat.
High fashion hat
Where do these clever short people get their ideas from? Everywhere. Sometimes they come to art and try to sit quietly in our meeting area but I can almost feel the hum of ideas that have come in, fully formed but just looking for the right materials before they can be seen by the rest of us. Sometimes an artist will stand at a studio, passing materials from hand to hand and looking vacantly into space. They're building something in their heads and making materials lists just as complete as any professional architect's. Children thumb through collections of photographs or "idea" books and sometimes wander to see what peers are doing before settling into the work of creating a piece of art.
We see the same quiet patience with the creative process in painting. Curiosity about what specific colors will do after their mixed leads to careful additions of color, brushes stroke in silence, and suddenly the artist crows at the result on the paper, "Look what I just invented!"
Color researcherWarning: Soapbox Alert!
No electronic methodology was injured in the creation of these memories. Electricity, in the form of TV, MP3, video game, computer, or other mechanical tools is antithetical to the ancient concept of "Go outside and play." Research premises: dirt is good for you, and when mixed with sunshine is magical; mudpies are far better for fine muscle practice than are cell phone text pads or joy sticks; coloring books and coloring sheets have some interesting purposes, but they're unrelated to art.
Mom is always right.