Chasing Ideas: The Fun of Freeing Your Child's Imagination

Rating:
Summary: Chasing Ideas by Christine Durham
Review: A wonderful parent or teacher resource to help children to be more imaginative thinkers. This book provides a treasure trove of ideas, strategies and activities to guide children to explore, judge, make decisions and communicate more effectively. Use the practical information presented in this book to explore and unleash students' imagination, to enrich relationships and to enhance self-confidence and self-esteem.

Rating:
Summary: Chasing Ideas by Christine Durham
Review: A wonderful parent or teacher resource to help children to be more imaginative thinkers. This book provides a treasure trove of ideas, strategies and activities to guide children to explore, judge, make decisions and communicate more effectively. Use the practical information presented in this book to explore and unleash students' imagination, to enrich relationships and to enhance self-confidence and self-esteem.

Rating:
Summary: Inspirational!
Review: Chris Durham's book, "Chasing Ideas: The fun of freeing your child's
imagination," is a joy-filled romp through the most beautiful landscape in
the world--the mind of a child. Durham is a passionate believer in the
intellectual lives of children, and she describes "chasing ideas with
children" as a highlight of her life--a pleasure that is apparent on every
page.

"Chasing Ideas" is for parents, teachers, anyone who looks after a child. It
encourages readers to push themselves in pursuit of big ideas and important
discussions that will impact children for the rest of their lives. The goal
is not just to entertain or educate but to empower everyone in a family and
bind them together.

Durham draws upon findings from child psychology, ideas from literature and
ancient lore to construct some simple but powerful guidelines for
encouraging children to think.

She begins by presenting ten basic principles, like "Expect great ideas."
Durham explains that how we are dealt with by others will affect how we see
ourselves. So if you expect creativity from children, you are more likely to
get it. She describes experiments in the classroom and in nursing homes that
show people--from kids through to the aged-- respond with confidence and
well-being when treated with respect and faith in ability.

"Make children aware of the magic and nuance of words," is another golden
rule. If your children's vocabulary is expansive, they'll be more able to

pinpoint and describe their feelings.

"Ask open questions," Durham advises. The point is not just to elicit
answers but to prompt children to think critically, to wonder and probe.
What more valuable skill could there be than getting children to appreciate
that there's more than one way to solve a problem?

Views are not prescribed or dictated in "Chasing Ideas." Instead, subjects
like the media and animal rights are laid out with all their real life
complexity. The books "thinking tools" then help you deal with them. The
tools guide children in separating out facts from feelings and in finding
things that are good, bad and curious in every situation. A long list of
questions gets you to take on different roles and approach all topics from
more than one direction. As Durham says: "Be explorers, detectives,
magicians, and judges."

My favorite from the book's long list of quirky questions is (wait till your
child is eating a slice bread to ask this one): "Did you know there has been
a hundred percent mortality rate of people who ate bread and were born in
1881?" I can't wait to start chasing ideas with my infant son.

Durham spent years teaching children in school and leading thousands of
workshops in which she developed and refined the exercises in the book. And
if you don't know this already, you will be convinced after reading that
thinking skills are one of the most valuable gifts you can give your
children. "Chasing Ideas" is such an exciting book. Durham perfectly
balances the fun with the challenge and the thinking with the nurturing. As
she says, love is fundamental to the entire endeavor.

Rating:
Summary: Chasing Ideas by Christine Durham
Review: The book demonstrates the faith that children are our best resource for the future. It is to our cost if we ignore the power and potential of their innate curiosity and imagination. Durham's view is that children are not afraid of ideas, that they can `fly' and as adults we need to follow their example. The illustrations that emphasise this point are witty and provocative and pop up everywhere throughout the text. It is clear that Durham has been an active chaser of ideas throughout her life. Her strongest message is `be open to the world around you and be open to your mind'. In doing so herself she has produced a joyful book and shared her experiences and wisdom most generously.

(Extract from review by May Leckey, Coordinator, Studies of Society and Environment Programs,
Department of Education, Policy and Management Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne)

Rating:
Summary: Chasing Ideas by Christine Durham
Review: The book demonstrates the faith that children are our best resource for the future. It is to our cost if we ignore the power and potential of their innate curiosity and imagination. Durham's view is that children are not afraid of ideas, that they can 'fly' and as adults we need to follow their example. The illustrations that emphasise this point are witty and provocative and pop up everywhere throughout the text. It is clear that Durham has been an active chaser of ideas throughout her life. Her strongest message is 'be open to the world around you and be open to your mind'. In doing so herself she has produced a joyful book and shared her experiences and wisdom most generously.

(Extract from review by May Leckey, Coordinator, Studies of Society and Environment Programs,
Department of Education, Policy and Management Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne)