The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections (Paperback)

by Amanda Blake Soule (Author)
Key Phrases: garden journal, inspiration wire, craft show, Resource Guide, Family Drawing Time, Nature Table (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
“Embraces a new way of living that will engage your children’s imaginations, celebrate their achievements, and help you to express love and gratitude for each other as a family.”—Living Crafts Magazine

“Give your family an injection of creativity with this inspirational book.”—Kindred Magazine

“The Creative Family will make life with your children rich, full, imaginative, and fun beyond measure. This book is a recipe for joyful parenting and a joyful life. It's a gift for both your children and yourself. I loved it!”—Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education and author of Above All, Be Kind: Raising a Humane Child in Challenging Times

“Amanda Soule has created a wonderful guide that nourishes the wellspring of creativity already inherent in the family dynamic. She encourages discovery, ingenuity, sharing, and celebration in a way that helps each family member grow, while simultaneously bringing the whole family closer together. A truly meaningful book for and about that which we hold dearest.”—Jeffrey Yamaguchi, author of 52 Projects: Random Acts of Everday Creativity

Product Description
When you learn to awaken your family’s creativity, wonderful things will happen: you’ll make meaningful connections with your children in large and small ways; your children will more often engage in their own creative discoveries; and your family will embrace new ways to relax, play, and grow together. With just the simple tools around you—your imagination, basic art supplies, household objects, and natural materials—you can transform your family life, and have so much more fun!

Amanda Soule has charmed many with her tales of creativity and parenting on her blog, SouleMama. Here she shares ideas and projects with the same warm tone and down-to-earth voice. Perfect for all families, the wide range of projects presented here offers ideas for imaginative play, art and crafts, nature explorations, and family celebrations.

This book embraces a whole new way of living that will engage your children’s imagination, celebrate their achievements, and help you to express love and gratitude for each other as a family.

To learn more about the author, Amanda Soule, visit her blog at www.SouleMama.com.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Trumpeter (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590304713
• ISBN-13: 978-1590304716
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 6.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,438 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #4 in	Books > Parenting & Families > Family Activities
  #4 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Psychology & Counseling > By Topic > Creativity
  #36 in	Books > Parenting & Families > Family Relationships

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For your child... and your inner child, April 23, 2008

By	Julie Neal "The Complete Walt Disney World" (Sanibel Island, Fla.) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

You may think this is an arts and crafts book. But really, it's a parenting guide. Though it's filled with things you can do with your children, it also brings out the kid in you, and in the process helps you become a better mom or dad. The activities involve getting dirty with your kids, going outside and finding things like cool leaves and bugs, or drawing with crayons. Most are best suited for families with preschool- through elementary-aged kids.

The book is divided into four sections, each with three chapters:

Part One: Gathering
1. Preparing Your Creative Mind
2. Gathering Materials
3. Being Resourceful

Part Two: Playing
4. Encouraging Imagination
5. Supporting Your Young Artist
6. Sharing the Tradition of Handmade

Part Three: Living
7. Exploring Through Nature
8. Capturing Moments
9. Everyday Rituals

Part Four: Connecting
10. Celebrating Your Family
11. Handmade Holidays
12. Creative Connections

At the end of the book, a six-page resource guide lists other books and websites on the same topics.

Even though my daughter is 14, we both found this book worthwhile. For example, we set up a Nature Table. Before, all the tiny miracles we brought home in our pockets ended up in the trash. Now we have a spot. At the moment it has a handful of seashells, three skate egg cases, some hot pink sea whips, an orange sponge and a sparkly rock she snared last week on a trip with her dad out to the Grand Canyon.

90 of 100 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A really sweet book about celebrating your family, April 5, 2008

By	MamaG - See all my reviews

"The Creative Family" is really, very simply, a sweet, gentle, and dear book on family traditions and togetherness.

Most of the ideas in this book were not new to me. In fact, much of it could be written about my actual family life. If you are familiar with the Waldorf tradition, and books such as "You are your child's first teacher", "The Children's Year" and "All Year Round", "Heaven on Earth", or some of the other little "Waldorfy" craft books out there, then many of the ideas in "The Creative Family" will not be new to you, either.

But I don't think that "being new" is the most important thing about this book. I think that it is really fantastic that Amanda Soule has taken many of these tried-and-true (perhaps less well-known/mainstream) ideas about parenting, family life, and creativity, and blended them together into one simple, easy to read, compact and easy to reach for, updated resource.

The photography is really beautiful, and the projects are all simple enough to be done by a pre-schooler (some with more help than others).

This is more than a project book, however (in fact, I would not even describe it as being a project book). It is more about a way of life -- taking a step back, learning that a "no" really can be a "yes," and so on. Her thoughts about toys were excellent -- again, exactly what our family has already practiced since our first child was quite small -- but, in observing so many of my friends with young children, ideas that would help many an overwhelmed family learn to say "no" to too much stuff.

I was most inspired by her tips on art supplies -- a good comprehensive list of supplies, along with tips on their storage. It's one thing that I don't think we had a good system for before, and I will definitely be incorporating some of her ideas into our life.

This book is a gem. It's small and simple. It suggests simple steps that any family can take to make their lives more family-centered and joyful.

45 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars consider me inspired!, April 1, 2008

By	Bethany L. Canfield "B&b ex libris" (Corvallis, OR,USA.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is pure, unadulterated creative dynamite! I wanted to review this book knowing that I would enjoy it, but I had no idea to what extent it would challenge my family and I. Amanda and the rest of the Soule family do an excellent job in this book of inspiring creativity, of living artfully and of helping other families reach their creative potential as well. Last night, after reading a little over half of the book throughout the day, I could not sleep for hours (and I usually have no problem) but my mind was stewing, in hard-core overdrive imagining all the fun things we can do together as a family, thinking of all the neat projects that my two little boys are old enough to do now that are in this book!


Some of the exciting projects include little hands learning to felt, sew, make stuffed art, knit, and embroider. Other projects that stood out to me were family drawing time, making traditions, handmade holidays, art placemats, and "craftivisim" . If you have thought about the level of creativity in your house, and desire it to ebb and flow out of all of you and yours, The Creative Family by Amanda Blake will be a sweet dream that can be your new reality, an amazing place that after you have entered you'll know you just gotta stay. The best thing is that kids are drawn to create and it need not be something you are apprehensive about, take it from Soule, she believes that, " as human beings, we are all born with the ability, the desire, the passion, and the drive to be creative. We may become anxious about "teaching" creativity to our children, but there is really no need for us to teach. They know how to be creative. The know it with every ounce of their being- it isn't conscious or rational. It is simply who they are. Until somethings stands in their way [...]they will be creative" (p. 13).

Consider me inspired: Yesterday I set up an inspiration wire (p. 21), and several times I noticed my little one checking out his art on the wall with intense pride. I went out and found some things that our art cabinet (dresser)(p. 25) was in need of, and I was dying to do the projects in the book. Today, after reading the section on letting your kids use good quality things I (must admit reluctantly) let my four-year-old paint with my paint brushes...the results were just beautiful, let me tell you that next time I will not hesitate, he can use my brush! This weekend we are going to do the freezer-paper stenciling (p. 74) after I find the shirts we need, and because our "inspiration wire" is already way too full I am going to put together some sturdy art clips (p. 83) up at some point in the near future. The project that I am incredibly excited about though, and have already been eyeing materials for is the incredible "Banging Wall" (p. 197) I cannot wait to get that up in our backyard! Those are the projects that have inspired me, since yesterday...and there are many more in this book waiting to be used as well.

One of my favourite aspects of this book is the desire to bless others with your art, for whom you want to express love or care for. Here is an especially great quote on just that, Soule says, " Living a creative live is made all the more fulfilling and rewarding when we are creating with, for or because of others. Much creative drive is certainly internally driven, but there is such benefit to creating beyond ourselves, beyond our family, and beyond our homes, for our community and the world around us. Connecting with and creating with others can be a powerful and inspiring act, as well as a wonderful gift for our children, teaching them how to connect and share their own passions with others" (p. 191). It is beautiful to allow art to not only influence your family, but to impact those around you as well. Kids and parents alike learn life lessons from such acts.

This is one of those books that come around very much too infrequently that you would like to buy 100 of and give one to all your friends because you know they would love it too...but then you do the calculations and realize that would not go over too well with family budgeting. No, seriously I will buy this book for several of my close friends who I know will love it just as much as me, and to all the rest of my friends who would also love it just as much I will give it the highest recommendations possible. All I can say, if you believe in creativity, or would like to start...buy this book and you will want all your friends to buy it too!

Oh, and check out her pretty much daily blog at: http://soulemama.typepad.com/soulemama/