Imaginative play can enhance preschoolers' oral language when the child's internal control is strenghtened, external reality is suspended, and motivation exists to become involved. The caregiver provides cues in the arrangement of the environment and selection of materials. Cues can encourage dramatic as well as sociodramatic play. (CL)

Seven principles are presented for improving creative thinking, based on assumptions of creativity as a perceptual shift resulting from a metamorphic mental image. Principles include (1) the future initiates and pulls creative thought; (2) initial fact finding is best postponed; (3) problem redefinition is often retrospective; and (4) metaphors…

This study evaluated the use of guided imagery practice to enhance creative writing with 43 academically gifted students (stratified as either high or low creativity) in grades 3 and 4. Groups receiving the guided imagery practice (regardless of original creativity level) generated more original writing, which contained more sensory descriptions…