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The Mensa Foundation is committed to inspiring and empowering intelligence across all walks of life but especially in the minds of our children. As a result, the Foundation developed Mensa for Kids for educators and teachers providing free, high quality, and diverse educational resources for kids of all ages, regardless of their affiliation with Mensa. Mensa for Kids is committed to adapting and growing as the fields of education and intelligence evolve.

To ensure that the Mensa for Kids is kept free and remains current, we ask you to show your support by making a gift to the Mensa Foundation.

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Sponsored by the Mensa Foundation, Mensa for Kids provides free resources for teachers and parents of gifted youth.

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Many theorists in the field of Gifted Education include Creativity in their explanation of giftedness. (See Renzulli, Sternberg, Torrance, and Gagne, for starters.) Renowned geniuses such as Leonardo da Vinci and Benjamin Franklin certainly exhibited a remarkable ability to generate many, various, unique, and detailed ideas, a number of which they also brought to fruition. Society values the benefits, i.e. products, of creative productivity, even if society doesn't always also value the quirks of the creative personality.

I do some creative thinking activities with my gifted students each year and wanted to share some of their work with you today. When we do this type of activity, I also always include a conversation with them about Creativity, what it is, why it's important, jobs that require it, and examples from their own lives and the world. I want to share their creative thinking examples with you through the lens of E. Paul Torrance's work in Creativity. Torrance, the "Father of Creativity" talked about four elements to creativity: Fluency (# of ideas), Flexibility (variety of ideas), Originality (uniqueness of ideas), and Elaboration (details of ideas). All of this is the basis for his Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, a tool that is sometimes used in the identification process for gifted programs across the country/world.

The photos below come from some of my 2nd and 4th grade students. The first 14 images, as an example of Fluency (# of ideas), all come from the same 4th grade girl. While the other kids used their time to create 2, 3, or 4 ideas, she had ideas pouring out of her at a remarkable rate. If we'd had another 45 minutes, I've no doubt she would've come up with about 14 more ideas!

- - - A Snail Waitress - - - The Big-Tongued Cat - - - The Chameleon-Eating Monster - - -

- - - Happy Birthday Giraffe - - - - - - - - - - - - - This is a House in the Moonlight - - -

- - - Monster House - - - - - - - - - - - - - Lassoing Octopus - - -

- - - Fancy Pants Adventures - - - Flying Boogers - - -

- - - Hungry Shapes - - - - - - - - Yummy Fish!!! - - -

In these examples, she clearly also exhibits Flexibility (variety of ideas), as well as Originality (nearly every idea was unique, i.e. another student had never done it before). In a few cases she also demonstrates Elaboration.

Here are a few more samples from other students that exemplify Originality (ideas I'd never seen before in all my years of doing this activity with students). Some of these are also excellent examples of Elaboration.

- - - Mirror vs. Laser - - - - - - The 4-Headed Monster - - - - - - Friendly Monkey - - -

- - - Alien Invasion - - - - - - - - - - Game of Chicken Throw - - -

- - - Aliens are Attacking - - - - - - - - - - Game of Tempole Torture - - -

- - - Rich Person's Couch - - - - - A Tangled-Up Slinky - - - - - The King of Rickey Burch - - -

If you'd like to examine larger images of these pictures, just click here: Creative Thinking.pdf.

This is a fun and revealing activity to do with kids of all ages. You can create any sort of line, squiggle, shape on a page, make multiple copies, and let them have at it! The most creative thinkers in your class can become apparent through this activity, and with that knowledge you may then want to offer them some more creative outlets within or beyond your class. Competitions such as Future Problem Solvers, Odyssey of the Mind, Camp Invention, or Destination Imagination are all excellent opportunities. Learn about Creative Problem Solving or SCAMPER and teach the techniques to your students. Offer some creative differentiation on assignments. Make sure a window of opportunity is always open in your classroom.
In what ways do you encourage and nurture Creativity in your students/children?

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Many theorists in the field of Gifted Education include Creativity in their explanation of giftedness. (See Renzulli, Sternberg, Torrance, and Gagne, for starters.) Renowned geniuses such as Leonardo da Vinci and Benjamin Franklin certainly exhibited a remarkable ability to generate many, various, unique, and detailed ideas, a number of which they also brought to fruition.

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Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University

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Executive function and self-regulation (EF/SR) skills provide critical supports for learning and development, and while we aren't born with these skills, we are born with the potential to develop them through interactions and practice.

This 16-page guide (available for download, below), describes a variety of activities and games that represent age-appropriate ways for adults to support and strengthen various components of EF/SR in children.

Each chapter of this guide contains activities suitable for a different age group, from infants to teenagers. The guide may be read in its entirety (which includes the introduction and references) or in discrete sections geared to specific age groups.

Suggested citation: Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2014). Enhancing and Practicing Executive Function Skills with Children from Infancy to Adolescence. Retrieved from www.developingchild.harvard.edu.

Download PDF

Enhancing and Practicing Executive Function Skills with Children from Infancy to Adolescence

An activities guide for building executive function

Download PDF

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Activities Guide: Enhancing & Practicing Executive Function Skills

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Download free guides of executive functioning activities to support and strengthen skills, available for children ages six months through adolescence.

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Gifted students-you may or may not spot them in your classroom. They may be highly visible, like the high achievers or straight- A students. But they may also be among those students who don't finish their work (it's never perfect enough), who zone out or act out in class (they're bored), or who test poorly because they overthink things ("Hmmm, this answer might be true in this case, but it might not be true in that case").

Some schools and districts have substantial resources to identify and support giftedness, wherever it shows up. Some offer pull-out programs. Others offer cluster grouping, in which gifted students are grouped in specific classes at each grade level.

Dina Brulles, director of gifted education in the Paradise Valley Unified School District in Phoenix, Ariz., believes gifted students need less grade-level work, faster-paced lessons, deeper and more advanced content, and opportunities to work with other gifted students. They also require a different kind of interaction with the teacher, who must be less of a "sage on the stage" and more of a "guide on the side."

M. René Islas, executive director of the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), notes one persistent challenge to gifted education-a lack of uniformity in programming. A recent NAGC study found that 19 states don't monitor gifted programs at the local level, only seven require their districts to report on gifted student achievement, and fewer than half report on the race and ethnicity of their gifted students (minorities are significantly underrepresented in gifted programs, according to the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights).

But there are promising signals as well, explains Islas. The Every Student Succeeds Act requires states and districts to track the progress of their highest-achieving students and allows schools to use Title I funds to identify and support gifted students. Plus, the law opens up the possibility for schools to use computer-adaptive assessments to recognize student mastery of content above grade level.

Then there are the challenges and opportunities at the school level. With the following strategies, teachers can tend to the complex needs of their high-ability students in the heterogeneous classroom.

"Gifted students don't need to do 25 problems in math when they can do the five most difficult first to demonstrate mastery," says Brulles. She offers this opportunity to all students, not just those identified as gifted. Students who successfully complete the five problems are excused from that night's homework. If classwork is involved, the teacher simply needs to have a few extension activities on hand-tasks that carry the concept to the next level-for students to work on quietly while others complete the regular assignment.

"Most Difficult First" is one manageable way for teachers to compact the curriculum for their high-ability students. With compacting, students get to "throw away" the part of the curriculum that they already know, while receiving full credit for those competencies. This frees up students to work on more challenging content.

Let's say a teacher is teaching two-digit multiplication. He might do some direct instruction for 10 minutes, then offer students the end-of-chapter test, saying, "If you get 90 percent or higher, you won't have to do the homework or practice work. You'll have different work to do." According to Brulles, some gifted students will take this option, whereas others may decide, "I don't know this; I need the practice work." Again, as in Most Difficult First, this strategy requires having extension work for students who test out of the material.

Susan Flores, a 2nd grade teacher in Paradise Valley, meets a range of student abilities by using the standard as her baseline. "My desk serves as a staging area. I have several piles of activities there that take a concept up or down."

For example, when the class is working on the distributive property in math, those "piles" might include differentiated worksheets, word problems, and task cards. Depending on how students grasp the concept, Flores can either reteach, offer practice, or enrich.

Flores also uses "choice boards." In math, she might offer nine ways that students can demonstrate learning of multiplication. "Students can [use] one of their iPad apps or create a game. They jump in where they want to jump in," she notes.

All students in Flores's class can choose whether they want to take their learning to the next level. "I don't say, 'Because you're gifted, you get choice, and because you're not gifted, you don't.'" Optional challenge work is available to anyone who wants to try it.

Janice Mak, a gifted cluster teacher and 7th and 8th grade STEM teacher in Paradise Valley, gives students a menu of options in her computer science class. After stu-dents learn the basics of programming-perhaps through an online course from Stanford University or work with Google CS First clubs-they work in teams to create a robot. Students choose the level of complexity, from designing dogs that bark to building miniature disco rooms in which a record plays and lights flash.

Students can also tailor a project to their interests. In a module on architecture, some students designed a playground for Egyptian students using Legos, Build with Chrome, or Minecraft. One student opted instead to recreate the White House using Minecraft.

The Ignite presentation format offers another way for Mak to differentiate work on the basis of student interest. The presenter has exactly 5 minutes and 20 slides, which auto-advance every 15 seconds, to discuss a topic of interest (aligned to the unit). This activity allows students to share their passion with their peers, be it nanotechnology and its role in medicine, the physics of roller coasters, or the latest advances in virtual reality.

According to education expert Jenny Grant Rankin, knowing a student's emotional intensities-what Polish psychologist Kazimierz Dabrowski called "overexcitabilities"-is also key to teaching gifted students. Dabrowski identified five areas of sensitivity that are strongly related to giftedness: psychomotor, sensual, intellectual, imaginational, and emotional.

Overexcitabilities will often appear as quirks, such as compulsive talking or organizing, heightened sensitivity to smells or tastes, insatiable curiosity, or daydreaming. Knowing a student's overexcitabilities can help teachers shape engaging-and personalized-learning experiences. An imaginational student will benefit from an assignment that he's free to complete in a unique way. An intellectual student will prefer to investigate why certain areas of the world struggle with starvation rather than simply listing those areas. Although we tend to see overexcitabilities negatively, they are often accompanied by great creativity, imagination, and drive.

According to NAGC, research shows that enabling gifted students to work together in groups boosts their academic achievement and benefits other students in the classroom, as well. When gifted students work together, they challenge themselves in unexpected ways. They bounce ideas off one another and take a peer's idea to a new place. They also learn that as smart as they are, they, too, must exert effort with challenging content-and that they'll sometimes fail along the way.

That said, gifted kids need to work both in and out of their group. "As adults, we have to be able to work with everyone," explains Flores, "and gifted students might not learn this if they're always separated out." Teachers can provide multiple opportunities for heterogeneous groupings through Think-Pair-Shares, Clock Buddies, and Season Teams.

This approach relies on planning lessons or units at different tiers of difficulty. But does this require teachers to add to their already full plates?

"I don't see it as doing one more thing; I see it as being more strategic," explains Mak. Teachers have to plan for their lessons, so why not develop deep and complex activities for high-ability students at the same time? This one way of planning-providing work at the entry, advanced, and extension levels or at varying Depth of Knowledge Levels-offers a multiplicity of ways to learn. It may take more time in the planning stage, but it is ultimately more efficient because bored students aren't acting out or zoning out in class-they've got challenging work to do-and struggling students are getting support. Once teachers create these tiered resources, they can use them again and again.

Author Carol Ann Tomlinson advocates teaching up -"a practice of first planning a lesson that's challenging for high-end learners and then differentiating for other learners by providing supports that enable them to access that more sophisticated learning opportunity." It replaces "the more common practice of planning for mid-range performers, then extending that lesson for advanced students and watering it down for others." This approach, Tomlinson says, challenges advanced learners more than trying to pump up a "middling" idea-and serves other students better as well.

All students have the right to learn something new every day, whether they are in regular classrooms or in special education, language acquisition, or gifted programs. And every student will benefit from being pulled up to go beyond the curriculum at times.

But as Tomlinson points out, "Learning should be joyful or at least satisfying, rather than just hard."

Is this challenging for educators? Sure. But according to Flores, "Any good teacher can do these things well. It's just good teaching."

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Six Strategies for Challenging Gifted Learners

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Find practical ways to tend to the complex needs of your high-ability students-without taking the joy out of learning.

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What is Genius Hour? An Overview of Genius Hour and 20% Time in the Classroom

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Gifted kids can be a joy to teach when you know how to identify what engages them. These 50 tips and tricks come from my own experience and from around the Web. They're good to have in your bag of tricks whether you're a newbie or an old hand at teaching these high-level thinkers.

Every year, I start by having my students complete an interest inventory. This helps me ensure that curriculum is personalized to their interests.

Share what you are reading with gifted students. Often, these students experience a reading lag where they can't find a sweet spot because it is hard for high-ability students to understand what is both challenging and appropriate.

Gifted students often need to have the ability to move when learning ... pacing, flapping and bouncing are parts of their thinking process.

4. Offer Flexible Seating

A window seat is my favorite place to read, so I keep that in mind when offering seating. Try to offer different seating options for students: beanbag chairs, carpet squares, pillows, director chairs ... the list can go on and on.

SOURCE: kindergartenisgrrreat.blogspot.com

5. Model Social Situations

Social situations can be challenging for some gifted students as their ability to understand social cues can be underdeveloped. Team up with other teachers to model the proper way to start conversations.

6. Share Current Events

Current events are important to incorporate into gifted programming. We want these students to be thinking about how they can use their talents to solve real-world problems.

As important as current events are, it is also just as important to understand that gifted students internalize global happenings on a very personal level. Kids do not have the experience with the world to understand that despite there being a war or attack, there are still good things happening in the world.

SOURCE: Reddit

Not all gifted students are meant to be the project manager. Allow students the opportunity to work alone or in a group. Even cross-grade groupings work well with gifted students.

9. Mind the Child Labor Laws

Gifted students who finish early should not automatically be the teacher's helper. Gifted students can be some of the worst students to assist others because their brains often work very differently. Having a gifted child help a student who is struggling may do more harm than good.

My grandmother always said, idle hands are the devil's workshop ... so keep some key things in the back for busy hands. LEGO bricks, cardboard and masking tape, and Snap Circuits are some of my favorites!

11. Introduce Minecraft Edu

SOURCE: http://education.minecraft.net/

Provide gifted students with clear endpoints on projects and assignments. Gifted students can create unusually high expectations and never see an end in sight; a book reflection can easily become a 10-page paper, a PowerPoint can become an intensive course on the topic. Letting students know where to stop can be helpful.

Use FutureMe.org and have students write a letter to their future selves. Once students have written the letter, you can set the date for it to be sent to their inbox. What a great way for students to set goals and create natural check-in points.

14. Teach Decision-Making

Gifted students can have a huge case of FOMO: fear of missing out. They understand that decisions have consequences, and sometimes they need to be given an inordinate amount of details about their options. Allow for the gifted student to fully understand the pros and cons of a decision.

Gifted students are processing a lot in their minds. Be patient and give them the time to reflect on what they need to come to a consensus they can live with.

16. Assign Expiration Dates

My gifted students walk into class with exploding folders and binders. They keep everything because there is a fear of being unprepared. Just like expiration dates for food, think about adding a footer to your handouts: "This handout expires on April 15."

17. Model Organization Strategies

Or at least model how you organize life. Gifted students like options and seeing how they work in the "real world" is very helpful. I show students how I use notes to organize things, how Google Calendar is my lifeline, and what I do for physical notes. I have used planners in the past and show those examples as well.

We also review different apps that could be helpful. I urge students to find what works for them. No system is not an answer. We all need a system to help us be productive. When I taught younger students, we would all try different systems together as our end-of-the-day procedure.

Offer gifted students a hobby that can help calm their busy minds. Teach them how to Zentangle, breathe, meditate, make friendship bracelets, knit, color-anything that allows for them to focus carefully on details can help them quiet some of the extra noise.

SOURCE: http://teachertothecore.blogspot.com

19. Explore Their Passions

Some gifted students don't have a passion yet because they haven't found it. Provide exposure to as much as possible. are one way to help students think about different topics. even has created teaching enhancements. I heart TED.

20. Read Tons of Biographies

Reading, watching or listening to the lives of others can help gifted students develop a plan of action and see what others did to accomplish goals.

21. Read Lots of Everything

It is true, so many gifted students have found a book that becomes so much a part of them, they can discuss it at length. Bibliotherapy is a great way for students to experience how to deal with issues and learn tactics and strategies.

For the love of anything that is holy, this should probably be no. 1. Research states that most gifted students do not learn new information until January. Don't make a student who has already mastered a concept sit through the lesson again.

Let gifted students pursue their interests. If they want to let everything be about dinosaurs, more power to them! We need paleontologists. As mentioned in , it takes over 10,000 hours to be an expert. To get that many hours on a time card, students have to be allowed to focus.

We need to allow students to hyper-focus but also then be the "guide on the side" that helps them make connections from one area to another. Perhaps we can get our dinosaur expert to use Scratch and make a "Dino Dig" math game?

Gifted students need mentors within their interest areas. Mentors can teach students how to navigate through professions and can even be gatekeepers to additional opportunities.

26. Practice Like Professionals

27. Locate Authentic Audiences

The work students create should have a real audience and be appreciated by those who authentically would benefit from its completion. Younger students are a great first authentic audience.

28. Put Them in Escape Rooms

I love The Mind Research Institute, which challenges students in grades K-12 to design their own mathematical game.

32. Check Out Local Happenings

Do you live in the middle of nowhere? Me too! But I was surprised to learn there were still a TON of events happening on the weekends. If you are in the urban areas, you are rich in opportunities. Look to local libraries, museums or universities.

33. Send Them to Summer Camp

Some of my closest childhood friendships started at summer camp. These times allowed for encouragement and allowed kids to be nurtured in an environment where trying something new was the goal. Summer camp allowed me to be myself and try new things.

34. Solve Local Problems

"With great power comes great responsibility," says one of our favorite superheroes, and he is correct-kindness counts. We need to do good with the gifts and talents we have been given. Give gifted students the opportunity to solve local problems and see the need for change in their own community. Allow a book to inspire this mission: Summer I Changed the World in 65 Days.

What do friends all have in common? Interests!! We are attracted to those who think similarly and those who challenge our beliefs. Book clubs make for a great space for likeminded students to come together to discuss a common theme ... in this case a book, which serves as a great discussion starter.

36. Allow for Voice and Choice

How many of you hated a certain book in high school only to read it as an adult and see how wrong you were? The moment we lost choice (of what to read in this case), we also lost joy. Allowing gifted students to have choice in the classroom allows them to feel empowered and engaged. Choices do not need to be huge either, small choices are just as important.

No one wants to only be the big fish in a small pond. We want to be around people who will make us better and want to achieve more. Allow your gifted student to be challenged by participating in academic competitions such as National History Day. Your students will see what true competition is.

This is one of the best ways to develop critical thinking. Show a picture of clouds ... what do you see? This type of activity develops fluency, elabora tion, originality and abstract thinking, which are all integral parts of being a creative thinker. Try Google's It's a great tool for getting students to think rapidly-it's also a gem for indoor recess.

When the students ask a question you don't know, look it up with them. As librarian media specialist Melissa Thom says, "the smartest people are the people who know how to find answers to their own questions." Follow her on twitter at .

Flocabulary creates content-rich raps (yes, as in hip-hop) about just about ANYTHING. There are so many wonderful resources embedded within-contests, lyric labs, lyric notes, connections to primary sources, teacher plans, corresponding handouts, questioning and so much more! This will quickly become your favorite teaching resource. I promise!

41. Let Them Read Below-Level Books

Why do we expect every book gifted students read to be 1.5-2 grade levels above their reading level? I say, if a student is enjoying a book, read it! Yes, challenging books are needed to develop reading ability but don't discount a book just because it is below a student's level. Reading a book for a different purpose can increase the difficulty of a book without changing the text.

42. Connect Globally

Global Read Aloud is a program where one book is used to connect the world. Pernille Ripp founded GRA in 2010 with the simple idea to read a book aloud to her stude nts and during that time try to make as many global connections as possible. This mission has grown exponentially and has reached over two million students. Collaborating with students in other states and countries will help a gifted student think empathetically.

43. Incorporate Mythology

If you know a gifted s tudent, then you know that mythology can be a huge interest-often spurred by the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan. Allow students to build a better understanding by incorporating mythology into different curricular units.

Provide a safe space for gifted students to take risks without being put down. Gifted students are often timid to answer something they are unsure about because of the social stigma attached to not answering correctly. Create a classroom culture where wrong answers become an opportunity to celebrate different thinking. Check out Nancy Anderson's book, What's Right About Wrong Answers? Learning Math From Mistakes.

QR codes add an interactive component to your classroom. Create a QR Code Museum or Gallery or even a QR scavenger hunt on one of your classroom bulletin boards.

A frog jumps into the pond, splash! Silence again. This is Basho Matsuo's famous haiku. Use haiku as a way to challenge gifted students to summarize chapters, current events, biographies or vocabulary words. Haiku are student-friendly yet force them to be concise and purposeful with their word choice.

Action is powerful for gifted students. Allowing students to find solutions to problems they see in their school, neighborhood or community will allow them to understand that they can make a difference. Internalizing that they can be the change in the world is transformational. Watch these TED Talks to show them what kids like them are doing to change the world.

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50 Tips, Tricks and Ideas for Teaching Gifted Students - We Are Teachers

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Gifted kids can be a joy to teach when you know how to identify what engages them. These 50 tips and tricks are great to have in your back pocket.