I read/watched three fascinating stories/videos today that celebrate the boundless creativity of the human mind:

  • Two history teachers from Hawaii are making learning fun with history-themed music videos based on popular songs;
  • Aidan, a five year old boy with leukemia, sells his monster drawings $12/piece to pay for his treatment costs. Allow 6-8 weeks for yours to arrive. They’re sold out (and they’re really nice too!)
  • Painting masterpieces in minutes: anything can be done with anything…The sky is truly the limit.

History for music lovers

The following videos are not exactly overfilling with details, and they will certainly help create an appetite for knowledge in history students of any age (the most important step is always the first one). The authors – two teachers from Hawaii – have created over 80. Click here to see them all.

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A 5 year old boy pays for his medical treatment costs by selling hand-drawn monsters online

A 5 year old boy pays for his medical treatment costs by selling hand-drawn monsters onlineA five-year-old boy named Aidan was diagnosed earlier on this year with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. His parents didn’t have health insurance that would cover all his costs—and they knew the chemotherapy treatments that could save his life would get expensive quickly. They were willing to make whatever sacrifices were necessary to help their child—but it looked like his cancer could cost them their family home.
But Aidan’s father Wylie had a bright idea: Aidan loved to draw monsters, and had hundreds of brightly colored sketches in a sketchpad. Instead of letting them sit there, why not sell Aidan’s artwork to help pay for his cancer treatment?
The family decided to set up a shop online called Aidan’s Monsters, hoping that friends and strangers alike might take enough of an interest in the young boy’s artwork to purchase a drawing or two. It was a smash success and six weeks later Wylie reported that, thanks to the purchases and donations to Aidan’s Monsters, they had been able to cover all of their son’s medical bills to date. Their home was safe.
Aidan still loves to draw monsters, though, and since his family doesn’t know how many more medical treatments he’ll need, they’re still selling his paintings as a way to save towards future medical bills.
Want to help? Check out Aidan’s Monsters!

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Painting masterpieces, in minutes

The lack of technical abilities is not what limits most people, it’s the absence of creativity – having the idea that something can be done. If you don’t know something exists you’ll never look for it. This is why playing without rules is so important, even more so for adults (neurons that fire together wire together. The more you practice something, the better you get at it.) Learning emotional intelligence starts there.