Exquisite Minds: Creative and Gifted Children

Exquisite Minds believes in the importance of cultivating creativity in bright and gifted children. We believe creativity can solve almost any problem; rather than why something can’t be done, it’s how it can be done. Exquisite Minds offers support to parents and educators who want to challenge children to find new and constructive ways to look at the world.

Good Study Habits: How to Help

Parents can help with good study habits by creating a comfortable environment and a set routine which allows for the least amount of dissent. As we know, studying hurts, but failing hurts worse.
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Developing Empathy in Children by Using Fiction

Reading literary fiction plays an important role in developing empathy in children. Here's how and why to use literary fiction...
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10 Best Apps for Kids (that will encourage creativity)

These are the top 10 apps we found to encourage creativity in kids. They are either educational and/or entertaining and they all foster creativity! World of Goo by 2D Boy: This app for kids has won many awards. A game …
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Google Search Tips: Helping Kids Google

Life gives you questions, Google gives you answers. As teachers we spent time helping our students learn to be good Googlers. This was so they could get correct information as fast as possible. You too can use these Google search …
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Best Strategy Board Games

Teaching gifted students over the years gave me the opportunity to discover the best strategy board games for kids. If the game held their interest, challenged them, and helped develop critical thinking, then it was a winner. It became apparent …
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Bloom’s Taxonomy: Critical Thinking Skills for Kids

Updated: April, 2019 We all want our children to use necessary critical thinking skills. Thanks to Bloom’s Taxonomy, parents can help develop and strengthen their child’s thinking skills at home. Unfortunately, teachers and parents are more likely to ask children …
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Parents Letting Go of College Students

How Involved Should Parents Be When Their Child Goes Off to College? Having a child leave for college is bittersweet for many parents. Parents look forward to seeing their child grow into a responsible, secure adult. Yet, parents, especially mothers, …
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Motivating the Gifted Child

Motivating the Unmotivated Child Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try. As Zig Ziglar stated, “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” Throughout my teaching career, I often heard this …
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Girl Drama and the Creative Child

Contributed by: Angela Roche My nine-year-old daughter came home from spending the day at her cousin’s house.  Her cousin is in the sixth grade and had invited another friend over.  Three is never a good number!  Lauren snuggled up with …
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Teaching Creativity

Michael F. Shaughnessy, a columnist with educationnews.org recently conducted an interview with Abby Connors who wrote the new book, Teaching Creativity. I found this to be an excellent interview and well worth reading. Below is an excerpt from the interview about approaching …
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Gifted The Movie-Now on DVD

Gifted is the thoughtful drama directed by Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer), which depicts the struggles of raising a child prodigy amidst differing parenting philosophies. The story line follows a series of affective moments, lending Gifted a compassionate look at the life of an exceptional child.
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Thinking Games Kids Will Love

We like our kids to have games and toys which promote thinking skills and higher level learning—while keeping them entertained for more than a few mere minutes. Below is a list of some of our favorite thinking games for kids. As adults we enjoyed playing many of these games too!
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