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In summer 2022, we tested our creativity training with elementary students: piloting a two-week study with 3rd-5th graders, the age when creativity in students begins to decline.

As parents and educators, our goal was to determine if the same Storythinking techniques that increase creativity, resilience, and self-efficacy in US Army Special Operators, trauma nurses, MBA students, and business executives would yield similar results in children.

It did.

A classroom scene with a teacher showing a map to students. The teacher is standing next to the map, pointing at it with a stick, while a young boy in a dark jacket stands close to him. The students are seated at desks, looking at the teacher and listening. There are posters on the wall behind them and large windows letting in natural light.
Book cover titled 'Cambridge Elements: Creativity and Imagination' with the subtitle 'Narrative Creativity' by authors Angus Fletcher and Mike Benveniste. The cover features a textured, watercolor-style background in shades of orange and yellow.

Our campers showed substantial increases in creativity, resilience and self-efficacy (The Journal of Creativity).

Want the same for your child or student? More information, as well as the exercises we developed for the study are included in Chapter 8, Narrative Creativity Training for Students, in Narrative Creativity: an Introduction to How and Why (Cambridge UP) by Angus Fletcher and Mike Benveniste. The book is available to read for free online (simply scroll down to reach the intro, T of C on the lefthand-side).