FACE 1 - Carlos Perez Naval:  Nine year-old Carlos Perez Naval from Spain recently claimed the title of Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year. He beat out kids almost twice his age, and has earned himself the kind of recognition and praise many adult wildlife photographers can only hope for. Naval began taking pictures with a point-and-shoot at the age of 4. Since then, he’s upgraded his kit to a Nikon D300, and every time his parents take him traveling he tries to get his hands on a better and better lens.
   Carlos even has his own website!  You can read his blog there and look at more of his fabulous nature photography. Of course, Carlos speaks Spanish, but is learning English. The video shows him accepting a prestigious award for his photography and thanking the award committe in "English."

Creative Thinking Skill:  NOTICE --pay close attention to the things around you. Look for small things. See what other people overlook.

FACE 2 - Center for Process Innovation - Windowless Planes
A UK company is set to revolutionize the future of commercial air travel with a windowless plane that allows passengers to choose panoramic views of the world around them or swipe a touch screen to surf the internet or check their email from 35,000 ft. Windows would be replaced with ultra-thin and highly-flexible screens that would display outside scenery captured by cameras attached to the plane’s exterior or act as a personal touch screen computer. The concept is the brainchild of the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) and is still in its design phase, but developers believe it could become the world’s first windowless commercial aircraft in the next ten years.

Creative Thinking Skill: Eliminate - omit; take away; get rid of. What could you get rid of to make something better?  Eliminating windows on planes makes the plane weigh less and be aerodynamic which in turn requires less fuel!

The first video is a promotion from CPI --the second video explains how a plane with NO windows would like solid windows!

FACE 3 - Animal Architects!  
Most animals are content with finding a slightly softer and more sheltered space to sleep for the night, but there also wild animals out there that demand nothing but the finest accommodations. These animals are some of the best architects that the animal kingdom has to offer.

Home building is probably the closest that many animals will come to tool use, in the sense that we think of it. It seems that the jury is still out on whether or not nest (or dam, in the beaver’s case) building can be considered to be tool use – these animals do carry sticks, twigs and leaves for intentional future use, but they don’t “use” them on other things the way a chimpanzee uses a stick to hunt termites.
Bored Panda,. (2015). Animal Architects And The Beautiful Homes They Build. Retrieved 26 August 2015, from http://www.boredpanda.com/animal-architect-wildlife-home/

Creative Thinking Skill: Put to Other Uses - thinking of many ways one object or idea can be used in other settings.

Sociable Weaver bird from South Africa

Compass Termite

Red Oven Bird

Wasp

Montezuma Oropendola

When it’s time for the caddisfly to become a pupae, it spins a tough cocoon out of pebbles, sand, shells, and other lake- and river-bed material. It weaves these elements together with strands of its own silk to safely grow to adulthood.

Vogelkop Bowerbird

Honey Bees

Baya Weaver

Swallow

Each of the following 3 videos is about an hour long. They feature a wide variety of dwellings built by the animals that live in them. Fascinating.

FACE 4 - Ross Symons (origami)
Ross Symons is an origami artist based in Cape Town, South Africa. He has been folding paper for quite a while and started enjoying it so much that he turned it into a career. The idea of doing one thing a day for a year had long intruiged Mr. Symons, so at the beginning of 2014 he decided he was going to fold a different origami figure a day for a year. He posted each figure onto his Instagram account, which you can check out here. He said the project taught him patience, planning and that if you want to get better at something quickly, do it everyday for a year. 
White On Rice,. (2015). Home - White On Rice. Retrieved 26 August 2015, from http://white-onrice.com/

Creative Thinking Tool:  Practice.  Practicing doesn't only make you better at what you are doing, but it also opens your mind up to new ideas!

Kids who want to try their hand at it, can use Ross's tutorial on folding an origami bat on youtube

FACE 5 - Ingrid Sundberg  
Ingrid Sundberg, a writer and children’s book illustrator, created a very useful infographic chart for anyone struggling with color names. The writer says that she loves to collect words that can help give her stories variety and depth.

“I’ve learned that we all have different associations with color words,” Sundberg told Bored Panda. “For example the color sapphire is a light blue to me (since that’s the color of the sapphire on my engagement ring), but a sapphire can also be a very dark blue. I doubt there can be an ‘official color guide,’ as color is so subjective.” Regardless of the subjectivity of color, however, Sundberg’s guide will help expand your descriptive vocabulary beyond green, red and blue, making you a better writer.    Bored Panda,. (2015). Writer Creates “Color Thesaurus” To Help You Correctly Name Any Color Imaginable. Retrieved 26 August 2015, from http://www.boredpanda.com/color-thesaurus-char-ingrid-sundberg/

"One of my on-going word collections is of colors. I love to stop in the paint section of a hardware store and find new names for red or white or yellow. Having a variety of color names at my fingertips helps me to create specificity in my writing. I can paint a more evocative image in my reader’s mind if I describe a character’s hair as the color of rust or carrot-squash, rather than red."

Creative Thinking Skill:  Noticing.  There are hundreds of shades of red, yellow, and blue. Can you look and really see?  That will make you more creative!