Creativity
Ages 3 to 8
Springloaded
by Sam Wilson
Neo and her father are inventors. When her dad invents a helicopter hat and flies away, Neo gets bored and decides to make her own invention. However, she makes her invention a little too powerful and almost gets into trouble. Join us on this dynamic story reading to find out if she will get out of her predicament and learn about the importance of family and togetherness.
Creativity
Ages 3 - 8
Book Reading Video
Discuss the story together:
“Neo’s father is an inventor. When he invents a helicopter hat and flies away, Neo decides to make an invention of her own.”
Discussion questions to ask kids. You don’t have to ask all of them, these are just suggestions. You can also come up with your own questions as well if you like:
- What does it mean when something is spring loaded?
- What does Neo invent?
- Why does Neo make an invention?
- How was her invention influenced by her father?
- Neo seems bored after her father flies away. How does being bored make her more likely to be creative
- Why is creativity important?
- Neo’s father kind of abandons her, why do you think he does this? Is he trying to abandon her, or was he busy with other things and distracted? Do you think he wanted Neo to be bummed out? Have you ever made someone else sad without intending to? What happened?
- Neo’s invention works so well that it almost gets her into trouble. How?
- When Neo realizes that she is floating away, what does she do to fix the problem?
- Neo’s father catches her as she falls back to earth. What might have happened to Neo if he hadn’t been there? What does this tell us about the importance of family?
- How does the story help us to think about Ubuntu?
- Do you think that Neo’s dad is impressed with her invention?
- Why do you think that Neo’s father makes his own springloaded shoes? Why do you think he makes them for the cat as well? Why is it important that even the cat is included?
- Do Neo’s elbow pads keep her safe?
- Do you think science is important?
Let's get Creative
Step 1
For this activity, you will need corrugated cardboard (cardboard packing box), pencils, a marker, a pair of scissors, a big piece of paper, paint and a paintbrush.
Step 2
Using your marker, draw the shape of your favourite fish onto your big piece of paper so that it reaches all of the sides.
Step 3
Next, draw a smaller version of the same fish onto your piece of cardboard.
Step 4
Carefully use the scissors to cut out the shape of your smaller fish from the cardboard.
Step 5
Slowly and carefully pull the two layers of the fish shaped cardboard apart.
Step 6
Lightly paint the corrugated side of your fish with your favourite colour. Try not to fill the corrugated side with too much paint as the stamp may not appear well.
Step 7
While the paint is still wet, stamp your painted fish inside the outline of the big fish that you drew on your piece of paper. Use the stamp again and again, by adding more paint each time you stamp. Create different patterns and designs using your stamp.
