Welcome To Whee CreATe! 

Please join us in this opportunity to celebrate creativity.  Every month, we will post two challenges to encourage divergent thinking and creative problem-solving.  The challenges will encourage children to explore ideas through numerous approaches including artistic endeavors and through construction and design.  Products should be constructed from items found around the house.  Our focus is on the process of creativity, not necessarily on polished, final products.

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Step One: Register

Register for an account or log in if you already have an account

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Step Two: Read

Read through the challenges.  Choose one or both to complete.

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Step Three: Respond

Complete and upload the challenge to the Google Drive! 

Let the fun begin!

After completing the challenge, post a picture, video, or link that showcases what you created to the Google Drive so it can be put on the site. Take a look at what other participants have envisioned for the challenge and use the “like” button to show your enthusiasm or add a comment below the entry.

If you need help with posting your products, contact Rose Torda at ratorda1@catamount.wcu.edu.

If you have questions about WHEE CreATe, contact Lisa Bloom (bloom@wcu.edu) & Kristy Doss (kkdoss@wcu.edu).

Or Click Here to Register for an Account!

 

Challenges!

 

 

Creativity Tips!

 

 

Get Your Masters In Gifted, Creative, and Innovative Education

 

Challenges!

An image of a rube goldberg machine with a gray background

Round 1 Challenges!

This month’s challenges invite you to think like artists and engineers and create inventions and works of art to inspire care for the planet.

The world is our home and like the house we live in, deserves our attention, respect, and care so that it will be a home for living things for future generations. People are working to help us preserve our planet through their ideas, inventions and positive messages. Many scientists and engineers invent technology to save energy and take care of pollution, monitor the climate, and recommend ways that people can help reduce what they use and keep the planet and air clean.  Many poets, artists and others work to create awareness, share solutions and inspire care of our earth.

Due: October 30th

An image of a river flowing over rocks

Round 2 Challenges!

This month’s challenges invite you to think like artists and engineers and explore how we are all connected through air, water, life, and land. 

Everything on earth is connected.  The air lets us breathe and provides space for the clouds to tell a story.  Water helps our plants grow, and sitting beside a waterfall can nurture the spirit.  Bumble bees pollinate our flowers, and puppies make us smile.  Soil nurtures the vegetables we love and gives us sustanence to build beautiful pottery.  All actions in our world influences a myriad of other actions.  In this week’s challenges, dig into the wonders of our world.  Explore the Ocean.  Wander along a River.  Investigate the Desert.  Recreate a Rainforest.

Due: November 30th

Round 3 Challenges!

This month’s challenges ask you to travel in time and think about history and travel in your community and think mathematically.

This months challenges ask you to look at things in new ways.  The past can help us see our future.  So many important invents in history influence our lives today.  It’s important to understand the mistakes that have been made in history so they aren’t repeated, and to learn about the important contributions of inventors, leaders, artists and scientists who have influenced our lives including those who history books have neglected to identify.  Can we make learning about the past fun?   Let’s look at history as a detective game.  And for a more current take on a challenge, let’s look at problems in our community from a mathematical perspective.  How can math help us visual the scope of a problem or predicament?

Due: January 31st

An image of a hand holding up a paper heart on a stick in front of a blue background

Round 4 Challenges!

This month’s challenges invite you to use your creativity for a Kindness Campaign. 

Taking the time to spread kindness has the potential to change lives.  Small acts of kindness help others to feel connected.  Not only does the recipient benefit, but the giver also feels joy from knowing that he or she helped someone else in a meaningful way.  Some acts of kindness are directed toward a specific individual, while others can be random offering a smile, a laugh, or thankfulness that has the potential to spread to others.  In this round, we encourage you to delve into the problems others are facing and create in the name of change.

Due: February 28th

Round 5 Challenges!

This month’s challenges ask you to think about the idea of reality.  How do we know the things we see and experience are real?  How do we know what others tell us is real?

This month’s challenges ask to question your perception of reality and the information you receive that creates your reality.  It has become increasingly important for people to be able to understand the sources and biases behind the information that we trust and use.  Being able to investigate sources behind websites or videos is essential in establishing the validity of the information we receive.  For this month’s challenges, we are digging into the idea of reality.  For the first challenge, you are encouraged to create an optical illusion where viewers may see one item or one perspective, but after further inspection, may see another item or perspective.  For the second challenge, you are encouraged to trick your friends or family by creating fake news.  Can they figure out the details that are not real?

Due: April 20th

Contact Information

Dr. Lisa Bloom:

Jay M. Robinson Professor

College of Education and Allied Professions

School of Teaching and Learning

Contact Information

Email: bloom@wcu.edu

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Dr. Kristy Doss:

Assistant Professor,

Visiting Assistant Professor

College of Education and Allied Professions

School of Teaching and Learning

Contact Information

Email: kkdoss@wcu.edu 

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Rose Torda

Whee CreATe website Administrator

Contact Information

Email: ratorda1@catamount.wcu.edu

Pronouns: she/her/hers