EXPLORING CHILDREN’S LEARNING, CREATIVITY, AND MORE!
Fostering Kids’ Success
Dr. Joanne Foster’s Blog
My blog page is a dedicated space for relevant and reliable information, insights, and strategies to help kids thrive. I blend decades of acquired knowledge with up-to-date reflections and resources. I invite you to dive into this material!
For the most part, I focus on Creativity; Learning and Development; Motivation and Productivity; and Children’s Well-Being. I also share and feature additional Blogs on other education-related and hot-button topics.
If you’re seeking ideas, answers, and ways to support learners, you’ve come to the right place. Together, we can empower the next generation of thinkers, doers, and creators.
Please contact me if you are interested in a guest blog or article for your publication or organization.
CATEGORIES
Creativity
Creativity For All
“Investing in creativity requires time, patience, and effort. However, those who appreciate a creative edge, and crack open doors to the imagination, reap joyful benefits—including increased learning possibilities and pleasure!” Read this blog and find out more!
Creativity: Tips from the Toolbox
In this blog about CREATIVITY, I reveal some important tips from my interview for THE ADHD TOOLBOX online event. Adults can support children’s aspirations, challenges, and learning across domains—but encouraging creativity is a game changer! Find out more here.
The ADHD Toolbox – Interview Questions and Answers: How to Embrace Creativity
Here’s an overview of my question and answer interview for The ADHD Toolbox online event – October, 2025. My topic is How to Embrace Creativity! Learn more about this event and the many learning opportunities. Link in the article.
Family Fun: Making Memories Together!
“In the fabric of life—your life—let your family interactions be a silver lining.” A robust family dynamic can enrich learning opportunities. Here are ideas for facilitating fun, creativity, growth, and lots of lasting memories.
Creativity and Family Life
“Here are three suggestions to help you push boundaries, and invite creativity into your family’s life.” These points, culled from Ignite your Ideas: Creativity for Kids, can serve to enrich family time all year long.
Families, Creativity, and Celebratory Times: Adding a Fresh Spin!
The calendar year offers many occasions to be creative, learn, and have fun! Here are several ideas to help “create memorable moments, fortify traditions, share pleasurable family experiences, and bond over celebratory possibilities.”
Best Times Ever!
Discover ten different ways to facilitate fun—and then encourage your family to extend the ideas throughout the entire year. Find out how to maximize play, creativity, exploration, and joy now, and later.
Let’s Go for Ice Cream!
Check out these “ice cream-y” ideas! Discover delicious treats, create family fun, and enjoy memorable experiences! (BTW – my favorite ice cream flavor is moose tracks. What’s yours?)
Let’s Play!
Dr. Joanne Foster’s guide to enriching family time focuses on creative, engaging activities that blend play, learning, and exploration. Discover crafts, games, and outdoor adventures that nurture children’s development and strengthen family bonds.
24 Creativity Tips
Dr. Joanne Foster shares 24 tips for nurturing children’s creativity, emphasizing the importance of curiosity, support, and the joy of imaginative exploration.
Creative Inclinations
Creativity doesn’t demand grand gestures; it begins with small steps—one word, one note, one brush stroke. Dr. Joanne Foster demystifies the creative process, offering insights into how time management and simplicity can be assets, not obstacles. Dive in and let creativity ripple and swell in your life.
Reflect, Create, Enjoy!
Dr. Foster’s article ‘Reflect, Create, Enjoy!’ encourages self-care through reflection and creativity, offering parents suggestions to cultivate these qualities in family life, emphasizing positivity, resilience, and the joy of shared experiences.
Learning and Development
Curiosity and Learning
“Curiosity is like a possibility potion—derived from wonder and anticipation, and peppered with question marks.” How can kids kick-start their curiosity? Why is it important? How can parents support it? Find out more here.
Effective Advocacy: What Do Parents Need To Know?
Parents can and should keep ADVOCACY top-of-mind while striving to support their kids’ optimal learning and development. Here are 5 note-worthy and practical tips to help strengthen advocacy efforts throughout the school year.
Kids and Practice
Practice can fuel kids’ advancement! Here are four considerations: basic elements (such as resolve, self-discipline, and patience); good habits; an upbeat attitude; and clear expectations. Each of these considerations is discussed, alongside supportive strategies parents can implement.
Meaningful Experiences (For Kids and Adults, Too!)
Meaningful experiences can be life-altering, and strengthen well-being, fulfilment, intellectual growth, and more. Here are some insights, alongside considerations to help augment individual and family experiences, and make them more engaging and impactful.
As Time Marches On: Strengthening Children’s Learning Paths
Mid-year strategies can invigorate children’s learning experiences. These four tips—relating to how to co-create learning, engage with nature, understand and bolster program imperatives, and encourage effort—will help kids fortify their educational journeys.
Teachers’ Professional Development (And What Parents Need to Know…)
What should teachers’ professional development (PD) sessions consist of? Parents often wonder if teachers’ upcoming PD experiences will address their children’s needs. Here’s information about PD, including suggestions to help determine if such offerings are robust.
Science Fairs: Yes? No? Maybe?
This piece focuses on the topic of school science fairs. There are questions raised about the nature and viability of such fairs, and then the author shares material conveyed in an interview in the Journal for the Education of Gifted Young Scientists.
Kids and Nonfiction Books
“Nonfiction books provide information, strategies for doing and learning, and new perspectives.” Discover how to fortify kids’ reading selections across genres, and encourage their interest in nonfiction books. They’re gateways to pleasure and infinite possibilities!
Girls, Giftedness, and Smart Possibilities
Gifted/high-level development among girls is the focus of this piece. Dr. Joanne Foster discusses realities, and concerns—including “dumbing down.” She offers practical approaches to support students in maximizing their abilities, and provides several helpful resources.
Home-School-Community Partnerships
Dr. Joanne Foster emphasizes the importance of collaborative home-school-community partnerships for effective learning. She discusses the roles of students, parents, teachers, and administrators in creating a cohesive educational environment that nurtures students’ growth and development.
Summer Learning Lapses? Relax!
During the summer, parents are often concerned whether their kids will retain the knowledge they’ve acquired over the past school year, or whether they’ll experience a learning lapse. Here are some considerations and suggestions for parents.
Helping Kids Gain Voice and Vigor
Empower youth to shape a better world by nurturing their character, creativity, and leadership. Adults play a crucial role in guiding young minds towards impactful actions and positive global contributions.
Motivation and Productivity
Procrastination Busting: Being Aware and Constructive
Dr. Joanne Foster uses an “awareness” lens to focus on several reasons for PROCRASTINATION, and a “constructive” lens to focus on practical tips to help overcome avoidance behavior. She also offers resource suggestions for families.
Redefining Success: A Four Point Framework For Families
NOW is an opportune time to reflect, re-envision, and re-energize. It also makes good sense to revisit goals and to redefine understandings of success. Here are four suggestions to help families do just that.
Suggestions for Kids: How to Get Motivated!
The tips presented here are FOR KIDS—(please share with them)—so they can realize how to become motivated and stay motivated, and experience the joy and fulfilment that ensue.
Kids’ Laziness: Is It Okay or Unhealthy?
Why are kids sometimes lazy? Is it problematic or restorative? Find out! Here are questions about laziness kids can ask themselves—and answer. Plus, discover next steps and useful tips to help them manage laziness, and engage in happy productivity.
Yes, I Can! 8 Ways Kids Can Confront Challenges
This blog is for kids! Discover empowering strategies, and tackle challenges confidently. This guide encourages accountability, preparation, optimism, and taking breaks to enhance creativity and success in various settings—from school to community programs.
Motivating Activities for Children
Explore a treasure trove of creative and engaging activities designed to spark children’s imaginations and foster family connections. From inventive play to artistic expression, these ideas promise enriching experiences for weekends, rainy days, and beyond.
Is Your Child’s Motivation Low?
Dr. Joanne Foster discusses children’s fluctuating motivation levels, influenced by various factors like health and resilience. She acknowledges the challenges in today’s world but emphasizes steps parents can take to support their children in becoming more engaged.
Conveying Confidence in Children’s Abilities
Dr. Foster’s article on ‘Conveying Confidence in Children’s Abilities’ outlines seven key strategies for parents to boost their children’s confidence, including encouraging step-by-step progress, showing appreciation for effort, and paying attention to the key aspects of life balance.
Tips for Learners in a Digital World
Dr. Foster’s blog on digital learning emphasizes strategies for maximizing online productivity and focus, offering practical tips for both learners and parents to navigate and excel in the digital world.
Desire and Determination: Complementary Forces
Dr. Joanne Foster explores the synergy between desire and determination in achieving success. She offers practical strategies for overcoming life’s challenges and emphasizes the importance of effort, commitment, and self-confidence in reaching personal and professional goals
Helping Children Overcome Difficulty
Dr. Joanne Foster’s article on helping children overcome difficulty emphasizes the importance of understanding and responding to children’s emotions. She provides fifteen personalized strategies for parents to support their children during challenging times, focusing on reassurance, creative outlets, and coping strategies.
Children’s Well-Being
Happiness
We often say, “Happy Holidays,” or “Happy Birthday,” or wish for other “Happy” times. “Happiness is a state of being, and also a state of mind.” Here are practical strategies to nurture kids’ happiness, fortify shared laughter, and strengthen family ties.
Have a Heart
“Heartfelt actions and words have the capacity to enrich lives—for those who give, and for those who receive.” Children grow exponentially when they learn this, and connect meaningfully with others in different kinds of situations. Find out more here.
Being Consciously Upbeat!
We live in a world wherein life can be challenging and unpredictable, and change is inevitable. The focus of this article is on the importance of striving to be consciously upbeat – even when facing difficulties.
An Attitude of Gratitude
Gratitude can be invigorating! Adults can help young people become more aware of why being grateful matters, Discover insights and prompts for understanding gratitude, and useful tips to encourage kids to convey it in meaningful ways.
Navigating Fresh Starts and Transitions
As families navigate new seasons and ventures, they encounter hopes, challenges, and the need for balance. Dr. Joanne Foster discusses the importance of optimism and embracing change, helping kids transition with confidence and self-assurance.
Helping Kids Develop Confidence
How does confidence develop? What are some misconceptions, and what fundamentals are required for confidence to build over time? Discover five useful strategies to help kids become more confident, plus other ways to support them.
Powering Through Change: Tips For Kids
Change is inevitable. However, it can be challenging! This blog provides self-motivating strategies children and teens can think about, act upon, and share with others. And, parents can encourage all these suggestions!
Summer Qualms? Supporting Kids In Times Of Change
Changes in routines and social situations are inevitable—for example, when the school year ends, or at holidays. Such transition times can be difficult for lots of children. Here are 7 tips for parents to help facilitate smooth change processes.
A Little Negotiation Can Go A Long Way
Maxine creatively negotiated her grade by combining her original rhymed book report with a conventional one, demonstrating the power of respectful dialogue and compromise in resolving academic disagreements.
Heartfelt Thoughts
Explore the profound connections between the heart’s physical and emotional roles, highlighting the importance of kindness, family bonds, and emotional well-being in children’s lives.
Fortifying Strengths
In ‘Fortifying Strengths,’ Dr. Foster provides ten practical pointers for parents to enhance resilience and coping skills in children during challenging times, emphasizing leadership, connection, mindfulness, and embracing individuality.
What to Do When Kids Are Upset?
This article provides strategies for parents to support children’s well-being when they’re upset, including giving them time to decompress, engaging in effective communication, and changing focus to nurture positivity and resilience.