Where did the imagination go?

This week I want to write about creativity. I remember when we were little, we used to invent all kinds of crazy stories, letting fly our imagination, but why aren't children imaginative anymore? This is something that upsets me a lot, because when I walk in the street, I see children playing with their parents' phones instead of interacting with their friends. What happened with hide and seek? What about pretending to be superheroes to try to defeat the villain (whoever or whatever it was)? What happened to buying a bag of chips and some candy and eat them with your friends at the park? Where did those days go?

Let me tell you a story before getting into detail: Natalia Soleto, what could have been but was not.

Who doesn’t know Harry Potter? Can you imagine a world where this fantasy world doesn't exist? Life wouldn't be that incredible. I remember the first time I watched the movie; I was five years old, and I thought that was the most incredible thing in the world. I remember I used to pretend I was a witch like Hermione Granger, a muggle born with powers, expecting her letter to get into the most amazing school, however, my Howarts' letter never came, and I got sad. Nonetheless, throughout my whole childhood I imagined I got to go to Howarts, learn magic, and having an owl as a pet (sometimes I still imagine it can happen).

If it wasn't for the imagination, I could have never pretended that whole story. Sadly, children nowadays don't imagine stories like mine. They rather spend time playing videogames, watching videos, or doing TikToks (which I personally don't even know what that is for). They have forgotten about interaction with others, about what they could live if they make up crazy stories, about letting the imagination fly... Parents also have some part of the blame, as they are sometimes tired of their children, they give them their phones, so they are quiet for a while, so they don't bother them. It's very easy for the parents to give their kids a screen to distract them rather than playing something more creative. I've seen parents do that even with their babies, instead of attaching toys to the stroll tray, they stick a phone with cartoons.

The other day while I was teaching a class to a 10-year-old girl, we did a game where we have to invent a story together, but she couldn't come up with any ideas for it. The sentences she made were very simple, like "he is tall", and, sometimes, she even had trouble finding a name for the characters of the story. That got me thinking, how could we get our students to be creative again? Maybe, a good idea would be to make or assign activities where they have to develop this skill. For instance, as there are many active methodologies in education, we, as teachers, could take advantage of that to try to enhance our students to do non routine activities with the aim of regaining imagination. We could ask them to continue the story of an add or rewrite the ending of their favorite movie.

In a shop that I like, I saw a game which consisted in rolling several dice, each of them with a different drawing in it, and you had to invent a story with the pictures you got. I'm not a kid anymore, but I wouldn't mind playing that game at all. Both, parents and teachers should enhance children imagination, even if it is with the Barbie you have at home who meets your brother's Action Man (unfortunately, most children don't even know what an action man is).