NATIONAL IMAGINATION DAY
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NATIONAL IMAGINATION DAY
January 19 is National Imagination Day to celebrate the playground of the mind and the power of using your imagination to create endless ideas.
#NATIONALIMAGINATIONDAY
Everyone has a little spark inside of their mind where endless possibilities meet between creativity and reality. Where imagination paints a picture of an unseen idea, bringing exciting possibilities to the forefront of our mind. For many people, using their imagination is what drives their creative thinking to help them thrive and excel. So, what is so special about using your imagination and why is it important?
Whether we realize it or not, our brain is a creative organ that runs on concepts and ideas. We fuel it with new and exciting thoughts created from our imagination and allow our minds to run wild. Learning to embrace our imagination feeds our thinking process and encourages our imaginative mind to never stop learning. The more you use your imagination, the stronger your brain becomes.
Through the Eyes of a Child
Children have vivid imaginations. It's what makes being a kid so much fun. As adults we encourage them to turn a simple bath towel into a superhero cape to rescue a stuffed animal from danger. We tell them to take a ride on the back of a unicorn made from a stick of a tree and fly to their cardboard castle to fight off dragons. Through our encouragement, we help them creating magical opportunities for development in their little minds for:
Problem-solving
Critical thinking
Social
Cognitive
Independence
Children have been using fairy tales and stories to enhance their imagination since the beginning of time. Up until the 18th century, these tales were mostly verbally told. Early tales were often used as a way to entice children to behave or listen. They also contained religious themes and moral values. Though children books were printed as far back as the 16th century, written literature for children didn't become popular until the 18th century. Books like Tales of Mother Goose (1929) by Charles Perrault, Lessons for Children (1778) by Anna Laetitia Barbauld, and A Christmas Carol (1848) by Charles Dickens were among a few of the more popular written among families.
FREE Books
Today, there are thousands of books available in almost every genre ready for a child to entice their imagination. The National Literacy Trust provided a recent report stating that 1 in 5 children do not have access books. Sadly, these children get little to no chance of imagining far away places where fairies and gnomes sprinkle magic in a forest. Thankfully, there are organizations that will provide books to kids!
You can never get enough books into the hands of enough children. ~Dolly Parton~
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is an organization that loves to inspire reading. This amazing organization gifts books free of charge to children 0-5 years of age. Funding for this program comes from Dolly Parton herself and partners found in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia and the Republic of Ireland. What started out as a small project to provide books to her home county has turned into giving over 2 million books to children everywhere.
We spotlight and feature Dolly Parton's Imagination Library because we take inspiration from her and what she is giving to kids everywhere. Besides her larger than life personality, her passion to provide books to kids around the world gives National Day Calendar inspiration to keep spreading kindness, too.
FIND YOUR IMAGINATION
Whether you are an adult or a child, using your imagination is essential for growth. Dreaming up an idea leads to amazing innovation. There are endless possibilities to help you celebrate the precious gift of imagination!
Write stories, draw pictures, play music, sing or dance, or build something.
Read! Take a trip into a world of fantasy by reading about castles, dragons, and magic.
Play! Taking a walk on a path through the woods can transport you to a time where mystical creatures live among the trees! Listen to them talk to each other and create your own animal language, too!
Surround yourself with creative thinking people. Creative people are always thinking of new ideas and can spark your own imagination to go places it never dreamed of.
Spend time every day daydreaming. When you let your mind relax and wonder without restrictions, you enhance your imagination.
Share your imagination with those around you on social media using the hashtag #NationalCreativityDay.
WHO CREATED NATIONAL IMAGINATION DAY?
National Day Calendar celebrated our 10th Anniversary in 2023, with our official Birthday being January 19. As we approached January 19, we thought it would be the perfect time to create a new National Day as a birthday gift to ourselves. Afterall, it's the creativity of our entire staff that allows us to share our calendar content every day on the Internet and on social media.
Beginning in 2024, National Imagination Day will be celebrated on January 19. This new National Day is a symbolic of how we see endless possibilities every day. We create, write, brainstorm, and imagine the impossible and find ways to share our passion for celebration with people across the world. Our hope is this new National Day inspires you to think outside the box. We want everyone to showcase their creativity in a way that brings smiles to others to Celebrate Every Day.