Tonight with your 5 to 8 year old
The prompt
“If you mixed two of your favorite things into one brand new sport, what would it be?”
What to listen for
If they combine things enthusiastically and explain the rules, they're showing off real inventive thinking and pride in building something nobody's seen before.
If they keep it simple, like just adding one silly twist to a sport that exists, that's still creative, not every idea needs to be huge to count as real imagination.
If they get stuck, offer two of their favorite things out loud and ask "what if we mixed these?" to get them started.
What this tells you
How boldly they invent something new shows how much they trust their own ideas are worth building on.