Child Creativity Lab

Child Creativity Lab's Mission: To foster the next generation of critical thinkers, problem solvers, innovators, leaders, and environmental stewards through hands-on creativity-enhancing exploration of STEAM concepts using renewable materials.

CCL began in 2012 in response to a growing decrease in creativity in children—resulting from limited time for open-ended, project-based learning to develop the "whole child". We engage children through Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) programs with an emphasis on the “A”; integrating Art to cultivate creativity and inspiration. Our programs encourage students to think creatively, work collaboratively, build communication skills, develop character, and establish meaningful connections—essential skills for academic and workplace success.

The goal of CCL’s STEAM + Creativity initiatives is to foster creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication skills among diverse youth from under-resourced communities across Orange County by providing schools and community organizations, and educators with high-quality STEAM-based programming that challenges students to develop new ideas, perspectives, and possibilities for careers in STEAM. Our programs are designed to addresses three main issues Orange County’s underserved youth are experiencing: 1) an existing STEM achievement gap; 2) a decline in creativity among youth; and 3) evidence in a learning loss, particularly among our most vulnerable youth, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. By integrating creativity, STEAM, Design Thinking, and even sustainability and reuse, youth learn vital skills necessary to enter into, compete, and lead the 21st century workforce, raising their potential for personal development and contributions to society.

There is a significant need to provide a strong STEM foundation and cultivate creativity for youth in Orange County. The 2023 OC Indicators Report reveals only 54% of 3rd grade public-school students met or exceeded grade level standards for math, with 71% and 72% assessing below the standard for Problem Solving and Communicating Reasoning, respectively. Further, only 37% of economically disadvantaged students and 30% of Hispanic/Latino/a third graders had met or exceeded grade-level math standards. This low academic achievement has longer term impacts on academic achievement and workforce readiness, particularly within STEM fields, with recent data showing 40% of all job vacancies in Orange County are STEM-related.

In 2024, CCL’s programs served 30,753 youth, 86% of whom are considered socioeconomically disadvantaged. We delivered 45,918 hours of creativity through 879 programs, including workshops, family nights, and summer camps, and distributed 20,809 STEAM + Creativity Kits to community partners and schools.

The negative impacts of this loss of creativity-stimulating activities have been well documented. According to the Newsweek cover article, “The Creativity Crisis” (2010) by Bronson and Merryman, a long-term academic study in approximately 300,000 K-12 students in the U.S. (Kim, 2011) revealed that creativity scores have significantly decreased since 1990. This study reports “children have become less emotionally expressive, less energetic, less talkative and verbally expressive, less humorous, less imaginative, less unconventional, less lively and passionate, less perceptive, less apt to connect seemingly irrelevant things, less synthesizing, and less likely to see things from a different angle” (Kim, 2011). Moreover, creativity scores for K-3 students decreased the most, and those from grades 4-6 suffered the second greatest decline (Kim, 2011). Creativity lasts through a lifetime and can impact a child’s career. In an IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs, creativity was identified as the No. 1 “leadership competency” of the future. Our program enhances existing educational opportunities that will advance creativity skills needed to become future leaders. Today’s children become tomorrow’s visionaries.

When Child Creativity Lab was first founded in 2012, we were on the front lines to address the ongoing creativity crisis. Now, ten years later, we still find ourselves on the forefront aiding students in recapturing their creativity AND addressing learning loss (both with curriculum & social-emotional/essential skills) due to the pandemic. Today's students are fighting an uphill battle.

We need your help if we're going to fill this critical need in the community—we simply can't do it without you.