Creativity is the ability to make something new and meaningful, whether it's an idea, a solution, an invention, or a work of art. When you write an original story, build something no one's shown you how to build, or figure out a clever new way to solve a math problem, you're using creativity.

Creativity appears in every field and activity. A chef uses creativity when developing a new recipe. A scientist uses creativity when designing an experiment to test a hypothesis. You use creativity when you invent a new game at recess or find an unexpected way to explain something to a friend who doesn't understand it yet.

People sometimes think creativity means coming up with ideas from nowhere, but creative people usually combine things they already know in fresh ways. The inventors of the airplane studied birds and bicycles. A creative writer might blend two familiar story elements into something readers have never seen before. When you use blocks meant for building houses to instead create a dinosaur, that's creativity at work.

Creativity often requires courage because new ideas might fail or seem strange at first. The most creative solutions sometimes come from people willing to think differently from everyone else in the room, even when it feels uncomfortable. Thomas Edison tested thousands of materials before finding one that worked for his light bulb filament. Creativity and persistence often work together.