What do you think this is?

One of the great things about being a writer is using my imagination. I get to make up people, places, and events, and if I’m lucky enough to be working on a science fiction story, I get to make up aliens, other worlds, and creatures no one has ever seen or heard of. I get to ask a lot of “what if?” questions.

Could this be a creature? What would it be able to do? How would it see? Would it be a thinking creature? Or would it just operate on instincts? What if earth were invaded by armies of this creature? How would people react? Would they try to make friends? Would they try to destroy the creature? I love using my imagination in this way!

When I first saw this I thought it looked like a baby Oscar the Grouch. I thought it was cute. Another person might think it was scary or ugly. What do you think?

Here’s a fun exercise to do alone or with your family or your class. Find a funky photo or something you don’t recognize and ask questions about it. Try to come up with a story using the thing in the photo. You could even do it like a game. The first person would start the story, and the second would continue it, etc. It could get pretty silly!

Using your imagination is like exercising your brain. You should do it every day! I do.

And now (drum roll!) the final answer. This is a baby fern, just coming up out of the ground. Did you guess it?