This study aimed to analyze the patterns of creative thinking competency among 15 sixth-grade elementary school children through lessons utilizing three genres of picture books: traditional folklore, parody, and fantasy. Diverse data such as student journals, worksheets, surveys, transcript of class dialogues, and teacher journal were collected and analyzed qualitatively. Data analysis showed three major results. First, as all three genres of picture books incorporated imaginative and unrealistic elements, they enhanced the children’s creative thinking competency through their content. Second, as they exhibited different discursive formats, they showed varied patterns in enhancing creative thinking competency. To be specific, when engaging with traditional folklore, the children redesigned narratives by integrating personal life experiences and knowledge while considering the genre’s characteristic happy endings and moral lessons. In contrast, the parody tasks, which diverge from the original folklore narratives, prompted critical thinking to challenge biases and stereotypes. Lastly, with fantasy tasks, the children engaged in expansive thinking based on the freedom of the author’s imagination, reflected in the redesign tasks. Thirdly, during the sharing process of redesign tasks based on convergence, critical, and expansive thinking, further extensions of creative thinking occurred indirectly. Based on the results, the study suggested implications on picture book based English teaching in terms of core competence.