The Importance Of Creativity In Children And How To Encourage It
When it comes to our kids, we’re always eager to encourage creativity, so why not make it a priority and give them one of the most amazing gifts possible! As you can see from this blog, I have made it a huge priority with my kids, or at the least with myself! Once parents needed to visit the library or bookstore to stock up on books and work books full of ideas. Today, there is no excuse! The internet, and even just my blog alone, is a fantastic resource for projects that build creativity, featuring all kinds of avenues to sample. Trying out butterfly crafts for preschooler’s ideas is one such resource, just for starters. Of course crafts and art based projects are just one aspect of creativity, don’t forget about theater, music and dance! Once a child is beyond toddler years, expose them to a variety of creative pursuits to see where their skills and interests lie. A creative pursuit is life enhancing and can be life long!
The wonderful thing about nurturing human creativity is that there are no hard and fast rules. It’s all about allowing kids to express themselves using materials or processes that they enjoy, and in the process brain function that helps with problem solving and thinking outside of the box in all areas of life is developed! Lets take a closer look at how to encourage this valuable thing called creativity!
Encourage Curiosity
Children are naturally inquisitive creatures. It doesn’t normally take long before kids start trying to figure things out. Yes, the endless “why?” questions can become a little tiring at times, but we should try to encourage this need to know. The beginning of all understanding and reason is the question itself. To generate this interplay between the self and the world, parents should do their best to create an environment where it’s natural and normal to be curious about things. While thought may not be the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about creativity, there is no creativity without creative thought! So, it all begins with language and a dialog between parent and child, which opens the gates to all things creative.
Engage with Reading
The written legacy of the world is a treasure trove. In it is held the entire story of the human race, so developing a taste for reading will stand any child in good stead. It´s something that can make or break childhood´s early learning process. For example, with the very littlest children, this interest can start by reading books at bedtime. Having stories read to them plants the seed that may hopefully bloom into a fascination for reading later on. It’s about compellingly presenting different narratives, so the child might have a desire to experience the freedom of reading by themselves. This way, learning to read is more of an act of liberation than a chore or task. A love for reading helps develop creativity, not to mention the skills to become a great writer, a creative outlet that can be pursued for personal enjoyment or even as a career.
Above: Nature crafts after a nature walk, done outdoors is a great combination!
Developing Questions
If you’ve instilled a zesty sense of curiosity and a desire to access the answers through the written word, you’ve got yourself a budding and creative child! The next step can be the most formative one of all. Teaching children how to think logically and rationally about their relation to the universe is about developing questions. Where very small children will inquire more randomly and shapelessly about things, slightly older kids can learn to form and shape their queries.
A simple way of starting this learning process is to answer questions open-endedly or with a secondary question. When a child asks about something, you answer part of the question while leading the conversation to the next logical problem. In this way, you can create a sense of structure and continuity to the act of asking questions. That gives tremendous power to a child’s innate sense of curiosity, allowing them to mold and form bigger concepts and ideas.
Above: Encourage kids to combine store bought toys with elements they make themselves, the most creative play!
Some Last Words
Childhood is truly fascinating. We watch as these little minds develop to become capable of understanding so very much! As parents, we have a massive role to play, and creating the right environment to harness and build a strong thought process is crucial. While effort and motivation comes from the individual child, the ground work done by the parents is crucial to get the gears turning and to give value to the idea of creativity. Once the ground has been prepared, and the seeds are sown, give your children the freedom and tools to help them bloom into creative adults.
I wish you much success in this life enhancing endeavor!
