Encouraging Creativity In Your Kids

I have good news for you, friends: You don’t have to encourage creativity in your kids because they are already creative. WHEW! Take a breath!

I firmly believe – with everything in my being – that we were created by the ultimate Creative. And because we were made in His image, we are all by default CREATIVE.

The unfortunate bit is that some of us were taught OUT OF that creativity by any number of factors: the home we were raised in, the school that we went to, the things we were told we were “good” or “not good”, which may or may not have been true.

Culture, societal pressures, and our own contextual environment can either encourage or obliterate our natural inclination to create. But if you are one of those who is sitting in the “obliterated” camp the good news is you don’t have to keep the train moving in that direction! Change the course for your own kids!

But how?

1. Notice what your children are naturally drawn to. What are their interests? Interests change all of the time, so just take a minute and observe what your children are playing with, talking about, asking questions about.
2. Use that information as the vehicle to foster new experiences for your kids. This does NOT have to be overly involved, complicated, or expensive! NO! An example from my own girls: Maxine has recently taken an interest in insects, particularly Roly Polys (Doodle Bugs – whatever you call them, ha!). I noticed this interest because anytime we would go outside she would look for them, so I used this new found interest to do the following: I grabbed a basket off a shelf and told Maxine that it was a home for the Roly Polys she was catching. She took that and ran with it (literally) filling the basket with grass, twigs, flowers, and a little contact lens cap filled with water then in the roly polys went! Total time on my part? Two minutes to grab a basket. Total time for her? A half hour of exploring, creating, and getting lost in making the perfect home for her bugs!

Here are some ideas for furthering your child’s interests (by category):

Vehicles

1. Gather up some hot wheels, a baking tray, construction paper, and kids’ paint. Lay a piece of paper in the bottom of the tray, squirt little drops of paint all over the paper. Have your child drag their hot wheels through the paint to create tracks on the paper.
2. Use painter’s tape to make “roads” on your floor and let your child drive their cars all over the roads.
3. Go visit a construction site near your home (not going INTO the site, obviously). Get out of your car and just observe what’s happening at the construction zone. Talk about what you see!

Insects/Nature

1. Make an insect home using a shoe box and findings from outside.
2. Go to the library and check out books about insects.
3. Go on a bug hunt outside! Put the findings in the insect home, cover the box with plastic wrap secured with a rubber band, and poke a few small holes in the top with a pencil.
4. Go on a nature scavenger hunt: prompt your kids to find 5 different kids of leaves, 3 different types of insects, 3 different types of trees/bark. Collect it in a zipper lock bag to make a picture with later, or just observe with your eyes and talk about what you see!
5. Visit a new park in your area.

Make Believe/Princesses/ Fashion/Makeup

1. Draw some simple faces on several sheets of paper and let your child “put makeup” on the faces uses crayons and markers or even watercolor paint.
2. Have your child cut out clothes from old magazines and glue them to stick figures drawn on paper.
3. Dress up! My daughter has a box in her room with a handful of princess dresses, tiaras, shoes, wands, masks, etc. and she can get lost just becoming someone else!

General things to think about

1. Can my child’s interest be explored further by reading books or watching YouTube videos (supervised) to gain more information?
2. Can my child’s interest be explored outside? Kids love being outside and NEED to be spending more time outdoors!
3. Can we somehow make a craft using my child’s interest as the subject?
4. Is there a field trip we could take (free or low-cost) to explore this interest further?

The sky is the limit, friends!! Just remember: Your child is ALREADY creative. Do your darndest not to direct the activity too much. Provide the space and the supplies but then STEP AWAY. You will be truly amazed by what your child will do without any guidance at all.

 

GO GET MESSY!