Encouraging Creativity in Children

Are your children creative? How do you define creativity?

We are all naturally curious, which engages our creative minds to explore and challenge boundaries, even as adults.

While we often rush to enrol our children in art and music classes, it’s important to be aware of the factors that may hinder their creativity. Excessive criticism, conformity, fear of failure, and being overly goal-oriented are some culprits that stifle creativity.

Today, let’s explore different ways to encourage our children to be creative.

PROCESS-ORIENTED

Include yourself in the process when your children are exploring and creating. Use this time to get to know your children better. Ask questions to extend their imagination and allow them to express their thoughts and ideas freely, without the need for things to happen in a certain way. By focusing on their efforts and acknowledging them, rather than the end product, we respect children’s individual uniqueness and talents, allowing them to explore their creativity without boundaries or expectations.

FREE EXPLORATION

How do you feel when your children have free time? Let’s start associating free time with creativity. Having the time and space for free explorations and investigations sparks children’s curiosity and provides a platform for them to be innovative and imaginative, creating or finding alternative solutions to achieve their goals.

OPEN-MINDEDNESS

Creative explorations and expressions do not usually consist of right and wrong answers. By setting an example of open-mindedness and showing curiosity, you can engage with your children as they share and explore their creative skills and talents. This support helps them grow into confident change-makers.

EXPOSURE AND APPRECIATION

Exposing children to the wonders and creative works of nature and artists can inspire their creativity to blossom and grow. Trips to theatrical shows, galleries, museums, or supporting buskers’ performances in public are ways to help your children gain exposure and appreciation for creative works in various aspects.

It’s important to note that creativity extends beyond artistic expressions and creations. Creativity can be evident when children problem-solve and strategise in various scenarios. From inventing a magic trick to finding an alternative ingredient for a favourite recipe, or from making a model of their pet dog out of clay to figuring out how to avoid being struck by the ball during a game of dodgeball, we can all benefit from using our creative juices.

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Have you set some time and space for your family to be creative this week? Let’s make time for our instinctual creativity to flow and enrich our lives starting today!

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