Every human being is creative in their way. The process of being creative doesn’t develop in a day. It is a lifelong process that starts from early childhood. The people living around a child, play an important role to foster child’s creativity. Every child has a talent that they develop during different phases of time as no two kids are the same. But being a parent it is very essential to help them to be creative. Creativity is very much linked to being happy. Sometimes it is misunderstood that a child’s creativity is his/her inborn talent. Showing creativity in something is a skill that is needed to be developed.
What do we mean by fostering creativity?
In simple terms, fostering a child’s creativity means developing a kid’s ability to think out of the box. This means the ability to think differently and develop new ideas to do something. Parents sometimes become overprotective and step forward to help their child in everything which is not required. This way we cannot make them able to do on their own. Creativity is not a lesson to spoon-feed your kid. According to Encyclopedia of Children’s health, creativity is the ability to solve problems in new ways and design new inventions. It is a process that parents should follow to foster their child’s creativity.
You may like to read : A Guide To Mindful Parenting
10 Ways To Foster Child’s Creativity
1. Set up an Environment
As a sapling needs a perfect environment to grow and bloom, it is the same for a child. A child should grow in an environment that will help them to bloom with creativity. The environment for creativity doesn’t require a costly set up for kids but an ambiance that will boost their development emotionally and physically. It is all about giving them the opportunity to think freely and make them assure that you are there to listen to them. The key thing to remember is to develop a fertile atmosphere for kids where their creativity will get wings to fly.
2.Don’t be judgemental
There is a fine line between being judgemental and teaching morality. Parenting can be a balancing act as we have to determine the limit to step in and step back. Kids absorb us very nicely so we should make sure that they grasp the good things from their surroundings. They should be free to express themselves creatively in front of their parents. There should be no fear of getting judged by their parents. We should know the tactics of teaching them right and wrong without being judgemental to them. If kids are judged very frequently, they will feel insecure, and later in life, they will scare of expressing their thoughts and ideas freely. So we should teach them to be disciplined without being judgemental.
3.Limit screen time
There is no doubt that we have to depend on the digital world but there are cons to it too. Today, when everything is going virtual, there should be a limit to screen time given to kids. Other than attending regular learning and activity classes, kids should spend their free time without any electronic gadgets. When they are too much indulged in screen time they don’t get enough time to think creatively. Excessive screen time has too many negative physical effects and also leads to depression and anxiety among children. Too much exposure to screens also makes kids less attentive. Therefore parents must enforce a healthy limit to screen time to foster a child’s creativity.
4.Provide resources to be creative
Children are deeply swayed by the things or materials around them. It may be the toys they own, the books they read, the flowers they see near their home or the vegetable grown in their backyard. It may be anything and everything that leaves an impact on their life. So we should try to encourage their creativity by choosing the appropriate thing for them. If you are presenting them toys, so you should choose them wisely that will help them to boost their mental growth. Try to foster their interest in art as it helps an individual to express their creativity. Spend time with your kids in nature, as it is the best place to learn as well as enjoy the wonders of our mother earth.
You may like to read : Age Appropriate Toys For Kids
5.Encourage the habit of reading
Reading is a habit that helps a child in an enormous way through out their life. Through reading a child can know a lot of information, life experiences and enhances creative ability. Reading strengthens child’s mental and emotional health. Reading can help your mind to explore new ideas and imagination. They develop a positive attitude towards life and accept challenges of life boldly.
You may like to read : Essentials Life Skills You Should Teach Your Kids
6. Give freedom to explore their ideas
Learning through experiences helps us to dig new innovative ideas, so let your child think more to do some tasks. Give them the freedom to explore their ideas. First, let them try, let them think, if required you can help them but allow them to share their ideas to do the task. This will surely foster a child’s creativity to a great extent. They will depend on themselves to find the solution to any problem and this will lead them to explore new ideas.
7. Let them fail
Failure is the process of learning. Every time we fail, we learn a new lesson. So don’t be disheartened with your little darling’s failure. It is a step towards their success and let them try again and again. No need to create shield for your child, let them know failure is not the end of the world. It is the beginning of new ways and ideas. This will increase their willingness to try new things and new ways.
8. Give them opportunity to express their thoughts
It is very important for everyone to express their thoughts and ideas, so make sure you are there for your kids to understand their thoughts and ideas. Many times their ideas won’t work practically but they should have the ability to express their thoughts freely without any hesitation. This will help them to become more confident and thoughtful. The more they will share their thoughts, you will explain them more and they will gain more knowledge. Let them ask all what-if questions, this are really great in being creative.
9. Teach them to have faith on themselves
Many times we have seen a child before trying gives up saying he/she cannot do as the child doesn’t have faith on him/her. But there are kids who says yes it is possible no matter how tough their goal it doesn’t matter to them. The difference is in their upbringing. We should always show our faith on our kids then only they will start believing on themselves. Once you start believing on yourself you can surely find a way to reach your goal by any means.
10. Express your genuine feedback
It is important to emphasize the process rather than the final product, so if you want your kid to be creative in the future, don’t concentrate on only one competition or exam result. Build a process that will benefit them in the long run. So always share your genuine feedback or opinion that you think about them. Discuss your views on what you like or dislike and how to get better with a note of appreciation that they deserve for trying their best. It will encourage them to think more to get better in the future.
Comments
Oh, a very helpful post! I really don’t like that children spend so much time on laptops despite being outside in nature or with their friends. I agree that there are so many ways to help them be more creative and improve their skills. We just should help them a bit to find these ways.
Great tips! I think limiting the screen time will help a lot to give them time doing other things.
Great tips. For me encouraging reading, and limiting screentime is a biggie especially as if you do the latter they have so much more free time to do other stuff like writing, drawing, making, playing etc.
It is so important for kids to get creative especially in this digital age. Getting away from screen time and focusing on things like providing artistic resources is a wonderful thing to do.
Love this! It’s so important to foster a child’s creativity. Sometimes, we think our kids will be just like us, but if we just let them be creative on their own – we find that they have their own gifts.
These are great tips! My son is very creative and does a lot of DIY with toys that he has. It’s amazing to see his creative juices flowing with a few suggestions. I know that limiting screen time also helps with his independent play. I allow him to get bored and eventually he comes up with ways to entertain himself!
Maureen | http://www.littlemisscasual.com
I really enjoyed reading this! I think many think “creative” means artsy things, but it really applies to so much more. Shared!
Great tips! I especially think it’s important to allow children to fail since we learn more from failure than success. And of course, genuine feedback is essential.
It’s SO important to not be judgmental. If you are it can really stifle a child’s creativity. Such great tips!
I love all of these ideas. I try to do them all with my kids!
These are indeed great tips to help foster creativity among kids. Encouraging them to read at an early age is important for me
Giving them honest and genuine feedback may hurt them sometimes but it is helpful in the long run. It helps them to give importance more on the process and not the result
Failure is part of learning. When kids realize this at an early stage, they can grow up successfully. Failing is part of the success
Thanks to technology and the internet, there are a lot of resources now to get out creativity from kids.
Limiting screen time is important but I’ve also found that there are times that it enhances my daughters creativity, too!
These are excellent ideas!! So important
THIS! It’s a compilation I wish to share with every parent that I can come across. It is so accurate and centred on the child and their wellness. Well done with it.