Developing and Encouraging Your Child's Creativity

Creativity...builds self-esteem, self-understanding and self-acceptance
Creativity...develops and strengthens problem-solving skills because of the ability to think outside the box
Creativity...relieves stress and tension
Creativity...is an outlet for feelings
Creativity...develops aesthetic appreciation

Creativity is natural and necessary for children, but it must be nurtured and stimulated, to develop important life skills. Creativity is the ability to form original ideas through exploration and discovery. It should not be confused with talent, intelligence or skill. It is not about doing something better than someone else. It is about thinking, imagining, inventing, exploring and discovering. Fostering Creativity by MaryAnn Kohl

According to The Creativity Institute:
Creativity and innovation are important keys to success in today's rapidly changing world. Process improvement, problem solving, recruiting, retaining and motivating employees, decision making, dealing with limited resources, satisfying customers, and rapidly changing technology are all examples of business realities that require creative solutions. Yet, innovative thinkers are often tough to find today.Somewhere along the line, many adults have forgotten how to use their imagination to think and solve problems out of the box.

5 Ways to Raise Creative Children: Creative thought can be found in all aspects of the life of a child.

1.Through art activities:

• Encourage your child to try new and different ways of doing things. Don't expect their artwork to look like a sample or compare it someone else's. Don't tell them how it should look. RESIST the temptation to do it for them! Don't worry if they color outside the lines or they color their tree purple.
• Set-up an art center in your house where your child has access to paper, crayons, markers, etc.
• Build their confidence in their own abilities. If they ask for you to do it, tell them you would like to see how they would do it in their "own style".
• Emphasis the process NOT the product. Ask questions about how they did what they did. Accept unusual ideas without judgement.
• Display their artwork to show you value their creations.

2. Read books together! Use different voices and encourage them to tell their own stories. Use puppets, sing songs, learn nursery rhymes, poems, chants and fingerplays and make up new ones!

3. Laugh together! Tell jokes, make silly faces, dress in crazy outfits and wild hairdos! Make it ok to be different and goofy.

4. Join in on their tea parties and their car races. Provide materials for pretend play like dress-up clothes and tools and join in on the fun. Have a picnic on the living room floor.

5. Use everyday items in new ways- use the yardstick as a race track, use the garbage can as a basketball hoop, use a bar of soap to carve an animal, use a paper towel tube as a bullhorn. Create new recipes in the kitchen.

When a child's ideas are accepted, they learn to think and solve problems for themselves. They feel comfortable making mistakes and taking chances to explore, experiment and invent. Creativity is not just music and art. Creativity is the essence of every new invention, new science discovery and new math theory. If you as an adult, do not feel creative, nurture your inner child and look for ways of becoming a kid again with your child!