Top 3 Ways To Encourage Creativity In Children
Children’s imagination knows no bounds, so you must nurture, foster, and encourage them to explore more. If you’ve been around children, you may have wondered how they quickly turn a cardboard box into a spaceship and a stick into a magic wand. You can’t help but admire their creative prowess, but there is an even bigger task – your role in helping your kids discover more about themselves through various avenues such as music and others. Reports indicate that parents spend less time with their kids, but you can still find ways to foster your kids’ creativity using the tips below.
- Embrace the mess, sometimes
Do you believe that children learn through play? If so, consider your approach to the mess your kids sometimes create. Embracing the mess may sound like a no-no to most parents, but here is why you should consider it. When children are allowed to dive into arts and crafts projects, experimentation becomes the order of the day. They will try out different materials, colors, and textures simply out of curiosity. It opens their minds to a world of creative experiences that can only be learned through the mess. So, instead of being eager to wipe their mess within minutes, stick around longer to see what comes out of all that experimentation. Try to have some humor and embrace the mess your little ones engage in. It’s a great time to join and relive your childhood moments. When it’s all done, you should try your luck in asking your kids to help you clean up – A win-win situation for all parties involved.
- Introduce new hobbies and experiences
Everyone is born with unique passions that drive certain decisions later in adult life. Your children are no different but will need guided help, and that’s where you come in. These new hobbies and experiences can be based on different areas of life where kids need to build certain skills. It can be communication skills in social settings, building interest in camping and adventure, honing musical talents, and so on. Speaking of musical talents, you can enrol your music-inclined child in piano lessons and wait to see what comes of it. It can be challenging to decide where your child fits when you’re planning new hobbies and experiences. Some experts say to go all out for it and hope your child finds fun or interest in these new activities. Others also believe new experiences and hobbies must be based on the child’s already-identified interests. In your case, however, you can mix the two and hope for desirable outcomes. The guiding point is to never rush or force a child into doing something they don’t want, as that can destroy any hope of discovering potential talents.
- Praise their efforts and achievements
Everyone loves to be appreciated, which is something to be guided by when encouraging your children’s creativity. Even when things do not go as planned, your praises and recognition spur them on to do better next time. Avoid criticizing your child for failing their music lessons, not getting on the school’s sports team, or not impressing you enough. These negative practices cause your child to withdraw and possibly never attempt anything of the sort again. Moreover, everyone learns from mistakes, so allowing your young ones to do the same would be wise. Your role is to provide the needed guidance every step of the way to eliminate your child’s risk of causing harm to themselves or others. Whenever you can, join your child in their activities to see what makes them tick in those creative situations. When you do, remember to use positive reinforcements and kind words to help them open up more to you.
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