Supporting Your Child's Creativity

My daughter's latest creation prompted me to write this and share with as many parents as I can. She came back from school one day and as usual her afternoons are usually busy with her own exploration of things around the house. This time, she started playing with play dough, all by herself while I was doing something, when I got to her, I saw that she had shaped the play dough into small balls and inserted birthday candles in each of the ball and told me that they were lollipops. She knew where I kept the birthday candles, so there wasn't a need to get my help. So you see, she has been working on this all by herself with no supervision at all. Then she came and sat beside me and was still busy looking and perfecting the lollipop shape. All of a sudden, she asked "mama, do you have diamonds like the ones on your skirt?" (I was wearing a skirt that was decorated with sequins) and I asked "what do you need them for?" She said it was for decorating her lollipops to make it look nicer. I got up, walked to the store room, got my tailoring basket and hand her a box of sequin and glitter beads. Off she went and sat by a corner in the living room, perfecting her creation of the lollipop.  

So how can you develop creativity? How do you see your child creating art pieces, new games, new ways of doing things, new ways of playing with one toy?

Believe me, children are born with a powerful imagination that allows them  to be creative, what we need to do is to provide encouragement and space. Common mommies and daddies, we definitely can make a difference in our children's development, let's take that step!

1. Provide space
Create a space that is solely for your child to get messy and create. Often times, the problems of not wanting to have a mess causes parents to hinder a child's need to explore and create. So how do you solve this? Dedicate a small space just for your child. This space does not have to be an elaborate playroom equipped with so many toys and beautifully decorated. You do not need to burn a whole in your pocket to create this space. It can be a small corner in  your house with a small table and a shelf nearby. Or it can be a small corner, covered with a carpet. Tell your child that this corner is for her/him and that whatever mess is to be limited there.

2. Make it convenient
Next is to have things they need within reach. Having a shelf and storing art supplies, play dough, and some toys helps them to get creative whenever they feel like it or whenever ideas struck without having to wait for parents to help them get supplies.

3. Free play
Encourage lots of "free play time". It is very important that you allow them some unstructured time in which they can do just anything they want. Free play provides the much needed exploration which is crucial is developing creativity. Through free play, your child has the chance to try out how things work, how some objects can have many functions and how things around them can be used as toys, or for creating some art pieces. Free play also plays a role in developing critical thinking and problem solving, which are very important skills you want your child to have as they grow.

4. Exposure to different experiences
Another way to encourage creativity is giving your child different experiences. How can you achieve this without having to spend so much? The easiest way is by reading, stock up on good books about the world, about different places, about animals in different parts of the world, about cultures and celebrations of different people. Visit the library to find interesting stuff to read and then share the story together, think how some plots could have been different. Ask your child what would she/he do if she/he was the lead character in that book. Visit places which will not cause you much, places that provide opportunities to observe and explore.

5. Avoid managing
And finally, hold that urge to manage, do things for them or wanting them to do things your way. For creativity to grow, they must explore and do stuff freely. Don't force them to colour the grass green! Even if they choose to color the grass purple, in reality they know that the grass is green! This is their way of living their imagination. Let them be!

Let your child be free, provides lots of encouragement and see how they grow!