Encouraging Your Child's Creativity

I wanted to take a moment to talk about creativity. It is a valuable trait that can easily get lost if not fostered.  So what is creativity?   By definition it the use of the imagination or original ideas.  Some parents might think that since their child is not going to be an artist they don't need to be creative.  This is not true, creativity is useful in most professions.  Such as leaders and business professionals who develop new ideas or engineers who design better products.

So how to encourage your child to be creative?  Here are a few suggestions:

1. Allow time for play.  In our fast paced society often times our days are full of structured and planned activities and time to play is lost.

2. Provide materials.  These include craft materials, Play Doh, boxes.

3. Provide opportunities for movement and music.  These activities can be things such as playing with streamers, banging pots with spoons, dancing to different types of music, or making an obstacle course.

4. Limit electronic toys.  They can be restrictive in how they can be used.  Toys that can used in unique ways or involve the imagination encourage creativity. Some suggestions include blocks, Legos, and dress up clothes.  I discovered with my kids that the electronic toys seemed to be popular but then they only would play with them for a short while.  The non electronic toys were the ones played with over and over again.

5. Provide a variety of children's book selections.  Reading to your child stimulates use of their imagination.  The library is a great place to find books to interest your child.

6. Limit screen time.  (here is where Dr. Krieg gets up on her soapbox!)  Computer, tv and video games all have little opportunity to use creativity.

I hope you find these suggestions helpful and that you and your child have fun doing creative activities together!