Many parents assume that creativity is a talent that kids are born with. In fact, all children are not equally creative, just as not all children are intelligent. However, creativity is a skill that kids must learn, and it is something that their parents can help them improve. After all, creativity is crucial to success.
Furthermore, creativity isn’t limited to math, science, and emotional and social intelligence; it is also essential for musical and artistic expression. In the end, creative individuals are better problem-solvers and more flexible, making them more open to deal with changes and adapt to technological advancements in the future.
According to numerous researchers, we have fundamentally changed childhood experiences in a way that destroys or blocks creativity in our children. Entertainment and toy companies feed children with images, plot lines, characters, and props that put their creativity to rest.
However, today’s children no longer have to think of a stick as a sword in a story or game they’ve played or seen on tv. With that in mind, let us look at some fun ways parents can encourage creativity in kids. Some of these ways are listed down below.
Encourage your children to learn music
These days, most teenagers have strong opinions of their musical choices, what they like, and what they dislike. So, can learning music foster creativity in your children? Well, the short answer to his question is a resounding yes! After all, music is somewhat of a creative art form itself, which is ever-present in every culture worldwide.
So, is anybody willing to sing their ABCs now? Probably yes. If you want your kid to learn how to play a musical instrument and improve their creativity levels, type in music classes for kids on Google and hit search for listings in your area.
Researchers believe that learning music at an early age helps improve a child’s language development abilities, memory, and cognitive skills. Furthermore, music can also be used as a teaching tool to make education more fun for your children.
Read funny jokes in the newspaper
You can sit with your children and explore the comics or jokes section of your local newspaper to identify what makes them laugh. Doing so will allow you to create a comic strip of your own, full of illustrations and characters that your children love.
So, create a storyboard and ask them to fill each box by writing some lines into a speech bubble over the character’s head.
When your children realize that writing is an effective way to communicate and share their stories and ideas with their parents or anybody else, they will start to express themselves in more creative ways when they grow older.
So, go ahead and discover your children’s writing talent and creativity through this fun activity.
Start a family book club
Get in touch with families from school or other neighborhoods and take turns to choose age-appropriate reading material. Then, write a list of questions for discussion about settings, themes, plots, and characters from your kid’s favorite books or magazines.
Furthermore, you can make your book club meeting a little more exciting and fun by including food that relates to the story of the book your book club is currently reading. For instance, if your book club is reading James and the Giant Peach, every participant can cook a dish with their children, including peaches, such as peach salsa or peach cobbler.
Moreover, you can also involve your children in this activity and ask them to brainstorm ideas for the type of food to cook.
Create a family blog
Designing a blog or wiki page and upload videos and photos from family trips, get-togethers, events, and holidays with your child’s help, of course. Doing so will allow you to remain connected with everyone while enhancing your kids’ computer skills and yours too.
In the presence of adult supervision, children can also add personal information to your family blog or wiki page, including their year goals, individual accomplishments, and new hobbies they want to try. Who knows, you might discover some of your children’s hidden talents.
For instance, maybe one of your children might have a love for documenting your family’s adventures through videos, while the other one might have a passion for web design.
Explore the galaxies and stars
Our universe is a mysterious place that provides everyone with a remarkable imagination space to grow creatively. So, foster such creativity in your children by taking a trip to your local planetarium while encouraging them to create galaxies or planets of their own.
Give your child some paper, scissors, pens, and markers. They will surely come up with unique characteristics such as moons, red earth, or Saturn rings that show their creativity and unique ideas of how they imagine the universe.
However, you can take things to the next level by asking your children to splash paint on a black wallpaper inside their room to create new constellations.
Conclusion
In the end, ask yourself, what are your children’s creative outlets, and how will you encourage them to foster them into something great? After all, creativity is more than making cartoon characters out of clay or crayons.
Instead, it is an imaginative and expressive way of thinking. So, consider the fun activities mentioned above to encourage creativity in your kids, allowing them to become more talented as they grow older. Who knows, your child might be the next Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein.