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Last week we talked about the “why” of teaching creativity to our children.
Creativity, we said, is not necessarily something we are born with; it
is a character quality that we need to develop in ourselves and in our
children. We are made in the image of God, the ultimate Creator. The
more we exercise our creative muscles, the more creative we will be.
So how do we exercise our creative muscles? How do we teach creativity to our children?
We'll answer these questions in more detail in the coming weeks, but here are a few ideas to get things started:
1. Encourage imaginative play. Certain toys lend themselves to imaginative play more than others. Building
sets of all kinds, dollhouses,baby dolls, play
kitchens/workbenches/etc., cars/trucks, housekeeping or gardening sets,
child-sized tools, musical instruments, playdoh, animal figurines – all
of these encourage imaginative, creative play. Toys that tend to squelch
creative/imaginative play include branded/licensed toys, single-action
toys, electronic toys, and passive toys (those that are watched more than
played with).
Of course, imaginative play doesn’t have to involve toys at all! How
many times does a child play with the box more than the toy it
contained? Boxes, paper towel and toilet paper rolls, and fabric scraps
are just a few of the “non-toy” items that can stimulate creative play.
Some of my children’s favorites are aluminum foil, string, various
types of paper, any kind of tape, and rubber bands.
2. Provide easy access to art supplies. Each
family will have different parameters as to what “easy access” involves.
For our family, things like paint do require permission from mom. We
don’t have a good place for a permanent painting station, and there are
times mom just frankly isn’t up to the mess! The point is to have a
variety of art supplies available: colored pencils, paper, tape, glue,
paint/paintbrushes, markers, etc. Then encourage their use!
3. Encourage your child’s creative flair. I
mentioned last week that I’ve been teaching scrapbooking and craft
classes to adults and children for over ten years now. Although there
are certain times when I may use a craft kit for a specific reason, I
much prefer more open-ended projects. Even with craft kits, I try to encourage children to add their own touch to their creations.
Open-ended projects, however, are the best. My favorite thing to do,
especially with children, is to provide a variety of supplies, give them
some general parameters for the project, and then let them have at it.
It’s amazing what they can come up with! We did this last year in
Vacation Bible School. The lesson was on God creating birds, so we
gathered up a huge amount of somewhat random supplies and instructed
them to design their own bird. Oh, my!! What amazing creations they came
up with! It was fantastic!
4. Limit unnecessary rules. This
primarily applies to creative projects, but can extend to other areas as
well. For instance, there are times when children need to do chores in a
certain prescribed way. There are other times, however, that we can
give some leeway for them to be innovative. Encouraging children to come
up with more efficient, effective ways to do a job is a great way to
cultivate creative thinking. (This is probably a good time for me to
insert that I have not by any means “arrived” in this or any other
area! his particular point is one I definitely need to work on!)
One of the saddest experiences I ever had in teaching involved,
ironically enough, another crafting teacher. I was teaching scrapbooking
classes at a local store, and one of the other teachers there shared
with me one day that she really wanted to scrapbook, but a consultant
for a large scrapbooking company had told her that before she started
scrapbooking, she needed to organize all her photos, and then start with
the oldest and move forward. “I just want to scrapbook the pictures of
the vacation we took with our grand-daughter last summer,” she said
sadly.
I explained that there are no “rules” in scrapbooking; the “scrapbook
police” were not going to show up at her door to accuse her of
non-chronological scrapbooking. I encouraged her to grab a stack of
vacation photos, gather some supplies, and start scrapping her amazing
trip while the memories were fresh, and she was motivated to begin.
5. Don’t expect perfection. One of the greatest enemies of creativity, in my experience, is the desire for perfection. We can strive for (and encourage our children to strive for) excellence without expecting perfection. Praise hard work, improvement, and creative thinking. There will always be someone who is better at things than we are. Our focus needs to be on doing our best, finishing what we start, and making progress.
6. Provide opportunities to use creativity to bless others. Making
cards for far-away relatives, drawing a picture to take to a shut-in,
singing or playing a musical instrument at a nursing home, helping plan
and prepare a meal for a family with a new baby – all of these are ways
that creativity can have meaning. Creativity isn’t just about doing
something beautifully or in a new way. It is about making the lives of
those around us richer and fuller.
What are some ways that you encourage creativity in your children? I'd love to hear ideas in the comments! I'd also love to hear any suggestions you have for future posts in this series.
Next week: Resources for Teaching Creativity
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