Do you remember the first drawing of your kid? The first time your kid colored nicely and you dreamed of having his portrait in an art gallery!!! Every parent loves to have a creative child. How can you encourage creativity in your kid?
Yes, by making specific efforts to expand their imagination skill and the right kind of support, you can boost creativity in your kid.
I don’t want you to expect too much but you can surely encourage creativity at an early age. It’s not like making a new Chopin or Picasso but a way to let your kid think differently and have a creative mindset.
Here are some parenting tips to raise a creative kid. Before that please make sure your kid is happy and likes to try any artistic activity first.
Also read: 21 Parenting Tips to Raise a Positive Child
11 Ways to encourage creativity in kids
(1) Know and Nurture Child’s Interest
I just love when my daughters draw a simple birthday card for me! They are so creative and talented. My twin daughters love to make cards but one of them doesn’t always like to make cards.
In short, your child can be good at art but not really love to do as like my other twin daughter.
We cannot force our children to be creative and passionate about art. It will never be imposed. So first you need to find a particular interest as Art is not just painting and craft.
Give some time and let your kid explore his actual interest in any form of art. Like my daughter later found out she likes to do fashion sketches. These are not perfect but she likes to draw outfits and I am never forcing her to do a nature sketch!
If your child has an art assignment and shows no interest in that, don’t force him to excel in that activity.
There are hundreds of art activities and it is not harmful for not having much interest in art.
Let your kid choose their own interest to encourage creativity in childhood.
(2) Reduce Screen time
Oops, this can be a really challenging issue after global warming!!!
I am well aware it is very difficult to reduce screen time for your kids. But we can limit the use of mobile phones. Let me tell you a real incident.
Whenever I give permission to see YouTube, my daughters watch 5 videos of craft and then they move on to TikTok memes and trends. So even if you give more screen time for their art activities, it is hard for kids to focus on the ever distracting world of videos.
Instead of giving more screen time for their art curiosity, enroll them into a particular art class. If you don’t want to spend money on art classes, let them give clear instructions on time limits.
Don’t let your kids fool yourself, in the name of art videos they are going to watch memes as my daughters do most of the time!!!
(3) Inspire and Imagine
Let your child know being different is not bad. Let them colour differently or experiment with them on new thoughts.
You can also invest into open ended toys like Lego, Blocks, Puzzles, building sets etc to inspire your kids and find creative solutions. These types of activities can really enhance the creative mindset in kids.
Child’s imagination is so pure and boundless. So inspire them to be different and use their imagination to create something new.
Imagination can bring the real light of creativity.
Don’t push or force them on time limits or meeting general standards.
The Sun can be black(at least on eclipse)!!!
You may also like to read: 30 Positive Things to Say to Boost Confidence in your Child
(4) Creative Environment at home
Not everyone is Picasso or Chopin, so try to limit your expectations and have a non-judgmental environment at home.
To nurture creativity in our kids, it is highly important to have a creative environment at home that allows your kids to explore their creative ideas without strict rules and high standards.
A child’s creativity is enhanced when he feels relaxed and comfortable at home.
(5) Provide creative resources
To create something new, you need tools.
As a parent of a creative child, you can provide different kinds of pens, brushes and art supplies so they can create whenever the moment strikes.
Your child doesn’t need tons of things to be a creative child. Even with old cardboard papers, a few pens and some non- expensive water colors, you can make extraordinary things at home.
There is no need to fill drawers with art supplies, let your child be creative to make from fewer supplies. And you will be happy to see the results!
There are some activities like role play, sketching, singing, dancing etc which don’t require resources. These non- expensive art activities also inspire creativity in kids.
(6) Let Kids Involve
Everyday there is an opportunity to involve your kids in creative work around the house like arranging the drawers, planting or arranging pots in backyards , shopping for new wall paint or wallpaper, making a picture frame etc.
Let them teach by creating something with them. This way they can share their creative ideas and feel motivated by completing such little tasks with you.
Creativity doesn’t need crayons, boost confidence in your kid and appreciate their little efforts.
(7) Explore Creativity Together
I love to do sketching and my daughters may have developed an interest in drawing because of it. This can’t be true for all kids but parents do have a power to explore creativity in their child.
Even if you are not good at drawing or other craft activities, it is important to find another way like role playing, walking to the nearest garden or museum.
Learning everything by reading a book is boring for kids. And as we discussed before giving so much screen time is really not so helpful.
Therefore, take your kid to a garden, let them play in the sand and feel the different plants which will expand their imagination.
(8) Set Unbound Time
Many parents set routines for extra activities & hobbies. This is helpful in one way but when you give restrictions like only weekends your kid can draw, you are binding their creativity for the whole weekdays.
Give your children some unbound time like a couple hours rather than strictly one hour and let them play and create without any time limit.
(8) Encourage Curiosity
Let your kid think, it’s the key to open up the creativity door!!
Ask your kid what he or she likes to do with picture frames, ask about colours to fill and let them try new ideas even if they seem not so good in your eyes.
By asking open end questions, you are encouraging not only their creativity skill but enhancing their analytical and visualization skills too.
Here are some example:
“Which things do you need for this project?”
“Which colour palette do you like for this drawing?”
“What else can we do to make this better?”
You can also invest into open ended toys
At home give them space, time and a little support which allow them to ask questions. By asking them about their viewpoint you are encouraging creativity in them.
(9) Give Positive yet Real Feedback
Remember that first family picture your kid drew? I am sure you stick it in the fridge. I remember all those stupid, loving yet so bad drawings of my daughters!!!
We love our kids and love every tiny creativity our kids show us. Sometimes we are overwhelmed with those emotions and showering too much praise which leads to a misunderstanding about your kid’s original creativity skill.
I am not saying not to appreciate those pictures but don’t over do in appraising. A little dose of reality will save them a lot of frustrations in later time.
Try to avoid words like: “Ohh! This is sooo good”, “Everything is perfect”, “You are an exceptional sketcher, one day you will be the best”.
Instead of these lines, add some real notes and appreciate like:
”The colors in picture are cool but strokes are coming out a little bit, otherwise this is good”
“If you keep practising, you will become a best”
“You can add little glittering to make it more attractive ” ( add your honest opinion)
“Wow! This looks nice, do you need anything more?”
(10) Right kind of Reward
I know children love gifts (more than those 2 lines of appreciation)!! But be cautious about giving rewards for their creations. It doesn’t feel like that they have to create something great to get a reward.
Even try to avoid giving too many awards as this will make it a reward seeking task rather than a creative and fun activity.
The real charm of being creative is that zeal and passion to try every time in spite of how bad the previous one was.
You can give rewards like more art materials, brush pens or new border styles to nurture creativity in your kid.
This will boost their confidence and energy to try new creative ideas.
(11) Don’t push too hard
Some of us are the best and some are average in creativity.
Your creative mindset can lead to great imagination skill and help to be successful.
But whosoever is not so great in creativity are not considered as a failure. Creativity helps but not a necessity to build a successful life.
Never push too hard on your kid to be more creative as it comes from the heart.
Art can be learned but never imposed.
Most importantly, age and years of experience has nothing to do with enhancing creativity skills.
There are many kids who draw better than any professional. And you might have seen many people aspiring their interest into art in older years.
Let your kid take time and effort to really feel the aspiration to be a creative person.
Why Creativity is Important to Your Child’s Success?
Creativity is a prime factor for development and adaptation. A creative person can decorate a small house in a way that it looks like a mansion.
Your creativity might save you money and time. For example you can gift wrap at home, create new frames and decorative items for Christmas, arrange things neatly, new storage ideas etc.
Kids who are creative are happier as they enjoy little things. When you encourage creativity, you are making your kids more innovative.
When your kid has a creative mindset, he can adapt and solve complex problems in his professional or personal life with more confidence. As they always try to do new things.
As a parent, you also need to improve creativity in your children as they do in their academic activities.
What if my kid doesn’t like to do new things?
There are kids who love trying new things. They are excited to try new activities or new hobbies. It is easier to direct them at creative tasks.
But some kids don’t show interest in trying new things.
Kids are free spirit, you can’t bind them. So try the above tip no,.7- involve them into daily creative tasks like simple colouring activities, rearranging furniture at home etc. This is an indirect way to make a creative mindset.
You must allow some time for finding their interest and let them experiment with a few things. Never judge them by going slow or not in the mood to try.
You can let them join some hobby classes or have an artistic weekend at home. Remember, give them enough time to learn any kind of art activity.
Art is not simple Math, you are not able to calculate how much time it needs to learn a particular skill. So never set a deadline.
Above are some simple ways to encourage creativity in your kids.
Let us know in the comment section if you have any better ideas or questions related to this.
