Little children are naturally creative and curious as they discover the world around them. But no one is born with a certain limited amount of creativity or intelligence. Creativity is a skill that can be cultivated in their impressionable years, and that will have long-reaching effects throughout their lives. This can be encouraged by creating an open environment of communication, space, and materials.
Creativity for children is more than coloring in a coloring book. Give your child the freedom to get messy in a designated space. Having a table setup near the art or creative material shelf is a really good idea. Try to have several different types of craft materials on hand for the child to create with. Another good idea is to rotate the materials every other week, so there are new supplies that were not out before, which will inspire new ideas.
Creative children also need to be respected when working in the creative art space. Sometimes, we as adults forget that getting creative takes brain power and concentration. Interrupting or pulling a kid away from their involved project without notice is more than frustrating, and it can cramp their initiative to create again.
Don’t try to control their process. You can smother your child’s creativity if you are fixated on the “right” answer or the “right” way to do something. Having a perfect example of what the end result of the art project should look like most often discourages creativity. A child’s natural ability and desire can be squashed if there is constant correction or too much control in the process and outcome. Creativity in children should be emphasized in the free-flowing process and not in end results.
Allowing your child the freedom to think up solutions to their problems is another part of allowing children to be creative. For example: a child’s chore can be folding the clothes. Allowing the child to fold the clothes in a different way than you would have done it as an adult would be an expression of creativity and should be allowed. Shoving unfolded clothes into the drawer to avoid folding the clothes, however, is not creative and it a good opportunity to teach a child the difference.
As a child gets older, they might enjoy working alongside their parents on a project together. Working together, maybe on a miniature model car or ship, fosters cooperation in the creative process. The time spent with the creative child also builds their self-esteem in their abilities to tackle something difficult, which will spill over into other aspects of the child’s life.
Teetot can help bring our your little one's inner creative child with costumes that spark their imagination. We believe that creativity and imagination are the building blocks to a healthy childhood foundation, so we encourage you to foster their creativity in whatever way they desire. For more information about our costumes, contact us today.