How do we gauge creativity in our children? Creativity is not simply your child’s ability or inability to draw stunning images or to put together an artwork. Creativity is a person’s ability to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives or possibilities which he/she uses in resolving problems, in communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others.*

While many would relate creativity to a person’s ability to create beauty out of nothing or a mess, it seems a good start to develop a children’s creativity to eventually develop his/her sense of resourcefulness and innovativeness. The question is how.

For children, probably the best motivation towards bringing them to developing their creative skills is to engage them in arts and crafts activities such as painting and drawing, scrapbooking, dancing, acting, singing, and learning different musical instruments. Such activities stimulate our offspring’s artistic talents and self-expression. It also helps them understand and seek answers to their questions about life and the world around them.

What’s the parent’s job in making this happen? A lot actually. It’s our role to facilitate learning in our children so they would gain knowledge of the skills or lessons the right way while bringing closeness to mom-child relationship. We should be the one to identify which activities our children may participate in based on what our children find fun and interesting. As parents also, we are familiar about the potentials of our kids, in what area they may seem to be good at.

After identification, we should make time to accompany them in taking part in said activities. In turn, your child would feel important and he/she would have someone important to share his thoughts, experiences and feelings with. Tip: take this opportunity to observe and learn about your child’s unique mind.

I remember my son started drawing people figure in preschool. His first creations were gruesome – frightening creatures with alien-like features. I shrieked when I saw them felt bad that I did. I know it should not be my reaction, my son was hurt. When I got my composure back, I talked to him sincerely and told him the figures were not good but I would teach him how to make it better. I patiently taught him how to draw stick figures of people for his drawings which he learned quickly.

Some weeks ago, I got an invite for a kids’ art drawing contest sponsored by the distributor of a popular educational toy brand in the US. I asked my son if he wanted to participate and when he said he does, I cancelled my appointment for the date of the contest, and brought him there. It was an instant bonding day for us — he enjoyed the art activities, excelled in the competition and actually won first place! I was one proud momma!

Here are other ways to encourage your child’s creativity:

• Buy them Interactive learning resources (books or videos) which teach children different arts and crafts activities. Read or watch these first so you can prepare the required supplies and materials your child would need in the process.
• Instead of giving your kids just toys, invest on educational toys such as puzzles and board games.
• Facilitate creativity exercises and games for your child; get help from the internet in browsing for such activities.
• Enlist him/her to summer art workshops which would not only develop his creativity but also his social skills by meeting and interacting with new people.
• Support your child’s inclination on arts by providing  instruments/materials he/she needs to express her creativity and by scouting for groups (academic or non-academic) or activities he/she can engage in.

Though it may sound expensive to prop up your child’s creativity, it actually needs some mommy ‘creativity’ to think of alternatives instead of buying expensive art materials for your kids or enrolling them to costly workshops. For instance, instead of buying the learning materials or educational toys in regular prices, find out when publishing houses, bookstores, and manufacturers, hold ‘sales.’ Tune-in also to community art workshops sponsored by foundations or organizations wishing to help children in the locality, these events are either conducted free or with minimal registration fee.

Any ideas on developing children’s creativity you wanted to share with us? Please use the comment section below or by sending us a message through the contact form or our email at newmoms101 (at) yahoo (dot) com.

*Human Motivation by Robert E. Franken
(photo from www.directsellingnotebook.com)