Encouraging a child’s creative side not only helps him expand his mind, but it also makes a child happier to be involved in activity that she enjoys.
It can bolster his self esteem that she is creating something of beauty or value. Here are some more tips to help encourage and nurture your child’s creative instincts:
- Reinforce your Child’s efforts: It may be some time before your child produces a artistic masterpiece but remember something that your child has made the effort to make is very dear to him, praise and encourage this effort; bolster his confidence and therefore his abilities.
Display your pride in your child’s efforts even if the results are amateurish at best. Create a display area for his work and commend each new effort. Point out improvements and praise a new idea or concept.
- Create problem solving opportunities: If you are working on a home improvement project, or are trying to repair something around the home, let your child participate and let him help.Encourage her to offer her input and give her opinion and incorporate suggestions if possible. This can be an excellent opportunity for your child to receive practical instruction in a number of different subjects. Encourage children to take on DIY activities, let them figure out how to put together that toy plane for instance.
- Create opportunities for creative play: Encourage your child to be creative in play. For instance give him a sheet and ask him to be as creative with it as she likes: that sheet can be used to create a tent like shelter, or it can convert into a Superman cape, it can be used to create a cradle for your little girl’s dolls – offer some suggestions and let them come up with even more!
- Cut TV time: This is one of the keys to letting your child explore his creative side. If she is allowed to sit before a TV doing nothing creative, she is hardly likely to exercise her creativity. The video games and the TV should be restricted in the interests of creativity, good health and a number of different factors that influence children.
- Create exposure: Let your child have access to books on art, take her to an art show, let her watch art related documentaries when it’s time to view TV.As you widen her horizons, she is able to see all the myriad creative mediums that artists use to create something new and unique. This can not only be educative, it can also be inspiring for a child, helping her think out of the box herself.
