Creativity is not just about encouraging your child to paint and draw. It helps them understand that there is more than one way of seeing something and is a skill that your little one will take with them as they grow.
Here are five ways to inspire your child’s creativity:
Fancy dress outfits
Have an abundance of fancy dress outfits in your home that your little one can easily access. If possible, have a dedicated dress-up box in their room that is full of various outfits from princess dresses to pirate costumes with shoes, wands, and hair pieces that they can play with. Let your child dress up as they wish and if they dress up when going to the shop, let them.
Talk about their future
Ask your little one what they would like to be when they grow up and don’t try to influence their decision. Supply them with plenty of paper and pens and let them draw their hopes and dreams. Give them scrap fabric, stickers or whatever else you have lying around to use on their picture. Keep them all together and take them out when they are older.
Don’t instruct them all the time
Try not to give your child directions all the time, let them use their own mind to think of things and to figure things out. If they are doing something one way, avoid telling them that it is wrong or try to show them how to do it another way. Now and again, let your child decide what you are going to do for the day. Let their imagination go wild – within reason, obviously – and you might find yourself heading off on an adventure that will leave lasting memories.
Give them free time
You don’t need to have activities planned for every single second of your child’s life. Let them enjoy free time or down time to allow their minds wander without having every second filled by some planned activity. When your son or daughter is bored they will resort to using their imagination to find something to do.
Praise and encourage them
Value their opinion and thoughts and encourage them to think for themselves by asking what they think they should do to work out a problem. Motivate and praise them when they make something that involved a lot of imagination and never ever shame them or give out to them if they tried something but it didn’t work.
