5 ways to boost your child’s creativity

What is creativity?

The word creativity comes from the Latin word“creatio” and was originally used only to describe the acts of the gods. Later, during the Renaissance, the same word comes to describe human achievements. Creativity is the mental and social process of discovering new ideas and concepts. It is the ability to create something new that has value for someone. It could be a new solution to a problem, a new device, method, process or art object.

Creativity in children

Creative activities allow children to delve deeper into themselves, to learn about themselves and to embark on a path of personal growth. Creativity can thus be linked to a process of inner growth and important self-awareness. Creativity is very important for establishing and nurturing mental health, as it enables growth and development that are in line with the nature of the child and adolescent. Schools also have an important role to play in nurturing and fostering creativity.

5 ways to encourage creativity in children

– Encourage them to take part in family chores. When they do, encourage, guide and help them to find solutions (example: folding socks can be a matching activity). It is important that the child initially tries to find a solution on his/her own, and then we step in.

-When a child has a problem, we encourage them to tell us about it, and thus give it value. When a child confides in us, we can help by guiding them to solve their problems.

-Don’t make rules – let the child decide what’s right and wrong, and when there’s a problem, point out what’s wrong and guide them to what’s right.

-The child should only do one thing at a time. Research shows that children who are overwhelmed have a reduced level of creativity, as they tend to engage in routine problem-solving and chores.

-Praise your child. If he draws a nice little drawing, praise him for how awesome and creative he is, but not the object he has created.

Destroyers of creativity

-If a child doesn’t play enough, he or she loses creativity – Play has a positive effect on enhancing imagination and, consequently, creativity, so let your child play a lot.

– If parents are constantly directing their children, we are taking away their independence and destroying their sense of problem-solving, of doing things, which is where creativity comes from.

– The overuse of television and other electronic media stifles creativity and imagination.

– The accumulation of material goods – for a child, this means toys and electronic devices – passivises the child and prevents him from finding the creativity within himself.

Your children’s creativity can also be boosted with carefully selected, high-quality creative toys, which you can find in the online shop . Choose from a variety of Unikatoy plastic clay, Crazy Chic nail design sets, microscopes and more nd more. You can see the full offer here.