Who doesn’t want to be creative? Or at least thought of as creative? How does creativity develop? How can we inspire a creative spirit in our
children?
First, let’s look at what creativity is NOT.
Creativity is not a license for doing anything you
want! To let a child destroy a toy by
playing with it in a “creative” way is not building creativity, it is teaching
disrespect for property.
For example, if a child has a musical instrument, they can
create and play wonderful melodies and harmonies, experimenting with octaves
and chords and interludes. They should
not be bound by only playing music composed by others. But to let that child
use their trombone for a golf club or their flute as a baseball bat would be
destructive, not creative.
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| A Trombone "Baseball Bat"--A Thousand Times NO! |
Or would anyone consider letting their child use their
8-week old puppy like a chair? Of course
not! Is it pretend play? Yes, but it
would be hurtful, possibly maiming to the puppy.
I have seen children destroy toys and parents excuse their
behavior with, “Well, it’s their toy, they can do with it what they want.” Or “I
don’t want to stifle their creativity.
Let them play the way they want to play.”
This is not a way to develop maturity and
respect for property. It is not being
creative. It is giving license to do
whatever a child wants without repercussions and is actually “sanctioning” such
behavior by labeling it ‘creative’.
Think of the thousands of dollars spent on cleaning up graffiti! Creative art is a wonderful thing, but marking
or painting property without the property owner's permission is considered
defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime.
Creativity is defined by Webster as, “the
ability to make new things or think of new ideas.”
Practical ways to help children play and think more
creatively include:
- Using the starter phrase, “What if…….” And letting
children think of new and different ways to end a story, imagine a
different world, use an item uniquely.
Examples:
What if dogs could fly?
What if you were president for a day?
What if you had a magic wand?
What if the Three Bears adopted Goldilocks?
- Role Play
- Have children close their eyes when you read to a new
book and imagine the story for themselves rather than look at the
pictures. Let them describe what
they “see”.
- Place a variety of household items in a box. Let children pick an item and then think
of a new way to use that object.
- Use a storyboard, action figures, stuffed animals, etc.
to create a story.
A quote I found on the internet states, “If
there's one thing that distinguishes highly creative people from
others, it's the ability to see possibilities where others don't — or, in other
words, vision. Many great artists and writers have said that creativity is
simply the ability to connect the dots that others might never think to connect. Mar 4, 2014
Creative people are adaptive, think “outside the box”, and
are resourceful, persistent (think of Thomas Edison and his multiple trials
before getting the light bulb to work!).
They generate lots of ideas (brainstorm), blend ideas, explore unorthodox
solutions.
Let’s raise a generation of children who are mature and
respectful but at the same time able to look at problems and generate solutions
in a fresh, innovative way.
Blog Administrator: Trisha Roberts
proeducationaltoys@gmail.com
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