10 Easy Ways to Encourage Creativity in Children

Today on the blog I’m looking at creativity, what it is and how we can encourage it in our children! I think many of us automatically associate the word creativity with being artistic or musical, and whilst it CAN be about those, being creative is about so much more than being arty!

For that same reason the idea of raising creative children strikes fear into the hearts of parents who don’t see themselves as creative, dread the idea of a Pinterest craft or hate the thought of the mess that comes along with art activities.

But when we consider that the actual definition of creativity is “the use of imagination or original ideas to create something; inventiveness”, it helps us to look at the wider definition of creativity and begin to understand why its a crucial part of child development.

There are many benefits to encouraging creativity in our little ones. Creative children become critical thinkers, can become more confident learners, aren’t afraid of making mistakes, and are able to express themselves in different ways – all of which are good for their mental health. They become inventive little problem solvers, and crucially, creativity empowers children to be themselves and do what they love. Perhaps most importantly – exploring our creativity is simply fun!

Encouraging creativity in children isn’t as difficult (or as messy) as many would assume, it’s not so much about going out of your way to do loads of “extra” stuff or letting them go wild with paint or a drum kit, but more about giving them opportunities to lead their own play, be inventive, and being mindful about the toys and experiences we offer them.

My Top 10 Tips for Encouraging Creativity in Children

Play outdoors

This one probably sounds a bit unrelated to what many would think of as being creative, but actually being able to play in an unstructured environment, that isn’t “led” by toys or devices is essential for children’s creativity. When you think of summer, (or even year round depending how much you’re willing to endure the elements) children are able to play outside for hours with little to entertain them. They invent their own games, turn tree stumps into tea parties, find dens, and use natural resources to become their toys. Sometimes this might involve bringing some resources outside, but I personally try to avoid just bringing inside play outside, and really engaging with the environment instead. The ever changing beauty of nature is also so inspiring and can be a catalyst for many written or art projects too.

Allow boredom

I know as parents it can be really hard to hear “I’m bored” over and over, but actually boredom is good for children. If we fill every moment of their lives with structured activities, screens, and stimulating toys, then we never give them the opportunity to be bored enough to create their own play. A bored child becomes a creative child who finds blankets and pillows to create a fort, or creates a teddy bears picnic with their soft toys and tea set.

Open ended toys

Careful consideration of the toys we offer our children can have a huge impact on creative play. Open ended toys are those which can be used in many ways, as opposed to a toy that has one purpose, and only one way to play with it. Take for example a toy like Magnatiles, (one of Poppys favourites). These are colourful magnetic tiles, which click together to allow you build with them. Over time, Poppy has used these in many ways, including building houses, using them to create a road to use for her cars, using them to create fields for her animals, making vehicles, colour sorting, sticking them on the fridge to make faces, and many other ideas. When we get the magnatiles out, the play can go any way depending on what her current interests are, what other toys we have out at the same time, or even what she’s been watching on TV recently. When playing with a toy like this, children are using their imaginations, coming up with ideas, problem solving, inventing and in terms of learning, their brains are fully engaged in their play.

Compare that with another toy, Beat Belle. (Sorry Beat Belle, I do actually like you and so does Poppy, but you are a perfect example of a “one and done” toy.) We were given this as a hand me down, and although its a perfectly fun toy that entertains for a little while, it creates a passive play experience, because you simply have to sit back and be entertained. The toy does all the work. There’s no different way to play with it or use your imagination.

Choosing good quality toys is one of the biggies for me, although I do find its getting harder as Poppy is getting older and is starting to request specific things (a Chelsea jungle pool was the big birthday wish last year, not too terrible because it at least has scope for different variations of small world play), but I am trying to retain a good balance of open ended toys along with her choices.

Read, read, read

There is really no end to the benefits of reading to / with our children, so here’s another one for you. Although on the surface, reading may appear to be a passive activity, particularly when they are younger and being read to, when children are actively engaged in listening to stories, their little brains are building strong pathways, taking in new information, building their vocabulary and increasing their creativity. Books are like a little portal into another world, other peoples lives or other peoples problems and through this they can begin to learn about how the world works, as well as problem solving skills. Books can inspire play, whether it becomes role play, small world play or some kind of construction or art activity. Additionally, children who read lots, become more proficient in their use of language, both verbally and in written work. As a teacher you can usually always tell the children who have experienced lots of stories because they always have a colourful vocabulary and great imagination.

Play with Stories

On a similar note, whilst reading with your little one, we can engage with stories in different ways that encourage them to think more creatively. While reading a new story you could ask them to finish the ending, ask them to think up names for the characters. Depending on how old they are they might want to try out designing different book covers for their favourite books, or even making their own picture books featuring well known characters.

Give craft materials not activities

I can’t tell you the number of times people have said to me “ I can’t do crafts with my kids, I’m just not creative at all’. Well, here’s the thing, you don’t have to be. Whilst Pinterest and instagram are awash with themed craft activities, these activities are actually doing very little for children’s creativity. I’d say they do sometimes have a role – for example teaching a specific technique or skill, but giving children a step by step set of instructions gives them no scope for creating, inventing or designing things themselves.

A more open ended approach to crafts will be more beneficial for creativity. Offer children a variety of resources, or ask them what they want and allow THEM to be the one to design their own task. Exploration of the materials, as well as trial and error, problem solving and the feeling of success is one of the things that makes this open ended approach to arts and crafts so exciting for children. Making a carbon copy of someone else’s idea just doesn’t have the same appeal.

Poppy doesn’t have open access to all her craft materials at any time but she does have a writing table where she has access to papers, pencils, crayons, washi tape, glue sticks (do this with caution, I trust Poppy not to abuse this privilege!), stickers and clips.

Give random bits and bobs to play with

AKA Loose Part Play. This is one of those buzz words that sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is. Loose Parts PLay is basically giving children a selection of materials (usually not toys) and letting them get creative with them. You might have heard of “Treasure Baskets” which are given to young babies from around 5 or 6 months old (ALWAYS SUPERVISE YOUNG CHILDREN) and I suppose you could say this was the earliest form of loose part play. For Poppy, her treasure basket existed of things like a spatula, nail brush, silk scarves, silicone muffin cases, sensory balls, and basically any other household items that were safe for her to explore with her hands and mouth.

Loose parts for older children can include all sorts of things! We have a loose parts container at our school which is filled with things like tubes, half pipes, tarpaulins, ropes, and nets. Obviously these are loose parts on a larger scale, and you won’t necessarily have space for anything like that at home, but some ideas on a smaller scale might include, boxes, cardboard tubes, string, elastic bands, fabrics, rocks, glass pebbles, leaves, blocks, lollipop sticks, tinfoil and basically anything that children could get creative with!

If you’ve never engaged in loose part play with your children this is probably one of the hardest tips to get on board with as it probably just feels weird to give them a bunch of stuff to play with! But the creativity and imagination it can spark is amazing!

Allow learning through play THEIR way

Learning through play is another one of those phrases that has become prevailant on social media recently, but actually many of the activities you see tagged as play are not really play at all, they are adult led tasks. Children can learn through play without any adult involvement or pre determined outcome, so my first tip is to allow some play just to be play without any specific motive. I promise you, they will still be learning… and even if you can’t identify what the learning is, they’re having fun and that’s just as important. If you want to develop skills or knowledge in a specific area, then adult initiated play might be appropriate at times, but giving opportunity for open ended play keeps the passion and enthusiasm for creative play alive. Don’t feel like their play always needs to be led by you, so give yourself a break and stop comparing to the fancy set ups you will see on Instagram. An “Invitation to Play” is a play set up that’s somewhere in the middle. The theme or resources is set up by the adult, but there’s no specific thing that the child needs to do.

Let them think outside the box

Or maybe even inside the box, we all know how our little people love an empty box! But seriously, throw away the rule book sometimes and allow children to decide how they want to play with a toy or game. Coincidentally today I gave my daughter a little charity shop find that I had bought a while ago and had been keeping back for a day like today (stuck home with chicken pox and all getting fed up). It was a set of animal Jenga style blocks that are rainbow coloured, which came with a few little cards and a set of instructions. But of course, toddlers have very little regard for instructions, and within 15 minutes she had used them for creating a rainbow path, a chicken coop and a bed for her Maileg Mice. We didn’t ever get round to playing the game the way it “should” be played, but I’m sure we’ll get round to it another day.

Trust their choices

Similarly, allow them to think outside of the box when it comes to.. well just about anything really. Give freedom to pick their own outfits when you can (I say when you can because I know from experience that sometimes toddlers will want to wear fleece pyjamas with a tutu over the top and a pair of pants on their head on a hot summers day, so a little guidance is sometimes essential haha), if they’re drawing and they want to paint the grass blue and the sky green then let them, if they want to make up their own words to a song let them. Sometimes society can become fixated on doing things “the right way” but when it comes to most things there’s no right or wrong way.

So as you can see, fostering creativity in children isn’t as tricky as you might think, and it certainly doesn’t mean you yourself have to be creative or arty – children are great at coming up with fantastic ideas when given the opportunity or the right resources.

I’m going to leave you with a little quote that I came across this afternoon just by chance, and thought it was very fitting for this post.

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up” Pablo Picasso

My hope is that by enoucraging creativity in children will equip them with the tools to be confident and creative into adulthood, even when the world tries to fit them into a mould.

I really hope you have enjoyed this post, and found it helpful. Please pop me a message or a comment below if you have anything you’d like to ask or discuss further.