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It’s often said that all children are naturally creative. This is true to some extent. The very act of learning about the world around them is something which will often push children into creative exploration. However, not all children have a natural flair for artistic endeavours. Some might struggle to draw or paint, others might lack confidence when it comes to performance – and performance is just as much a part of creativity as painting and other forms of traditional art.
Why is creativity important?
Whilst we’re not all going to be Picasso, artistic endeavours are very important for a number of reasons. Without creativity, there’d be no gardens – no fashionable clothing – no beautiful houses!
All of the above things are just part of a long list of things we encounter every day and indeed need – but whilst they all require a lot of technical knowledge to create, they also require a huge amount of creativity.
Gardeners, designers, product creators, even engineers need to be able to think in a creative fashion so that they can carry out their work the best of their ability.
How to help your child expand their creative mind
Every day should have some portion of it dedicated to creativity. Most schools, like this junior school in Hertfordshire include arts, crafts, music and performance in their timetables but the work you do at home will further your child’s abilities.
Provide plenty of materials
You don’t need to go out and set up an entire art studio. You just need to ensure that your child always has access to paper, pens, pencils, paints, glue and glitter.
Where possible, save things which they can re-use in their art.
- Wrapping paper
- Ribbons
- Old clothes
- Old jewellery
- String
- Buttons
- Cardboard tubes
- Boxes and cartons
- Plastic tubs
If your child has access to the materials and encouragement from you, they will embrace their creativity from a very early age.
Provide plenty of opportunity
As mentioned above, it’s not only paint and glue that encourages the inner artist. Performance is a big part of art and creativity. If you can’t enrol your child in drama, dance or singing classes, encourage them to stage their own mini productions at home. Why not make a stage? A few upturned crates or pallets will suffice. Just make sure they’re safe to stand on!
It doesn’t need to be perfect
Remember that criticism has it’s place and for small children, it’s often just not needed. The act of exploring different art forms should always be fun and pressure-free. If your child is afraid their work isn’t ‘right’ or ‘good enough’ then that will be enough to kill their passion.
Praise them for their bold colour choices, their loud voices, their wild ideas. Never put down their experiments within art because it’s through trial and error that masterpieces are created!
