How to Encourage Creativity in Children: Clay Fun
What with all the gadgets, online games, awesome toys around, getting kids to hold a brush and draw may not be easy. They might choose a tablet to draw than the traditional pen and paper. But that’s ok. Although as a family who enjoys art in many ways and media, we would encourage you and yours to go with the old method.
Doodling, sketching, drawing, painting, and its may ways are relaxing to say the least. And that’s just one of art’s many benefits.
Picasso once said: “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” So true. We believe encouraging children to be creative will play a big role in their lives. Along with what art gives your kids, here are also some tips on encouraging them to pick up the brush.
How to Encourage Creativity in Children – creativity corner
Table of Contents
Create a Creativity Corner
Allot a corner of your home for creativity. Setup an area with shelves for art materials that the kids can easily access. Fill it up with different kinds of paper: white, colored, checkered, and even crafting paper. Pencils, colored pencils, markers, and crayons shouldn’t be forgotten. Include scissors, rulers, staplers, punches, tapes, glue, and the basic materials needed to craft. Setup an easel and some canvas for them to paint on.
Organize your corner in a way that would attract them to get materials, think of what to do, and help them execute their projects. Just make sure that scissors and other such materials are properly stored, or make sure that the ones you buy are age appropriate for your kids.
Buy Them Different Materials
Take the kids with you when you buy art materials so they will see the vast media they can have or use in future projects. Allow them to pick one or two items. It’s like when shopping for shoes, no matter what you insist, the kids have a say on what they like and to pick the character on the shoes (or the colors) they would wear. This makes them know that their opinions and preferences matter.
Make Art Fun – Together
Nothing’s more fun for a child than to do something with their parents, whether they go biking, eat out, or make fingerprints in different colors, they will cherish these memories when they’re older. Don’t mind the mess, you can clean it up later, to lessen stains, lay out newspaper on your work area before you start.
How to Encourage Creativity in Children – art class
Enroll them in Art Classes
Schools and after-school care may have activities under art and creativity enhancement. Allow them to take part in such, if there are clubs for art and crafting, encourage them to join.
You can also enroll them in special art classes aimed at teaching children to develop drawing skills.
Join Creative Activities
Look for activities near you where they foster creativity. We tried the McDonald’s summer activity on different days, and the kids enjoyed it a lot. They were able to make clay art, recycled stuff to make into art, color a lot, and also eat sundaes. ^_^
How to Encourage Creativity in Children – creative activities
Introduce them To Art / Creative Books
Not just coloring books, learning books that teaches basic drawing, techniques, but also books about painters, and great works of arts.
There are a lot of picture books that will inspire your young artists. You cannot be with the kids all the time so books are there to help with this goal. We recommend What Makes a Rainbow?, The Dot, and Harold and the Purple Crayon for starters. Then there’s Not a Stick, Not a Box, A Day With No Crayons, and of course, Beautiful Oops! not just for being a creativity book, but for teaching kids that not being perfect is totally ok.
Visit Art Museums
Museums, in general, foster creativity and sparks curiosity in children. Bringing kids to art museums will make them see life-size paintings, learn about the history behind them, and wonder about how they were painted, made, and even how they survived all these years.
Further, looking at artworks releases dopamine in the brain and it can also lower cortisol– dopamine is the falling in love hormone while cortisol is the stress hormone. In short, you will be happy and relaxed.
How to Encourage Creativity in Children – a gummy bear by our 5 yo and activity after touring an art museum
Display their Artworks at Home
Having your kids’ artworks displayed is a great reminder of the memories they had while doing it. It’s also being able to document what they have accomplished as a child. If one day, your little girl becomes a world-renown painter, these artworks will be a useful documentation of how she started.
Displaying their artworks is a way of supporting them and also giving them something for their self-esteem.
Compliment their Artworks
Kind words and having kids’ works acknowledged mean a lot to them, knowing that someone believes in them will make them do great things in the future. Even complimenting their efforts for the work they did would encourage them to do more in the field.
How to Encourage Creativity in Children : animals from recycled cartons and a photo by the Louvre pyramids before seeing the exhibitions
Learn From Our Great Creator to Encourage Creativity in Children
What better way is there to encourage creativity in children than to bring them outside, on walks, observe the flowers, plants, the insects, and the birds. Seeing God’s creation not only makes them appreciate the one who made them, it will also make them understand that behind every beautiful art is an artist. That even though one didn’t see the finished products being created, they know that someone thought about and put effort in creating them. A fundamental belief that the Bible backs up. (For his invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship. – Romans 1:20)
How to Encourage Creativity in Children : educate them about our Creator
