Nurturing Creativity during Child Development

Every child is born with a gift to create new ideas and innovative outcomes that evolve from their ideas, thus, we are uniquely creative human beings. It is an ability for a child to solve problems, entertain himself, and explore the world in his own way. Creativity enables children to be flexible and resilient, explains Sally Goldberg, PhD, professor of early childhood education at Nova South-Eastern University in Fort Lauderdale in Florida (Abedon, n.d.).

According to Today's Parent, young children in the age of 0 to 5 like to play with anything and everything (Arnall, 2018). For example, they would build a spaceships with the math pattern blocks together, despite the fact that the blocks were intended to demonstrate fractions.

Therefore, in order to nurture their creativity in children around this ages, parents are suggested to use open-ended unstructured play materials such as plain paper, Popsicle sticks, magnetic blocks and etc. This type of toys do not have certain way to play, and it allows children to make choices, express their creativity and support their independence (Shrier, 2016).

A study has shown that the creative thinking scores decrease significantly from kindergarten through 3rd grade (8-9 years old), then remain static or decrease starting in 6th grade (10-11 years old) (Kim, 2011). Therefore, in order to let them carry on the imaginative play, parents are suggested to keep a range of creative play raw materials accessible to the children (Arnall, 2018). In Piaget's theory of play, participation in imaginative play able to enhance the cognition development of a child (Plocha, 2007). It is important to maintain their ability to demonstrate their creative thinking instead of stopping them from exercising their imaginative.

The importance of creativity in children's success

The creative abilities allow children and adults to adapt and thrive in increasingly complex and uncertain times. Research has found that there is a significant correlation between creativity, meaning and intrinsic motivation (Ceci & Kumar, 2016), the researcher also believes that a creative life is able to foster happiness and wellbeing (Kaufman, 2015).

Creativity is a force that inspired by our senses of sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell in nurturing human development, innovation, and aesthetic appreciation of the world around us. The creativity ability to generate and communicate the original ideas of value makes it become the epicentre of human exploration and discovery (Price-Mitchell, 2017).

Creativity helps us deal with change, problem-solving, affects our social and emotional intelligence, enhances our understanding of math and science, and is a key component to health and happiness. Christine Carter, an author of parenting blog in Berkeley (Jones, 2018).

Therefore, we can see that if creativity is developed and nurtured well at an early age, parents able to help their children to reach their gifted potential. In order to explore their curiosity and stimulates their creative ability, the education team from Bright Horizons has suggested a few ways that can nurture their creativity.

Nature provides countless opportunities for discovery, creativity, and problem-solving. Spend some time at the beach, seaside, and the park; camping, lying on the ground and look up at the sky. Being close to the natural world inspires children to think, question, do some guesswork, as well as develop creative minds. Outdoor play also supports physical and social development—see Why Should You Let Your Child Play Outside?.

Imaginative play by encouraging your children to play house, doctor, farm, space station and etc. able to help him to organize his thoughts while developing social and verbal skills. Join your children and let your children lead your playtime together.

Asking questions that provoke imaginative and creative thinking is an effective way to invite your child to express his ideas and share his visions while giving him the message that his ideas are important.

Since we are in the digital era, it would be tough to parenting and nurturing imagination. Hence, it would be better if the time of electronic products usage is limited and engage the children in creative activities such as imaginative play, reading, drawing and etc. For screen-time balance, see Impacts of Gadget on Your Child and Opportunistic Learning: Technology vs Traditional Learning.

Let the children work through what they are doing on their own. Give chances for them to figure out what and how to do it in certain situations. Allow them the freedom and autonomy to explore their ideas in order to avoid the feeling of forcing.

Curious, novelty-seeking children often thrive when creativity is channelled productively. See Raising a Curious Explorer: Nurture Novelty-Seeking for tailored parenting ideas.

In conclusion, it is important for parents to understand how creativity originates, and explore the intrinsically meaningful ideas while nurturing creativity together with your children. Hopefully, the suggested ways mentioned above can facilitate the evolution of your child's creative ideas and imaginative spirit!

Understanding your child's inborn strengths—including creativity-related traits—can help you nurture their potential with clarity. Explore the Decode Talent DNA Test (DTDT) to discover talents that guide purposeful development.

References

Abedon, E. P. (n.d.). Nurturing Your Child's Creativity. https://www.parents.com/baby/development/intellectual/nurturing-your-childs-creativity/

Arnall, J. (2018). An age-by-age guide to nurturing creativity in kids. Today's Parent. https://www.todaysparent.com/family/parenting/an-age-by-age-guide-to-nurturing-creativity-in-kids/

Ceci, M. W., Kumar, V. K. (2016). A Correlational Study of Creativity, Happiness, Motivation, and Stress from Creative Pursuits. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-015-9615-y

Jones, B. (2018). Developing Child Creativity. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/developing-child-creativity_b_5a5eb079e4b0c40b3e59756d

Kaufman, S. B. (2015). The Creative Life and Well-Being. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/the-creative-life-and-well-being/

Kim, K. H. (2011). The Creativity Crisis: The Decrease in Creative Thinking Scores on the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2011.627805

Plocha, A. H. (2007). The Importance of Imaginative Play in Child Development. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/502

Price-Mitchell, M. (2017). Creativity: How Parents Nurture the Evolution of Children's Ideas. https://www.rootsofaction.com/nurturing-childrens-creativity/

Shrier, C. (2016). The value of open-ended play. https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/the_value_of_open_ended_play