By Favor Khaoya
What type of child were you when growing up? Were you artsy or sporty? Did you thrive better indoors or outdoors? Were you interested in doing things with your hands or your brains? Most importantly, did you have an environment that enabled you to be your authentic creative self?
Creativity in children is likened to growing a seed. For it to mature and blossom, it needs to be nurtured and watered. In the right environment, it blooms. Creating a creative environment for children requires us to understand that creativity is a learning spiral. According to Mitchel Resnick, a professor and expert in educational technologies, in his book “Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers and Play, the creative learning spiral has five components – imagine, create, play, share, and reflect.
Imagine
Children are very imaginative. Sometimes, all they need is a little inspiration to trigger it, such as drawing or making an object within their environment, like a ball. When they have such examples, they will try to copy or modify them, fostering creativity. Try it: Give a child an idea or example of something they can do differently and watch them reimagine the possible.
Create
Creativity is as much in the hands as it is in the brain. Give a child a blank page and colours, and they will paint. Give them modelling clay, and they will make something out of it. Allowing children hands-on time with materials to mess with and recreate gives them a reliable, creative environment.
Play
Telling children that failure is part of learning and that they should enjoy the process as much as the final output of creative projects encourages them to be more playful, stimulating better outcomes. All work without play makes Jack and Jane dull, but play nurtures creativity.
Share
Parents know if their children are better at eating or not when they see other children eat. The same goes for creativity. Children get more creative when they interact with peers and share and learn from them. Ensuring children have someone they can share their adventures with fosters a creative environment.
Reflect
Creatives tend to drown in their work and forget to step back and reflect on what is happening. Asking children questions on what inspired them, what they aim to achieve at the end of the project, what challenges they have been having, and how you can be of help to them enables them to stop and reflect on the project. The answers help them develop better solutions to the problems, enriching a creative environment for them.
Creativity is a journey that all parents or guardians should take with their children. The ultimate way to foster a creative environment for children is through support from parents. Engage and connect with the child as they play. When children feel the support of their parents during play, it stimulates creativity as they seek to make their parents proud.
Photo credit: Katherine Hanlon| Unsplash
