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A fun, easy way to encourage your kids to be more creative (and more imaginative!) is to engage them in fun and interesting activities that promote creativity. These activities don’t have to be elaborate — many of them can be done right at home with just a few simple materials. After all, your child doesn’t need expensive toys and accessories to come up with amazing ideas — they only need their imagination! Here are seven creative activities for kids of all ages that will spark the imagination and encourage creativity in any child.
What are the Perks of Improved Creativity?
Back in 1971, an article by the late, prominent psychiatric occupational therapist, Shirley Michaelman hailed the benefits of creative play on the flexibility, adaptability, decision-making skills, and general coping abilities of children.
The reality is that both play and learning are essential components of creativity. Play is an experience inherently helpful to learning, as it reinforces the ability to create. Nancy Smithner writes,
“Play teaches adaptability and resilience, and in the rapidly changing technological pace of the 21st century, creativity, which arises from play, is an essential survival skill encompassing the ability to be alert in the moment, have either conscious or unconscious insights, and to continually learn and imagine something new.”
Do you require more evidence to show you that creativity and play are connected? Kids in this 2010 study were either given lines to copy from a chalkboard or salt dough to mold into shapes. Then both groups were asked to work on a creative project. Those who worked with salt dough fared better than those who did not.
How do Kids Benefit from Creativity-Building?
A few questions might be arising in your mind. Questions like: “Why should I encourage my child in creativity-building play?” and “Why is creativity such a valuable trait to incubate in our kids?”. Creativity is most simply defined as the ability to create. Among many things that we might take for granted in life, there are the many creations that we make every day. This daily creativity is a collaborative process involving both our surroundings and the materials we have at our disposal as well as our own imagination.
As an example, we construct meals for ourselves by choosing how to combine the foods we have at our disposal in a way that pleases us. When we put together an outfit, we create it from the pieces available to us—putting it together in a way we think looks good.
Therefore, as you can see, the process of creating things is intrinsic to everyday life. Every single instance of creativity comes with its own skills, each building on the other. Some of these include but are not limited to
Intuition- Being able to recognize what you want.
Independence- Understanding one’s tastes and sticking to them.
Situational Awareness- The ability to know one’s assets (available resources).
Decision-Making Skills- It takes lots of forward-thinking decisions and deliberation to create something.
Outside-the-Box Thinking- A project will never be completed with nothing unexpected happening along the way. Small challenges happen, but these are opportunities to test what you are capable of!
How to Increase Kids’ Creativity.
Nancy Smithner’s essay on K-12 creative play in the anthology Key Concepts in Theater/Drama Education addresses different activities which build kids’ creativity, which include:
• Theater/Role-Play Activities
• Musical Play and Learning an Instrument
• Dancing
and more.
Now that we have addressed the creative aspects of creative play, what about the play part? If you keep your children’s creativity completely stress-free and open to exploration, you’ll remove the risk of giving them any unnecessary pressure or expectations.
The difference between developing hobbies and just playing is that hobbies take a certain level of commitment and require regular practice. With that, it teaches responsibility and ritual. Creativity play has no goals attached to it and just relieves stress. Kids explore their imagination, too!
Creativity-Building Activities for Kids
Creativity-building activities for kids take many forms, and here are just a few of Wondrfly’s favorites:
Have a Dance Party Turn on some good music and dance around. Dance parties are one of our favorite activities for kids because they get everyone involved, help children break a sweat, and give kids an opportunity to stretch out and move without even thinking about it. Music also has a positive effect on brain activity; when we listen to music, our brains start to release endorphins—the happy hormone that helps us feel good and forget our troubles.
Make Mini Scupltures It doesn’t get much easier than a fun activity like scuulting with modeling clay or play dough to keep kids creative. With just a few materials and a little bit of supervision, you can help your kids make miniature sculptures in as little as five minutes. They’ll be amazed at what they can accomplish in such little time! Your family is sure to cherish these whimsical creations forever, or until they get smushed up and stuffed back in the play dough jar.
Construct a Fort Building a fort is an activity that engages kids physically and mentally. It helps to develop fine motor skills, strategic thinking, and problem-solving. And it’s fun! In fact, any sort of building activity—from forts to blanket forts and pillow forts to lincoln logs and legos—can be a creative kid’s activity.
Make Homemade Instruments Music stimulates creativity, so encourage your kids to make their own instruments. With a little elbow grease and some imagination, you can craft homemade drum sets and tambourines that your kids will love to play with for hours. Making homemade instruments is an easy way to boost your child’s creativity and build her self-esteem as she discovers her artistic talent. Find out how to recycle household items into no fewer than 52 different musical instruments here.
Enter a Coloring Contest Coloring contests are a great way to ignite creativity in kids. Organize a family coloring contest for Christmas or simply choose an age-appropriate color book for your child and let them loose with their crayons.
Role-Play Games Another great way to bring out a child’s creativity is by playing role-playing games. Children love pretending they are something they are not, and if you engage them in make-believe, it will keep their minds active and focused. Kids also learn how to share their thoughts when playing these games with others, which is a key skill for success in all areas of life.
Looking for More Creativity Activities for Kids?
Check out the Wondrfly blog to get the lowdown on the best creativity-building activities for kids, all the time!
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