Why it is important to foster and encourage creativity in your kids?

Creativity in children is very important because it promotes brain development and allows children to share their thoughts and feelings. It helps them to form their own opinions and creates individuality. Through creative experiences, children are building up their brains for life (Gopnik et al 1999).

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand. – Albert Einstein

By encouraging creative exploration, children are able to build up confidence in expressing their ideas and trying new things. Children need time and space to be creative. There is no right or wrong but children should be allowed to fail and make mistakes, as this being afraid of failing curbs their creativity.  When children are given the freedom to think, they come up with various ideas for such questions as:

“What is happening?”
“What does it remind you of?”
“How can you change it?”
“How does it work?”
“Why does it work?”

Young children are naturally creative. That is why, no matter what language they first learn, the first words are often “why?”, “what?” and “how?” They also enjoy building things and then pull them apart. This process is called “divergent thinking”. It is trying out initial ideas and then generating new ideas and carrying out new trials. This is the backbone of creativity and the key to developing problem-solving skills.

All children have creative potential. It is our job as parents, educators and adults to give children the opportunity to foster a creative atmosphere and provide children the opportunity to fulfil their potential.

Article by Kay S.