Why is it important to develop our children's creativity?
Creativity is not just for artists. It is the ability to find new solutions, and it grows with free time, simple materials and permission to get things wrong.
Being creative means being able to look at a problem from more than one side. This skill helps children adapt to change, cope with frustration and trust their own ideas, and it will be useful to them in any field.
What makes it grow
- Unstructured time. When nothing is planned, children invent.
- Open-ended materials. Boxes, fabric, building pieces, paints. The less the toy does, the more the child does.
- Open questions. “How would you do it?”, “what would happen if…?”.
- Valuing the process. Taking an interest in how they did it instead of judging whether it came out well.
- Putting up with mess for a while.
What holds it back
Too many structured activities, fear of mistakes, constant correction (“the sky isn't green”) and many hours of passive screen time.
Simple ideas
Make up a different ending for a story, build a den out of cushions, cook without a recipe or design your own board game.
Our example
When they see us try new things, make mistakes and try again with good humour, they learn that creating does not require doing it perfectly.