Raising Creative Kids
Raising Creative Kids
"Where did he come up with that?" Kids often amaze uswith their imaginative ideas, and we should giveourselves a pat on the back for playing a role in thisdevelopment. Innovative thinking is essential forsuccess in school and in life, and it's our job asparents to nurture our kids' innate desire to becreative. Inventive play fosters original thinking, anasset when children are confronted with newsituations. By providing activities that use theircreativity and imaginations, we are giving ourchildren an important tool to deal with life down theroad.Give them ideas. Children come up with things to do on their own, butwe also need to provide them with new ideas ofinteresting activities. Think back to what you did asa kid. Did you write a diary, create elaborate puppetshows, or sing and dance for relatives? Share ideasfrom your own childhood experiences. Offer creativewriting ideas like writing an episode for a favoritetelevision show or writing a new ending to a favoritestory. Craft projects offer another outlet forinspiring imaginations. Craft kits, especially thosefrom Curiosity Kits and ALEX, offer a wide variety ofunusual and fun projects. They've brought us a longway from the sock puppets of our youth. Thesemanufacturers offer ideas and supplies to make suchthings as scrapbooks, powerballs, soaps, candy, suncatchers, dolls, planes, dinosaurs, jewelry treasures,and lots of decorative items. Kids can gather ideasfrom the instructions, and then give the projectstheir own unique touches.Keep ideas fresh.Pick up any parenting magazine and you'll find lots ofideas to get those creative juices flowing in yourkids. Search the web and check out craft stores. Keepa journal or file for magazine clippings and ideas asyou find them. Stockpile so that you'll know how toanswer the whiny "I'm bored" call from your kids.Give them freedom.Once you've given your kids some suggestions andsupplies, step back and see which they choose andwhere they go with them. This unstructured play timegives kids an opportunity to stretch their creativemuscles. Watch as they incorporate your ideas andbranch out on their own.Set an example.Chances are, if you are a creative person, your childwill be too. You display creativity in your everydayactivities like when you reason with a disgruntledchild, change lyrics to songs, and maybe even do someinterpretive dancing to entertain a toddler. Yourchildren see your silliness and it rubs off on them.You surely use creativity to juggle your and yourfamily's schedules. It's a great idea to point out toyour kids how you use creativity in your daily life.As parents, we always try to do the very best for ourkids and provide opportunities that will help themmature into intelligent, capable adults. Nurturingtheir creative spirits helps them along this road.With their well-developed imaginations, maybe they'llturn it into a yellow brick, pink polka-dotted roadwith sparkles!Susan Stump is the mother of two children and theowner of ChildCrafter, Co. - Craft Kits andSubscriptions that Inspire a Child's Imagination. Thiswork-at-home-mom offers a great selection of creativecraft kits from ALEX, Quincrafts, and Curiosity Kitsfrom her catalog and website http://www.childcrafter.com
=====Susan Stump Owner Childcrafter Co. Craft Kits and Subscriptions that Inspire a Child's Imagination http://www.childcrafter.com information@childcrafter.com
"Where did he come up with that?" Kids often amaze uswith their imaginative ideas, and we should giveourselves a pat on the back for playing a role in thisdevelopment. Innovative thinking is essential forsuccess in school and in life, and it's our job asparents to nurture our kids' innate desire to becreative. Inventive play fosters original thinking, anasset when children are confronted with newsituations. By providing activities that use theircreativity and imaginations, we are giving ourchildren an important tool to deal with life down theroad.Give them ideas. Children come up with things to do on their own, butwe also need to provide them with new ideas ofinteresting activities. Think back to what you did asa kid. Did you write a diary, create elaborate puppetshows, or sing and dance for relatives? Share ideasfrom your own childhood experiences. Offer creativewriting ideas like writing an episode for a favoritetelevision show or writing a new ending to a favoritestory. Craft projects offer another outlet forinspiring imaginations. Craft kits, especially thosefrom Curiosity Kits and ALEX, offer a wide variety ofunusual and fun projects. They've brought us a longway from the sock puppets of our youth. Thesemanufacturers offer ideas and supplies to make suchthings as scrapbooks, powerballs, soaps, candy, suncatchers, dolls, planes, dinosaurs, jewelry treasures,and lots of decorative items. Kids can gather ideasfrom the instructions, and then give the projectstheir own unique touches.Keep ideas fresh.Pick up any parenting magazine and you'll find lots ofideas to get those creative juices flowing in yourkids. Search the web and check out craft stores. Keepa journal or file for magazine clippings and ideas asyou find them. Stockpile so that you'll know how toanswer the whiny "I'm bored" call from your kids.Give them freedom.Once you've given your kids some suggestions andsupplies, step back and see which they choose andwhere they go with them. This unstructured play timegives kids an opportunity to stretch their creativemuscles. Watch as they incorporate your ideas andbranch out on their own.Set an example.Chances are, if you are a creative person, your childwill be too. You display creativity in your everydayactivities like when you reason with a disgruntledchild, change lyrics to songs, and maybe even do someinterpretive dancing to entertain a toddler. Yourchildren see your silliness and it rubs off on them.You surely use creativity to juggle your and yourfamily's schedules. It's a great idea to point out toyour kids how you use creativity in your daily life.As parents, we always try to do the very best for ourkids and provide opportunities that will help themmature into intelligent, capable adults. Nurturingtheir creative spirits helps them along this road.With their well-developed imaginations, maybe they'llturn it into a yellow brick, pink polka-dotted roadwith sparkles!Susan Stump is the mother of two children and theowner of ChildCrafter, Co. - Craft Kits andSubscriptions that Inspire a Child's Imagination. Thiswork-at-home-mom offers a great selection of creativecraft kits from ALEX, Quincrafts, and Curiosity Kitsfrom her catalog and website http://www.childcrafter.com
=====Susan Stump Owner Childcrafter Co. Craft Kits and Subscriptions that Inspire a Child's Imagination http://www.childcrafter.com information@childcrafter.com
5/04/2005
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