I believe that being creative is something that is learned. I believe that it takes massive amounts of inner confidence to create. I believe it is much easier to listen to whoever is telling you that its not perfect/unique/awesome enough (even if that person is yourself) than to fly the double falcons and push through it.
I am not a great parent. Sometimes I forget to brush my kids teeth. Sometimes I feed them cheetos for dinner. Sometimes I get frustrated and yell. Sometimes I do this all in one day…
But one thing I think I do pretty well is let my kids be creative. My girls would much rather do a project than pretty much anything else. So today I am going to let you in on a few of my secrets to encouraging creativity.
1. Don’t freak out. There have been many a day when I have walked in on Dylan writing on things that she should not be. Lately she is tagging everything with her name. Its adorable and frustrating at the same time. Do you ever get the urge to do a project RIGHTTHISSECONDORYOUAREGOINGTOEXPLODE? I know I do. (Its usually when I improvise and use a butter knife to putty something, or a roll of tape to measure spacing) Kids get like that too, AND they don’t always have the common sense to control it. Now, I am not saying you shouldn’t have rules or set boundaries, because you ABSOLUTELY should. But if mistakes are made, its ok, its just stuff. Heck I am sure there is some viral pin all about cleaning crayon off of every surface in your home anyways.
2. Give them the tools they need. Ivie loves to make things out of trash. This girl will save boxes and containers like it is manna in the desert. Her tool of choice is a hot glue gun. So I make sure that there is always hot glue in the house. Dylan LOVES to draw, and if she cant find paper at a moments notice my walls suffer, so I always try to have paper on hand. If you give them the tools, then the only thing that is limiting them is their own mind.
3. Be creative yourself. There is not a day that goes by that I am not working on something. When my girls see me pushing myself and problem solving, they know that its not always going to turn out perfect the first time, but to keep at it.
4. Encourage Encourage Encourage. I love getting pats on the back for all of my hard work, your kids want that too.
5. Don’t Forget To Enjoy Their Journey. This is one of my FAVORITE videos of Dylan ever. EVER. It was shot about 6 months ago when she was going through her YouTube Monster High Makeover phase. Please enjoy.
The most important thing about fostering creativity is to help your child see that they can be as creative and weird as they want. It is worth the messes friends, pinky promise.
Can you tell I am on a kid friendly project kick? It should last approximately 6 more hours until I am ready for school to start again. If you need more kiddo approved projects check out this post and this post.
What are your favorite kid friendly projects?
I totally agree with you on those ways to boost kids creativity! Great tips! Love the video, totally cute and precious!
I had my first set of acrylic paints and easel at age 5. I was in my room painting still lifes and pictures of my dog. My Mom totally believed in materials always being available to create any time I wanted. So there were not only lots of pencils and crayons but lots of fabric, thread, acrylic paint, canvases, watercolors…really anything I wanted. If I showed I would use it…it was bought for me. My Dad worked at a local tv station and when he saw what one of the staff artists could do with colored pencils he told me he was buying me a set….he came home with the biggest one you could get. I always felt lucky that my parents were so supportive of me being creative. Your kids will grow up feeling supported and confident in their own creativity and will pass on to their own kids.
What a perfectly timed post! We just restocked on all of our art and craft supplies. I believe in always having lots of options for your kids: crayons, markers, paints, chalk, play dough, colouring pages, canvas, plain paper, lined paper, construction paper, glue, sparkles, etc. You name it, we got it.
Oh, and sparkly stickers. Those are always the first ones to go.
PS> lately my kid has been into decorating paper plates. She loves it, and I love that she’s so into it. Whatever you want kid, just keep at it (and away from TV)!
I love this post, Mandi! I’ve realized lately that I’m not giving my son enough opportunities to be creative. Thanks for the inspiration!
i just love this!!! i know with me, there is a fine line between letting them be free and creative and teaching them boundaries and rules. i most often give empathy and excuses instead of realizing a moment where instruction and guidance and punishment should be in order. like writing on the wall. we know its bound to happen, and true it can come off. but there should be punishment there and i would probably lax in that moment. and im constantly getting ‘in trouble’ with the hubs bc we are reading a book or playing when we are suppose to be getting in bed! lol
I love this list!!! I think that you and I have very similar mothering styles. (All about the projects AND the Cheetos for dinner…) 😉 I wish we lived close enough to be REAL buddies!!!!!! xo
I love this so much! that video is precious. you must save it for her wedding! lol
I love the approach you’re taking with encouraging your girls creativity!
Luhuhuhuuuvvv! And that video reveal is a.ma.zing.
Very funny video! When my daughter was little I would send her to her room for time out and tell her she couldn’t come out until I came to get her. Of course, I would get involved in something or another and then forget the 15 minutes were up. Guilt would kick in, I’d go racing up the stairs to find her soo involved in some sort of craft project! She would be sitting in her little chair with ALL of her craft supplies around her happy as a clam! So sweet-great memories of our little ones!
Thanks for the reminder to relax and allow our kids to create. I need to be better about that! It’s one of the best things we can do as parents I think. Glad to hear you give your kids Cheeto’s for dinner sometimes too 🙂
This post reminds me of how my mom encouraged my creativity. I liked the dry in the dirt, so one day I brought dirt into the house so I could “draw”. I don’t think I got yelled at, but there were certainly some boundaries established that day.
One comment I would add to your list. Show interest in your kids’ creativity and show it off. I thought it was so cool that my drawing merited an actual frame, and not just a magnet on a fridge.
I would have freaked! You did great!
My favorite story about kids tagging things with their name is from my sister in law’s family. Her sister’s name starts with a K and so does their little brothers. So one day sister decides to carve her name in the PIANO and gets one letter done. She stops, thinks for a sec, and then finishes it with brothers name instead. For years, he kept denying it and she stayed silent until they were all adults with families of their own. Really, I would say she was very, very creative.
Oh my gosh, I NEEDED to hear this. I’m such a perfectionist that I let that spill over onto my 5-year-old girl’s efforts too. I need to stop!!! Thank you for this reminder. And this is my first time at your site…I love your writing! Pinning this post and off to poke around on your site more… 🙂