FOSTERING CREATIVITY IN YOUNG CHILDREN

I believe that creativity lies within every learner, though all learners are not
equally creative but their creativity will somehow be flourished if they are provided
with the right environment and resources. When we foster a child’s creativity, we are
paving a way for a child’s whole development and maturity. According to a study,
fostering creativity can help a child mature mentally, emotionally, and socially.
Children are active and inquisitive in nature. So by giving them a creative
freedom, we are allowing them to develop mastery of creative activities that they
really want to do by themselves. Creativity varies from a child to another, so let’s not
expect that all children can come up with the same result. Let us give them the
freedom to think creatively and enjoy the process rather than the product itself.
Having a creative mind is very essential as we get older and face life itself.
There are several ways to foster creativity and Dr. Christine Carter suggested
the following: first, provide the resources they need for creative expression which
means that exposing children to a suitable environment and resources and giving
them ample time to explore whatever there is are things that we should take into
account. Second, make your home a petri dish for creativity which emphasizes the
readiness and availability of things that could solicit to a child’s thinking ability.
Through this, we can give children the chance to thin outside the box and make use of
everything that is available. By doing so, let’s expect failures and remember that
making mistakes is totally okay. Remind children that it’s okay to make mistakes and
help them learn from it. Third, allow kids the freedom and autonomy to explore their
ideas and share whatever thought they have in mind. In other words, let them be
creative on their own. Let them make things the way they want it to and let them
speak their mind. Allow kids to voice out their thoughts, let them speak about
everything and ask questions of the things they are curious or confused about. In such
a way, we can encourage them to think of possibles answers and solution of a certain
problem. Fourth, don’t reward children for exhibiting creativity. This is something
that I believe most people do. According to the study, this is not advisable since it
can hamper the creative process and may reduce the quality of their thought. We can
praise them by doing great but rewarding something is not advisable, we should
instead allow them to practice mastery and be intrinsically motivated. We should let
children be creative because they want to do it not because they are after something
such as a reward or incentives. And lastly, let us try to stop caring what the kids
achieve. Let’s us not be so focused on the product and compare the result to others
because it could lead to lack of self-esteem. Achievements may vary, so instead of
putting much time into looking at the details of the result we should better try to
decipher how did they come with such a unique piece or ask the things they learned
while doing it. There are many things we can do an ask that could stir up their
interests and creativity even more.

REFERENCES:

Schulz, J. (2013) Fostering Creativity in Kids.

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/fostering_creativity_in_kids
Tutoring, N. Fostering Creativity in Children.
https://nepeantutoring.com.au/fostering-creativity-children/