It is widely known that fostering creativity during early childhood development is absolutely imperative, so parents are frequently looking for additional strategies with the goal of further developing a child’s precocity to the greatest degree possible. So, in addition to providing access to some of the traditional resources designed for enhancing creativity, what else can be done?
According to Dr. Raouf Farag, one of the most important steps in fostering creativity is to ensure that there is more than enough unstructured time allotted each day in which children can direct the activity themselves. Without any externalstructure in place, children are free to act and explore their creativity in a more holistic way and are more likely to benefit in terms of their future creative development. However, since self-directed activity can sometimes lead to quite a mess, the New South Wales obstetrician suggests identifying a dedicated space in which there is greater freedom for creative or artistic exploration.
Another suggestion involves a greater focus on the creative process. Parents should understand that the process involved in creativity is far more important than evaluating its outcome. In fact, even an attempt to encourage creativity with some sort of external incentive can actually suppress creativity, so parents have to focus on creating the conditions for creative expression with the minimum amount of external interference.
When it comes to creative problem solving, it is similarly critical to allow kids to independently arrive at a solution through a process of their own design. Once solved, it is entirely appropriate to ask questions about how the child decided upon the particular process they used and to discuss if there are any alternative methods that could have been just as effective in achieving a similarly ideal solution. This strategy encourages children to think about the many possible solutions for problems of any kind just by accessing their creativity, allowing them to recognize the many different paths that can be taken to achieve a similar result.
The arts have long been recognized as especially critical is fostering creativity, so parents should continue to encourage children to participate in all of the various aspects of the arts and to give their children total freedom regarding the preferred means of participation. Additionally, parents have to set a good example in this regard, which can be accomplished by spending time reading literature, acting out scenes from a play or working on a canvas with oils or acrylics. This sort of example reinforces the value of the arts, and, particularly when done poorly, demonstrates that failure should not discourage future creative efforts in any way.
