Creative Minds Don't Think Alike

With so much focus on children’s academic success, creativity in childhood often inadvertently stifled. Creativity in itself is freedom to a child; freedom to express themselves fully. Creative processes give children independence and control in a safe way, allowing them to make their own choices during the process. The more engaged children are in creative processes, the more they understand that there is more than one way to do something.

Creative children grow up to be adults who believe that in most cases there won’t be one “right” answer. They appreciate that there is more than one way to view a situation, and therefore more than one solution. Creative children become adults who are open-minded, resourceful, problem solvers with a positive outlook on life.

Adults can foster creativity in children by:

• Allowing children adequate time for unstructured creative processes in addition to a variety of resource to foster creativity. Resources don’t even have to be purchased at a store but could be a box of “found” items to reuse in a variety of ways.
• Providing an appropriate place for the “mess” that often accompanies creative processes. Let them make a mess during the creative process but expect them to clean-up afterwards.
• Allowing children to approach a situation differently than the adult would. Resisting the urge jump in and “fix” it if it doesn’t turn out as they expected. Respect the effort and the original idea.

Creative minds celebrate uniqueness and diversity which will always be a valuable commodity in our unique and diverse world.