Creative thinking skills are not just limited to “creative professions” like artists and musicians. They are also essential for a child to succeed in academics- science experiments, solving math problems, art and craft creative activities, and other fields of intelligence.
Creative people have the ability to look at things differently and find better ways to solve new problems. Thus it is important to inculcate creative thinking in early childhood education.
Creative intelligence and innovative skills will be needed by our children for future jobs that don’t exist yet.
Most parents think creativity is an inborn talent, kids are either creative or not. Every kid can develop creative thinking skills in early childhood. So the question is how to develop creative thinking skills in a child?
Including creative activities that encourage problem-solving at an early age 7+ education is important. The creative skills can be developed with fun STEAM activities like invisible ink, balloon activity, building blocks for development, the secret behind a bed of nails activity, etc. These activities help children to gain self-confidence and become self-motivated, plus they will be learning at the same time without even realizing it.
Here are some ways how parents can nurture creative thinking in a child:
Kindle There Curiosity
According to research, a child asks ‘73’ questions in a day which proves that kids are naturally born curious. One way to develop creative thinking in a child is to ask them regular questions so they keep on wondering about their surroundings.
Ask them questions like how rainbows are formed? Can we walk in the sky? Why does the ocean have waves but not rivers? This would also enhance their imaginative skills.
Game-Play Learning increases creative skills too
Every kid loves to play games but they can be a powerful medium to deliver learning as well. Nowadays many education organizations are focusing on the gamification concept that motivates kids to learn by using video games. Children can now develop creative skills by learning things they have an interest in.
For example, GoGamer program by GoGlobalways is an online course in which kids learn to code their own games, animations, and stories.
Encourage Activity-based Learning
The creative intelligence of your child depends on his/her capability of thinking out of the box for the obvious things they usually see. To make your child think out of the box engage him/her with creative activities and games. One way to encourage creative thinking is to include STEAM learning in your child’s education.
STEAM learning is a fun way to understand science, technology, engineering, arts, and math concepts by doing hand on hand experiments with the supplies available at home.
Motivate your child to read
Reading itself is known for its creative activity. The habit of reading a variety of books boosts imagination power and creative thinking in a child’s mind. So, it becomes important for parents to limit the TV and video game time in order to make space for extra-curricular activities.
Encourage them to find multiple solutions for every problem
Whether it is a math problem or a real-life issue it is important for kids to understand there are different ways to solve each problem. For example, if 5+4=9, then in how many other ways the same answer 9 can arrive. It could be 8+1=9, 10-1=9, etc.
This would enable a child’s mind to look at things from different perspectives and even solve those problems which do not have a clear answer. This is a great way to nurture creative thinking in a child.
More ways to nurture creative thinking in a child:
- Making art projects using different materials like food items, broken toys, or any other materials.
- Go on a mini field trip with your children to places like museums and ask them questions about what they find exciting? What did the sculptures in the museum represent?
- Listing to music in different beats, tones and languages can also naturally trigger creative intelligence.
- Watching or playing sports with your child might help in developing creative thinking. You just need to ask them the right questions such as what skill is involved in a game. How is a particular player game different from others? How much force is used to score a goal? This would encourage them to explore more about body movements which are also important to develop creative intelligence.
- Brain games support a child’s attention and concentration skill. Playing education games like sudoku, puzzle, and word hunt can improve a kid’s analytical thinking, creativity, problem-solving, and also make them confident in life.
These are some simple ways to get parents started by encouraging creative thinking in early childhood education. In the age of Artificial Intelligence and technology, the innovation and creative skill to develop new ideas hold the most importance as man-made machines of today can never invent new things.
