Homeschooling 101

Lesson 3: Instant Learning Environment: In Your Home!

Fostering Creativity

My husband and I have always encouraged creativity in our children. We both have chosen “creative” careers (me as a professional writer and he as a Chef), and just assumed our children would have the same creative juices flowing that we do, and that things would just come naturally. And then we woke up to the reality of the little blobs of goo we brought home from the hospital, and figured out we would have to help them discover their creative tendencies.

Most of the toys my boys have require that they “think” before they play (legos, Lincoln logs, K’nex.) Having to plan what they will make forces them to use their creative side.

Here are a few tips to help foster creativity in your house.

• Allow them to make mistakes! If you “over correct” your child, they will stop trying.
• Don’t diminish their suggestions. Many times, I have tried to work out a solution to a problem, only to have my six year old look at it say “Mommmy, what about this?” and solve it. If I had constantly downplayed his ideas in the past, he would not have been so willing to offer his solution.
• Allow easy access to “creative” material. We have old magazines, wallpaper books, paint, crayons, glue, scissors, paper etc. in the house at all times. I never sit down with a pattern and say, “ok, today we will make this.” Instead, I say, “What should we make today?”
• Allow them to “think outside the box” when it come to things like legos, K’nex etc. All of the K’nex my kids have came in sets. Never once have they built the things that they were “supposed to” build, but we have always had a house full of some very creative, interesting structures.
• Look at the answer, not the method. If your child arrives at the correct answer, praise the result instead of correcting the way they arrived at the answer. You can always point out the “correct” way to solve the problem, but be sure to offer it as another option, not the final solution. There is plenty of time to teach them the “right way” as your child gets older.

Not everyone is born a Van Gogh or Mozart. But with a little help, they can soon realize their potential.

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