7 ways to encourage creativity in your children

Many of us tend to think that a child is naturally creative but creativity is a skill that all children can learn if shown the right way. From a very young age children have the opportunity to develop the skills they need and creativity is a major part of everything we do in life. Exposing children to art in early life will encourage many skills such as logical-thinking, imagination building, exploration and building their self-confidence.

Here are 7 ways to encourage creativity in your child and see them develop those all-important skills that they will need throughout their lives.

1. Take away technology

Technology does not inspire children to use their imaginations or develop their creativity. Instead of watching a television programme, playing on their i-pads, or competing on a play-station, try encouraging your child to discover their creativity as much as possible.

There are plenty of ways to help your child discover creativity such as drawing, painting, reading, play-acting or family games. Children may not be all that keen in the beginning to swap playing on a computer with painting on card but if you can get them into a habit of trying out different art activities, it won't be long before they are eagerly doing it by themselves.

2. Provide them with valuable resources they can use to explore their creative side

Children can get bored easily but making sure they have enough resources to ignite some imagination is not a difficult task. It's a great idea to have an 'art space'; somewhere where they have lots of different resources to get creative with.

It could be a corner with a table and different tools such as paints, crayons, brushes, different types of paper and card, some cutting tools, glue and different art supplies. It could also be a dress-up corner or a corner with different Lego and building blocks. You could try having different corners each week where you change the theme for the week to keep up their interest.

3. Keep art activities appropriate for their age group

It is important to make sure your child enjoys art that is appropriate to their developmental stage. A three year old may not enjoy being taught how to draw something whereas a seven year old may be very keen to learn.

Encourage your child to build their self-confidence by indulging in projects that they are capable of doing and showing them praise for their efforts.

4. Keep it fun and exploratory

Creativity is fun and should always be a natural and exploratory process. Allow your child to express themselves in their own way and encourage them to try different things. Introduce new materials to them and show them techniques they can learn; once they feel comfortable you can move on to more complicated or different art fun.

5. Talk about the artwork they create

It is easy as a parent to compliment our child's artwork without really paying much attention to the detail. However, it is very important to ensure you make good observations about any artwork they produce. Try using descriptive words and phrases and talk about the different colours they may have used. The more descriptive you are about their art the more descriptive they too will become.

6. Give them art projects to do

Keeping your child stimulated is a very important step in encouraging their creativity. One great way to keep them intrigued is to give them new art projects to work on. You could have them design a space rocket, make a bracelet, draw their favourite animal, write their own poem or paint a simple birdhouse. Simply providing them with new materials every now again and asking them to come up with ideas of their own will soon have their imaginations buzzing.

7. Get them an art tutor

Many children love art and are naturally drawn to being creative. If you see that your child needs extra stimulation then a private art tutor maybe just what they need to help develop their skills and encourage them to delve deeper into the art world.