Creativity comes naturally. To be creative is being unusual, unconventional, innovative and go beyond the common. As children are the fastest learners due to their curiosity and playfulness, hence developing creativity in children is easiest.
Creativity is being imaginative and inventive, and to be able to make a diversion from the usual. With creativity one adopts new situations and can change the way one view the world. Being creative means the extent to which the ideas or results are valuable, innovative, and new and go beyond the routine.
Since children have a clear, unpolluted mind, they are more creative and view things differently. Children behave as creative thinkers when they transfer knowledge and experience, gained from one context to another. They explore the world around them by discovering things for the first time, as their minds are not cluttered with set templates of past experiences. Helping them to express and identify their creativity by providing them with the opportunities to express their own ideas and thought process, develops creativity in them.
To be creative it is important that children develop some personality traits :
1. Thinking free : Like all of us children need thinking time. They need to be alone while their ideas immerge. It sounds confusing and frustrating to others but once the idea comes, the child will become absorbed in the activity.
2. Humour : Children find humour in ideas which adults think to be serious. This ability is taken mocking by elders.
3. Day dreaming : Children learn through fantasy .Letting the mind wander can help imagination to create wonders.4. Activity : Indulging into different activities give them several ideas to create things on their own.
5. Intrinsic motivation : Self motivation leads children doing differently.Parents and teachers have an impact in the development of children's creativity. To develop creativity the atmosphere should be playful, joyous and enjoyable for the child. We adults have strong feelings and want children to fit into them, thereby curbing creativity in them.
Some measures can be adopted :
Posing questions : Asking questions like "What happens if...."? , "What do you think...."? is one of the common ways to get the children to think and establish something they already know.
Elder's attitude : Children become creative if they feel loved, trusted and cared, gain the confidence and courage to create.
Timely encouragement : Try listening to the child without being judgmental. Encourage ideas, experimentation, exploration and innovativeness in children.
Be a Role Model : Share your own interest and creativity and take pleasure in the interest of the child. Honor his curiosity and craziness.
Don't be a perfectionist : Expect the children to be wrong at several times. Except less than perfection from them. Children do not distinguish between fact and fantasy, dreaming and waking and wish and reality. This frame of mind is essential for creative thinking.
Monitor the environment : Children require some time for themselves where limits are set on their behavior. Bedtime can be the good opportunity for creative expression through storytelling. Excess consumption of television and today's push on being busy block the creativity in a child.
Hobbies : Pursuing hobbies like drawing, painting, singing, dancing and mind games are good examples of creative - solving problems.
Communication : By good communication children are able to demonstrate their curiosity and express their ideas.
Developing creativity in children is the easiest if they are nurtured well psychologically, they can do wonders. Parents and teachers can play a vital role in developing the creativity of their children and make them better world citizens.
For more ideas on creativity and innovation go to http://www.creativitygap.com . The owner of the website, David Bain believes in enhancing and developing creativity of every individual in the world by new methods.
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