We are so excited to be taking part in the second annual School’s Out blog hop. Bloggers are sharing their top 10 learning activities to keep your child’s mind active this summer. We are sharing our Top 10 Ways to Encourage Creative Thinking.
Why is creative thinking important?
Creative thinking skills help develop intrinsic motivation and help your child become a life long learner. Children should be given the opportunity to seek out new experiences and experiment with new ideas (with adult supervision and support). They should be taught to ask questions and investigate to help develop critical thinking and problem solving skills.
What can I do to help my child?
1. Ask open ended questions. Ask questions that require more than a yes or no answer. “How else could we do this…?” , “What would happen if…” , “What might we add or change”?, “What should we do next”? Click here to read our popular post on “10 Questions to Ask Your Child About their Art”.
2. Offer Choices. Help your child learn to be independent by making their own decisions. Be sure you are okay with either choice your are offering but allow your child to chose and make the final decision.
3. Incorporate creativity. Try incorporating creativity into every day experiences. For example, if you are going out to eat at a resturant take along some paper and crayons and draw together as a family. Have one person start a drawing and the next person must add to it.
4. Dramatic play. Allow time for dramatic or imaginative play. Have your child act like their favorite animal. Try adding an emotion to the animal like a happy cat or sad turtle to change it up.
5. Be an Inventor. Turn a household object into something else. Ask your child “what else could this be used as”? Challenge your child to create new and unusual or uncoventional uses for the object.
6. Allow Mistakes. Use mistakes as opporuntities to learn rather than view them as something unsuccessful.
7. Play Music. Use your bodies to create a rhythm and make up a dance to go with the rhythm.
8. Read Poetry. Change up your reading habits but mixing in poetry during reading time. Stop part way through reading the poem and ask your child what they think happens next.
9. Draw more. Drawing is one of the first ways a child communicates their feelings before learning to read or write. Ask your child to tell a story that goes along with their drawing or give it a creative title.
10. Stretch their knowledge. Support your child’s interests. Take what they love a step further. Look up new books at the local library or use online resources to gain new knowledge. Be sure to use positive comments and open ended questions to stretch their thinking.
These are a few ways you can help develop your child’s creative thinking or problem solving skills.
What would you add to this list?
For more information on developing creative thinking skills check out these other posts,
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These are awesome Jamie! I love the ‘adding emotions while pretending to be an animal’ activity. My little ones would get a kick out of it for sure!!!
Thanks! The adding emotion gives the activity a bit of a twist and makes them stop to think for a moment! 🙂
These are brilliant, so true about dramatic play and also playing music – invaluable as a creative stimulus!
I agree! As a visual person I sometimes forget to include the musical aspect so it was a good reminder for myself too! Thanks for commenting. 🙂
we love the music one. Great post Jamie. I hope more people would try these tips.
Great article. It is more and more important for find ways to encourage creativity in today’s modern world, while everything is pre-made.
Thank you. We agree that is is very important to encourage creative thinking in today’s world. Thank you for sharing.
Get advice! #5 Be an inventor especially, creative thinking requires having an original thought. Using REST (Random External Stimulus Technique) expands the minds ability to be creative. http:// http://www.lateralthinkingcourse.com
Recently, instead of reading a book before going to bed, I made up a story but I asked them to contribute. I would ask them to tell me what would happen next. I would stop after a few minutes and the story would be continued the next evening
What a great idea! Thank you for sharing. 🙂