Kids learn the fastest. Their minds are at a growing stage. Adults’ minds are filled with prejudices and past experiences. Starting on a clean slate is always easier compared to erasing a used slate and writing on it. Some skills are easy to learn at a young age and the earlier the better.

Here are some ways to improve creativity and thinking skills at a young age.

Photo by Pixabay, CC0 1.0

1. Do Not Influence a Child’s Thinking

Often, parents, in the name of helping their children, do not allow them to think for themselves. Children need to be made to think, reason out and make decisions on their own from a young age. If they are told every small thing from the time they are young, this will curb their thinking. They will not bother making a decision on their own because they know someone else will make it for them. In the name of making their children’s lives easier and more comfortable, parents end up limiting their creativity and thinking skills.

2. Give Children the Opportunity to Express “Divergent Thoughts”

Parents, most often than not, don’t allow children to express any thoughts which are different from theirs. In the name of “talking back” they do not allow them to express any divergent opinions. By doing this, children will gradually not have any opinions of their own. They will not learn how to judge a situation on their own and make deductions from it since all the opinions they’ve had have all been that of their parents.

3. The Journey Matters More Than the Destination

Everyone these days is focused more on achieving something from everything. They don’t see that what matters more are the experiences you gain along the way. Creativity gets restricted once you focus on the end result and not the journey. Instead of asking questions like “What did you achieve”, questions such as, “Did you have fun?” or “Did you enjoy doing what you did” should be asked.

4. Encourage Involvement in Reading and Arts

If children are not given the right outlet for their creativity, even if they are born creative, this will slowly die. Encouraging children to take part in various art forms like drawing, painting, singing and dancing will allow their creativity to flow. Play games with them instead of allowing them to watch TV or fiddle with an electronic gadget.

5. Allow Them to Be Messy

All moms out there, please don’t close the page and stop reading because I said the unutterable. Hear me out. Allowing children to be messy has been scientifically proven to improve their creativity.  This does not mean that they will not clear up the mess they made; it is just that they will be allowed to make a mess. Have a space in the house dedicated for being messy. They can draw on the walls, play dress up with their dolls, and build towers and skyscrapers with their Legos. Giving them, this space allows them to probe different levels of their creative minds and the best of them will come out.

6. Have A Positive Attitude Towards Their Ideas

When children approach with an idea, don’t trash it down immediately. Think it through, appreciate them for thinking of something and encourage them to pursue it. This will build a sense of self-confidence and want to do more. If their ideas are belittled from the beginning, sooner or later they will think none of their ideas are worth anything and stop thinking at all. Setting aside time to listen to your children is very important, especially when they are young. Their minds will be buzzing with many different thoughts and they need an outlet for this.

7. Exposure

The more people see in this world, the more their minds and their imagination will grow. Take your children out often. It could be just to the park on weekends or a family vacation every year. Make them see different parts of the world, different strata of society so that they will have a complete understanding of the world. Make them read books about the different cultures and traditions of a specific place before taking them there. Their minds will expand to encompass all this which will in turn make it grow into something much greater.

The above ways will make sure that your children are a creative bunch full of zest to introduce the world with something new!