Raising Your Children To Be Creative In This Technology Soaked Culture
If you’ve been in the toy department lately, you’ll notice that those brilliantly raucous new toys seem to be taking over all other games. These bright and loud toys all seem to squeal and screech, drawing your youngsters near, hypnotizing them until their little eyes glaze over.
So, what happens to those of us who want to raise children with imagination and curiosity? We make a choice. We fill our houses with some good old fashioned toys to counteract all the technology our children will be faced with day after day. Let’s start with the basics.
Books – Can any house have enough books? Make sure your house has a nice selection of great fiction and non-fiction books alike. A mix of the two is important so kids can choose, and so that they see they have a choice. Some homes lack a good supply of non-fiction books, especially during the pre-school years. There are enough suitable books in science, history and art to fill the bookshelves of any age child’s room. Your non-fiction library will not only be interesting to your inquisitive child, but will be a good base for learning to research material later in their school years, and beyond. Fiction on the bookshelves spurs the imagination and helps the not-so-eager reader stay interested long enough to learn that reading is important, and fun!
Building Blocks and Snap Together Toys – Building structures and knocking them down is a great way to spend precious time with your child. As your child grows, the building blocks and Legos become more sophisticated, but never lose their appeal and fascination for children. Faced with a pile of blocks, your child’s imagination swings into gear, anxious to create something unbelievable. You’ll see towers, cities, critters, houses, bridges, and all kinds of crazy things appear before your very eyes. Be sure to ask your child what the structure is, what it does, and even what name it has. If your child builds a city, spend some time asking your child to find the city on a map. Once located, ask your child about the people and places in the new city. Your interest and your child’s natural curiosity will create a learning experience that’s priceless.
Art Supplies – Bring out some crayons, paint, kid-safe scissors, paper, glue, and even junk mail, and go to town! Even sidewalk chalk can be inspiring to kids. Give your child a place to draw, cut, and paste and you’ll have a busy, content, and creative child for hours. Vary the art materials often to keep your child interested. You’ll never know what sort of art projects your child may enjoy creating unless you provide a lot of different things from which to choose. This does not have to be expensive. Reusing paper bags for drawing is one way to stretch a dollar when creating an art project. Look around your house and see what you have that could be turned into art. Newspapers and magazines headed for recycling may provide your child the inspiration for a new art project, and at a bargain. Please SUPERVISE closely if you don’t want your child to have a self-induced bad haircut or attach the dog to the artwork!
Felt Story Boards – Telling stories is another way for children to use their imagination and creativity. A story board is easy to set up and use, even for the youngest storyteller. You’ll begin by making or buying a board. To make your own board you’ll need a large sheet of felt attached to a sturdy surface, like a painter’s easel or even a wall. You’ll find felt at craft or fabric stores. Buy a nice supply of colorful felt to be cut up into basic shapes for the younger child and more sophisticated props for the older child. A very young child will amaze you with their ability to create objects with just a few basic shapes. Have them tell you a story about each creation, as you may not realize what it is until they tell you! Your older child can research characters and props by looking through books and magazines. Encourage your child to not only design the characters and the settings, but to tell you the story, act by act.
Musical Instruments – Whether your musical instruments are home-made with a comb and wax paper or store bought, making music is a wonderful way to spend the day together. Teach your child that music can be made from anything, from an old oatmeal container, to scratching two pieces of sandpaper together. You may want to listen to music together and try to pick out the instruments that are making the sounds. Get some sheet music or song books and teach your child about what the notes represent, and if you don’t know, learn together. Simple bells can be strung together to create a one-of-a-kind instrument. There’s even music in nature. Go on a walk and just listen to the sounds of the world — music is everywhere in our lives.
Pretend Dress-Up – Pull out a big box of dress-up clothes, and your child’s imagination will kick into full swing. Fill that box with discarded frilly dresses, fancy shoes, goofy blazers, and silly ties, and let the fun begin. If your closets are not full of this stuff, you may want to give the second-hand stores a look. I’ve found the more garish the clothes, the cheaper they get. And the gaudier they are for the kids, the better they like them. Watch after Halloween for the lowest prices and purchase a few costumes for your dress-up bin. When your children start throwing themselves into dressing-up, the stories of who they are and what they’re doing start to develop, usually turning into a production of sorts in which you, the audience, is now invited to attend. Enjoy the show!
Doll House Decorating – If you are lucky enough to have a doll house already, you may want to help your child redecorate it. With just some simple craft and scrap items you find around your house, your child can create an interior to a doll house that might become a family heirloom. Whether that happens or not, just working on putting finishing touches to a doll house sparks the imagination. Then, when the dolls move in, listen to your child as the dolls are moved about inside the house, chattering away about their days. You’ll be a part of a magical world inside that doll house and you’ll be grateful that your child is sharing that world with you. You may not understand the world your child has created in their mind, but it will be good for some laughs and hugs.
Hand Puppets – There are all sorts of ways to create simple puppets. Your child can draw features they like on an old sock and it becomes a sock puppet. A pile of popsicle sticks can become a family of puppets when faces are drawn, cloth is glued on for clothes, and yarn is glued on for hair. You can even use an old pair of gloves. Just cut off the fingers of the glove and decorate to look like people, aliens, monsters, or animals. Your child’s imagination will run wild if you just get out the box of materials needed. Then, it will be time for you to sit down and enjoy the show!
In the Kitchen – Kids love to play in the kitchen, usually right under your feet. So, why not make that fun creative? While you’re mixing and pouring, give your child the same “pretend tasks” to do. Bubbles are a great way to entertain children, and the fun lasts long enough usually for their fingers to get all pruny. Just a couple plastic bowls of bubbles and a few plastic utensils will keep a young child occupied and fascinated for a long time. Another fun food choice is puffed rice cereal. Again, just some plastic bowls and utensils on the kitchen floor, and your child is creating a masterpiece of a meal in their mind. You’ll just need to plan on clean up afterwards as this will create quite a wonderful mess!
Your imagination as a parent is what will help your child develop their own imagination. When you create an environment for exploring the world, you are giving your child an opportunity to use their mind. Technology will always be there, but a child’s imagination is a changing and growing thing. You’re making it possible for your child to soar!
