Children’s imagination and creativity help your children to do better in life. It helps them in their mental and social growth. They create new things and learn problem-solving skills that always help them in life. But, as a parent, you need to nurture your children’s creative potential to let them blossom. 

Why Creative Thinking Skills for Children Matter

A  creative child stays happy and more alert. Creative thinking skills help your children view things in unique ways with better solutions. Your children manage their emotions effectively and develop good social relations. Creative thinking also improves the links between both the right and left parts of the brain that develop neural connections. It boosts memory in your children and also helps them learn new concepts easily. With these skills, your children grow into well-adjusted, and sophisticated adults in the future. Click here to learn more about these benefits.

How to Develop a Child’s Imagination

You can develop your children’s imagination and creativity in the following ways.

1. Tell them Stories

Tell your children stories. Try to connect with your children and listen to them. Let them imagine the stories, the places, and the characters in their minds. Ask your children to give their input to the stories. Then visualize and form the stories together. You can also ask them to draw the above-mentioned places and characters as they imagined. This further gives a boost to their creative skills.  

2. Create Art with Your Children

Create art with your children. Let them draw, paint, build, mold, and sculpt. Give your children free reign. You can help from the sidelines, but let them be on the front and create their own art. 

3. Ask Your children to Try Creative Risk-taking

When your children are busy creating art, ask them to try something new and unique, even if it does not work out. This way, your children get over their fear of failure. They learn to take risks in order to try different things and find solutions from their perspectives. 

4. Learn Music

Learning how to play musical instruments or listening to them helps improve creative thinking skills for children. It also helps develop their logical mindset. 

5. Pick Open-ended Toys 

Give your children open-ended toys to play with. Let them play with these simple toys in different ways. Simple and open-ended toys are all-around. Some examples include building blocks, play dough, and simple animal figures. Your children invent and imagine different worlds and stories while playing with these toys.   

6. Give them Free Reign

Children are curious and explore the world around them. Your children will make a mess and even break some toys. Don’t worry about these small issues and give your children free reign. Let them explore and try out new things that make them more creative and happier. 

7. Create Stories with Your Children 

Children create their own games and stories. Listen to what they have to say. Ask them to tell you the details. Give them some ideas that they can work on. Your job is to help your children and not direct them. Otherwise, they may not be involved with you much. You will be pleasantly surprised by how creative your children are.

8. Create, Not Consume

Limit your children’s screen time. This includes TV, mobiles, and computers. The idea is to help them become creators. To sit in front of a screen, they will only consume content, nothing else. Children are by nature curious and restless. By limiting their screen time, you are increasing their free time. Give them objects to play with. These can be colors, ribbons, papers, crayons, etc. Once involved, they will become irresistible to stop playing. They will create new objects, toys, etc. from these items. It inspires and sets them on their path to creativity. 

Creative Thinking Skills for Children – Games

Here are some of the games that will develop creative thinking skills in your children. 

1. Photo Collage

Get some old newspapers and magazines that are full of pics and images. Ask your children to cut them into bits and pieces. Next, ask them to create some new pics out of these pieces. It could be faces joined to a different torso and drawing beards and facial hairs. Your children can also create a whole new fantasy story out of this. This gives free flow to their creativity. 

2. Make Outfits for Toys

Just like the above way, get some old clothes and gather your children. Let them get their toys and ask them to create outfits for their toys. Help your children measure and cut out the shapes. If your children are small, then just staple the outfits and not sew them. If they are a little older and can handle fine work, you can let them sew. Just ensure that they do not hurt themselves. Ask your children to add buttons and fabric paint any way they want to.  

3. Stage Show

Get safe household items like paper cups, shoe boxes, art paper, old toys, etc. Ensure that these are not sharp or fragile. Have your children make new toys out of these objects. Then ask them to create a mock stage and put on a show. Now, sit back and relax. See and enjoy the characters and stories that come out of their fertile minds.  

4. Brushless Painting

Painting boosts creativity but you can give it a nice twist. Find different objects from your house that can be painted. These include toothbrushes, sponges, a hairbrush, yarn, strings, etc. Get some art paper, and washable paint, and ask your children to paint. Your children will find it fun and figure out different ways to paint. Sit down, enjoy and see the magic unfold. 

5. Art Tour 

Take your children to an art studio, gallery, or museum. Do not force your children in any way. Let your children decide which art piece they like best. Then go together and look at the art closely. Ask your children what they like about it. Let your children imagine a story around that art piece. Ask them to share it with you. Ask open-ended questions to your children about this. Then move on to the next painting. A different story is fine but asks your children if they can connect both the stories together.

6. Nature Tour

This is just like the above but includes nature instead of art. Walk with your children to a park. It can be any wide-open natural space. Let your children collect at least 10-12 objects from nature. These should be different from one another, like twigs, pebbles, a leaf, and so on. After you reach home, gather your children together. Ask them to take one object out of the bag without looking inside. Then let them make a story about it. Have them create the stories till all the objects are picked out. Ask your children to connect the stories together. 

7. Play Charades 

Charades is a fun game where the players have to act out the letters or characters quickly. It is a fast-paced game that children love. Note down some easy words on small pieces of paper. These can be words like kings, tiger, a movie or book name, etc. Gather your children and ask them to take a folded piece of paper. The first player to take it out has to act about the word without saying anything. Keep the time limit at 1-2 minutes. Others have to guess what the word is. After the time is over, then the second player gets to try. This is a fun game that develops creative thinking in your children.   

Final Thoughts

How to develop a child’s imagination? All the above-mentioned games and tasks help in this project. These games and tasks not only keep your children occupied but lay the basis for creative imagination that helps them throughout their life.

Why Creative Thinking Skills for Children Matter

A  creative child stays happy and more alert. Creative thinking skills help your children view things in unique ways with better solutions. Your children manage their emotions effectively and develop good social relations. Creative thinking also improves the links between both the right and left parts of the brain that develop neural connections. It boosts memory in your children and also helps them learn new concepts easily. With these skills, your children grow into well-adjusted, and sophisticated adults in the future. Click here to learn more about these benefits.

How to Develop a Child’s Imagination

You can develop your children’s imagination and creativity in the following ways.

1. Tell them Stories

Tell your children stories. Try to connect with your children and listen to them. Let them imagine the stories, the places, and the characters in their minds. Ask your children to give their input to the stories. Then visualize and form the stories together. You can also ask them to draw the above-mentioned places and characters as they imagined. This further gives a boost to their creative skills.  

2. Create Art with Your Children

Create art with your children. Let them draw, paint, build, mold, and sculpt. Give your children free reign. You can help from the sidelines, but let them be on the front and create their own art. 

3. Ask Your children to Try Creative Risk-taking

When your children are busy creating art, ask them to try something new and unique, even if it does not work out. This way, your children get over their fear of failure. They learn to take risks in order to try different things and find solutions from their perspectives. 

4. Learn Music

Learning how to play musical instruments or listening to them helps improve creative thinking skills for children. It also helps develop their logical mindset. 

5. Pick Open-ended Toys 

Give your children open-ended toys to play with. Let them play with these simple toys in different ways. Simple and open-ended toys are all-around. Some examples include building blocks, play dough, and simple animal figures. Your children invent and imagine different worlds and stories while playing with these toys.   

6. Give them Free Reign

Children are curious and explore the world around them. Your children will make a mess and even break some toys. Don’t worry about these small issues and give your children free reign. Let them explore and try out new things that make them more creative and happier. 

7. Create Stories with Your Children 

Children create their own games and stories. Listen to what they have to say. Ask them to tell you the details. Give them some ideas that they can work on. Your job is to help your children and not direct them. Otherwise, they may not be involved with you much. You will be pleasantly surprised by how creative your children are.

8. Create, Not Consume

Limit your children’s screen time. This includes TV, mobiles, and computers. The idea is to help them become creators. To sit in front of a screen, they will only consume content, nothing else. Children are by nature curious and restless. By limiting their screen time, you are increasing their free time. Give them objects to play with. These can be colors, ribbons, papers, crayons, etc. Once involved, they will become irresistible to stop playing. They will create new objects, toys, etc. from these items. It inspires and sets them on their path to creativity. 

Creative Thinking Skills for Children – Games

Here are some of the games that will develop creative thinking skills in your children. 

1. Photo Collage

Get some old newspapers and magazines that are full of pics and images. Ask your children to cut them into bits and pieces. Next, ask them to create some new pics out of these pieces. It could be faces joined to a different torso and drawing beards and facial hairs. Your children can also create a whole new fantasy story out of this. This gives free flow to their creativity. 

2. Make Outfits for Toys

Just like the above way, get some old clothes and gather your children. Let them get their toys and ask them to create outfits for their toys. Help your children measure and cut out the shapes. If your children are small, then just staple the outfits and not sew them. If they are a little older and can handle fine work, you can let them sew. Just ensure that they do not hurt themselves. Ask your children to add buttons and fabric paint any way they want to.  

3. Stage Show

Get safe household items like paper cups, shoe boxes, art paper, old toys, etc. Ensure that these are not sharp or fragile. Have your children make new toys out of these objects. Then ask them to create a mock stage and put on a show. Now, sit back and relax. See and enjoy the characters and stories that come out of their fertile minds.  

4. Brushless Painting

Painting boosts creativity but you can give it a nice twist. Find different objects from your house that can be painted. These include toothbrushes, sponges, a hairbrush, yarn, strings, etc. Get some art paper, and washable paint, and ask your children to paint. Your children will find it fun and figure out different ways to paint. Sit down, enjoy and see the magic unfold. 

5. Art Tour 

Take your children to an art studio, gallery, or museum. Do not force your children in any way. Let your children decide which art piece they like best. Then go together and look at the art closely. Ask your children what they like about it. Let your children imagine a story around that art piece. Ask them to share it with you. Ask open-ended questions to your children about this. Then move on to the next painting. A different story is fine but asks your children if they can connect both the stories together.

6. Nature Tour

This is just like the above but includes nature instead of art. Walk with your children to a park. It can be any wide-open natural space. Let your children collect at least 10-12 objects from nature. These should be different from one another, like twigs, pebbles, a leaf, and so on. After you reach home, gather your children together. Ask them to take one object out of the bag without looking inside. Then let them make a story about it. Have them create the stories till all the objects are picked out. Ask your children to connect the stories together. 

7. Play Charades 

Charades is a fun game where the players have to act out the letters or characters quickly. It is a fast-paced game that children love. Note down some easy words on small pieces of paper. These can be words like kings, tiger, a movie or book name, etc. Gather your children and ask them to take a folded piece of paper. The first player to take it out has to act about the word without saying anything. Keep the time limit at 1-2 minutes. Others have to guess what the word is. After the time is over, then the second player gets to try. This is a fun game that develops creative thinking in your children.   

Final Thoughts

How to develop a child’s imagination? All the above-mentioned games and tasks help in this project. These games and tasks not only keep your children occupied but lay the basis for creative imagination that helps them throughout their life.