Children and creativity - t: familien-tips - axa

Creative thinking is becoming increasingly important for professional life!

Everyone is creative. We are even supposed to be most creative in infancy, experts say. Because creativity does not only mean painting pictures or making music, creativity shows in thinking, acting and planning and is fundamentally important for the development of people and even of society as a whole. Often this outstanding ability is underestimated in its meaning and therefore mostly not particularly promoted. Performance is the most requested: at school, at university, even in kindergarten and often at home with the parents. But there are many reasons to support curiosity, inventiveness, productive thinking and imagination early on and during the child’s development. Because: Last but not least, creativity is a success factor!

Creative people are problem solvers, inventors, new thinkers – children too!

Creativity is designing: approaching a thing, trying it out, looking at it from all sides (new) and rethinking. It is the ability to think outside the box, to cross borders, to reinterpret the familiar, to alienate it. To be creative means to change perspectives or to go around and with it other ways. Without creativity there is no problem solving, no inventions, no new ideas.

When you watch children, you quickly notice that they are extremely creative in discovering their (surrounding) world. "The little ones are curious by nature, they want to explore new things and do this in a variety of ways – every day," observes Julia Spätling, a qualified pedagogue and director of the family school of the German Family Foundation in Fulda. The fork becomes a shovel, the mashed potatoes on a plate become a sandpit, a broom a hockey stick, a pebble a puck or a stick a dangerous snake. “The best thing is to let them do it. Developing and reinforcing your own ideas is fun, promotes identity and is good for self-esteem. And: The children are keen on more! "

Crafts, painting, making music – properly promoting the development of the child

Studies show again and again that early handicrafts, works, playing music and drawing can strengthen the development of linguistic and mathematical understanding. Girls and boys who are allowed to discover these areas as independently as possible often have a good sense of space, can think in a networked manner and solve problems themselves. Making music in childhood also demands all the senses and is also good for motor skills, language development, learning behavior and for the health of the psyche.

"It is important in all of this that the playful discussion, finding and trying out are in the foreground – without guidelines, without pressure, without expectations," emphasizes Julia late. So creativity can flow freely and with it the emotions and the own creative power. Because it is not the result that is important, but the deepening of the action itself. "The challenge for us adults is not to hinder the children’s creativity," knows the family counselor. “Because we adults live in solid structures, in our daily routine and in a fixed framework, our creativity has been pushed back. We think our children also need one thing above all: rules. That is only partially so. "

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Not the best are the most successful, but the most creative

Children usually sparkle with ideas and original ideas. The more you let them go, the more. Having your own head, imagination and originality are important qualities to assert yourself in an ever more rapidly changing world and to bring courage to innovate and change. However, with school entry and growing age, the ingenuity often diminishes. Later on, grown-up children try to reawaken their untapped potential with special creativity techniques as self-employed or as employees in conferences, meetings and company talks: to approach problems and developments associatively and imaginatively with experimental thinking and a deviation from the norm and to rethink the old.

Studies have shown that the successful are often not only those with good grades and high intelligence quotients. Teamworkers with creative, practical and social skills are attractive, and lateral thinkers with visions. Exactly such people are also sought in business. Reason enough to focus on creativity alongside pure knowledge transfer!

Our tips – How to promote your child’s development and creativity:

free space! Do not give your child games, but rather put You can use different materials that are not specified in terms of form or function. Do not interfere with your child’s play as much as possible, do not judge and do not pack the days too full with appointments. Creativity takes up space and time. And in addition to privacy, sometimes even boredom. A lot of new things often arise from it!
The ideal environment! This includes a drawing table and a Malkiste with smock, waterproof pad (wax tablecloth), colored pencils, paper sheets, brushes, glitter, sponges, paints and scissors. The painting table changes with one Bastelkiste quickly into one crafting table: filled with different, changeable materials such as fabrics, paper and wallpaper remnants, wool threads, cardboard, sticks, boxes, buttons, silver and gold foil, toilet paper or kitchen towel rolls, corks, cans, egg boxes, feathers, magazines, stickers, plasticine, salt dough , Stencils, ruler, scissors and glue.
A dress-up box with scarves, hats, old clothes, skirts, shoes, carnival costumes, fabrics and wigs invite you to fantasize, slip into other roles and play freely – often even to a crazy magic performance or one Improvisational theater piece.
Accompany your child by encouraging them to do things try. Hold back with suggestions for improvement or “This is how you do it. "Tips. You shouldn’t restrict your child as much as possible.
Get out of the habit! Go Lead by example: make up stories, just walk a different way home, make nonsense with your child, go out into nature together, see what you can get out of pebbles, pine cones, leaves, moss, fruits, Grasses, tree bark, woods etc. can do anything. Lay patterns on the floor, decorate trees and bushes, take the gifts of nature home with you as handicraft material.
Mobile children’s room! With roller cabinets and furniture, towels, pillows, upholstery and blankets, your child can always redesign their room. Let it work and rebuild again and again – the craziest space ships, castles, bouncy paradises, caves and fantasy worlds come out. You will be amazed!
Marvel and rejoice! Hang up your child’s artwork, maybe there is a wall in the child’s or living room that is specially designed for it, and praise it for its ideas.