Text by: Amy Huntley
I love to encourage Creativity in my children. I think it is a great skill to have that can guide you through a successful life. It’s the way that child interacts with the world around him and it’s the way she grows in developing important of social, emotional and educational skills. Sometimes parents need help teaching creativity to their kids.
So how can your encourage your child to be more creative?
1. Turn off the television and computer screens. Nothing can hamper a child’s creativity more than toys that entertain. Kids now-a-days have access to entertainment 24 hours a day. Gone are the days where kids played outside, entertaining themselves from sun up to sun down. When I was growing up my mom had to force us to come inside when the sun went down. Today we have to force our kids to get outside.
2. Encourage your kids to get messy. Gather up your craft supplies or random items around the house and encourage them to create. Many times as moms we are afraid to let our kids make a mess. Sometimes the best way to learn is to let them do it themselves. If that is too scary for you as a mom, roll up your sleeves and create right along side of them.
3. Sometimes kids need a little help to get their creativity flowing. Suggest different ways for them to express their creativity. If they enjoy cars, encourage them to build a road for their cars with some tape. Or create a city on a canvas drop cloth.
Or if they enjoy bugs, create a scrapbook for them of pictures with their latest bug captures. Encouraging them is a great way to help them to get excited about the new project.
4. Let your kids be individuals. This one can be a tough one for me. I have to really force myself to let my kids create things in THEIR way. Stand back and let them do it how they want to do it. Everyone is different and kids need to be able to feel like their way is just as important. If a kid wants to color a picture of a barn rainbow colors instead of red…let them! (or vice versa)! There is not one correct way to CREATE something.
5. Provide a place and supplies for your children’s creativity. You don’t need all the latest and greatest supplies. Sometimes the best creations come from a bucket of water and some dirt. A little dirt is not going to hurt your kids. Let them get dirty and then let them run through the sprinklers or the hose before coming back inside.
I recently teamed up with Blog Frog to become an Odwalla Smoothies for Kids Ambassador over the Creativity section.
You can join me and the other Ambassador’s over in the Goodness Grove where we discuss a wide variety of ideas and questions that concern all of us as women and mothers. This community is a great place to ask questions all about kids and healthy living. I am there to help encourage and get women thinking of ways to get creative to give their kids a good start. Come join us! By simply joining in and asking your own questions you could possibly win a $1,000 shopping spree.
And have you tried these new Odwalla Smoothies for Kids? They taste great and come in 3 great flavors: Strawberry Banana Jungle, Mango Pineapple Island, and Grape Berry Prairie. Odwalla Smoothies are made with 100% juice and count as one fruit serving and they are gluten free. I like that they are such a quick way for my kids to grab a snack as we quickly head from school off to ballet or soccer practice. You can download a coupon and give them a try here. They can be found in the refrigerator section of your local grocery store.
I hope you will come and join me over in the Odwalla Smoothies for Kids Goodness Grove.
Please reply with some of your fun tips for giving your kids a good start and be entered to win a $200 gift card. Official Sweepstakes Rules.
Odwalla has asked me to be a Good Mom ambassador through BlogFrog. I am being compensated for my participation in the program but all opinions expressed in the post are my own and not those of Odwalla or The Coca-Cola Company.
About author:
Amy Huntley is the owner/author of The Idea Room. A mother of five, who enjoys sharing her love of all things creative in hopes of inspiring other women and families. Follow along if you like what you see here.
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