A
report released today by the University of Edinburgh shows that
creativity in children has seriously declined in the last 30 years,
meaning they might lack essential social and interactive skills
necessary for success in later life, veering Britain towards a
creativity crisis.
In
response to these findings, Mini Babybel has launched a campaign
encouraging families to get creative and have fun doing so. Fronted by
celebrity dad Jeff Brazier, the campaign is set to raise awareness of
the importance of creativity in a child’s development, highlighting ways
parents can actively encourage children to use their imagination in
order to help the next generation be successful.
Despite
a third of mums and dads worrying their children aren’t spending enough
time being creative, 1 in 7 parents spend less than an hour a week
solely dedicated to their children’s creativity needs.
Knowing
how to encourage creativity is a parenting skill that 1 in 3 parents
would like to improve upon, especially as 48% of parents noticed a
marked improvement in their children’s behaviour when they set them
inventive tasks.
To
help parents encourage their kids to be more creative, Professor John
Davis has suggested a list of 15 things parents can do with their
children, designed with creativity and fun in mind. The list can be
found at
www.babybel.co.uk.
THE MINI BABYBEL GET CREATIVE LIST
1. Provide
quality/rich creative environments: Continue to give children
opportunities from the earliest age to be creative with everyday things
in the home – what would they like to build with cartons, plastic
bottles, kitchen roll tubes and cereal boxes?; what collages or pictures
would they create with cut outs from old magazines?; and what shaped
bubbles can they make from soapy water?
2. Children
should experience opportunities for collaborative creativity: Encourage
children to talk about and share their ideas with one another in
creative ways using rhymes, songs or make believe stories -
teachers/parents should go with the flow and play off the child’s view
3. Parents
can encourage everyday creativity into home routines e.g. finding
different ways to measure quantities for baking. Letting children try
out their own ideas for recipes and decorating cakes may not taste the
greatest, but you can have fun conjuring up your child’s unique
creations!
4. Arts
and Crafts don’t have to be expensive – what shapes and letters can you
make with old wrappers, gift paper and clothing? Ask children to use
different textures for different letters to create a fun, textured
alphabet
5. Why
not challenge older children to think about local issues they find
important and how they can make a difference? They could develop a
poster to send to a local MP or councillor to give them another prod
about that new play equipment or sports pitch that they are always
promising to do something about. Older children love a sense of
responsibility and you will be amazed at their creative solutions
6. What
about role play and drama ? – can you use household materials to make
hats or masks? Ask children what their hat would be about and then
encourage them to create a role play game with their friends/school
mates – alternatively they could use dolls or play figures
7. Pretend your coat is a magic carpet – where in the world will it take you?
8. On
rainy days, blow up a balloon and have a quick game of keeping the
balloon up using hands, arms, feet, toes, heads, noses, knees – it’s a
great way to teach young children different words, to develop hand/eye
coordination and to keep older children fit (and much safer than the
football!). With older children you could add in a bit of numeracy by
rolling a couple of dice to see how many times you have to keep the
balloon up
9. With
older children you can also develop a creative enquiry activity. For
example they could do a green zone audit of your home and make a plan on
how it could become more environmentally friendly – a trip to the local
library might enable them to find out some top tips or a look online if
you have web access
10. Plan
play that involves some ‘risk’ – outdoors, children will encounter
nettles which might sting and most children may trip when playing. Could
you play a ‘who can see the tripping spot’ game at the local park or
ask your child/children what they would like to do outdoors? The skill
is to talk about, understand and plan the risk involved in play – can
you encourage your child to self-assess the risks e.g. when climbing a
tree can they judge when they can climb themselves and when they want
help?
11. Celebrate
the benefits of learning by doing, using scenarios and joint solving of
problems – for example, you could set your children the task of going
with you to the supermarket and staying within a budget – the activity
could start with them having to make a map from memory to direct you
there, you could also play ‘I spy’ on the way
12. Children
enjoy building strong creative relationships with their friends. Many
children’s party games involve a single winner, however the idea of
fairness can be encouraged when children win together. For example,
using different coloured sweets (or cakes/biscuits) and a set of scales,
two teams of children put on or take off 1, 2 or 3 sweets on either
side of the set of scales. The teams win when they balance the scales
and each get to share and eat what is on their scale
13. Young
children love meeting other children and somewhere near you is a local
park with, for example, a sandpit that provides a great place for kids
to get stuck in and really enjoy themselves!
14. Children
will be inventive with whatever they find, making drum sticks out of
pencils/pens, and drums out of toys – the noise can be off putting but
stop and think for a minute – are you really feeling that uncreative or
can you join in with a makeshift tambourine and encourage them?
15. Parents
and Teachers need to value ambiguity, ask open ended questions,
encourage experimentation, model creative working, appreciate unexpected
contributions, value fantasy/imagination, allow children to take
charge, discuss conflicting/connecting ideas and promote persistence –
so next time your child comes back with that onerous homework activity,
avoid getting tired and grumpy and view it as just another adventure on
the road to creativity!
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