The Importance of Creative Kids

Inside: I wanted to figure out about the world of creative kids – what creativity even is, what makes a child creative, how to cultivate creativity at home, and how to raise kids who are curious about their world and use that creativity for good.

This is also a kick-off to a mini-series on creative projects we have been working on during quarantine! All the other posts in the series are linked at the bottom of this post.

“The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind—creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers.”

― Daniel H. Pink, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future

My boys and I were all sitting around the kitchen table starting school for the day. One was working on the computer. Another son was writing his word and sentence of the day.

My toddler hasn’t started school yet so he was getting ready to create art. I put an over-sized piece of paper, stamps, markers, scissors, and a box of colorful masking tape in front of him.

He started out by writing on the paper and putting tape on it, which is what I expected for him to do. But after leaving him alone for a few minutes, he did something else.

Grabbing all the rolls of purple, green, pink, blue, white, yellow, and black tape, he began to stack them up to make a huge tower. After he ran out of rolls, he used a marker as his sword watching the tape disperse all over the table (and his brother’s schoolwork).

This went on for a good 40 minutes!

Then after that activity, he proceeded to dig through the costume bin to find a Vikings helmet. Instead of becoming a Viking, he took one of the horns out, turned the helmet around, and became a rhino!

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I couldn’t help but start to think about creative kids, what creativity is, how parents can cultivate creativity at home, what hinders creativity, and how useful creativity is in life.

Also, I’m a huge proponent of makerspaces and STEM projects so I figured I’d kick off a Creative Kids Series of projects we have been working on with this post on creative children.

What is Creativity?

Before learning about child and brain development, when I heard the word creativity, I thought of drawing, painting, writing, making music, and making crafts. However, it’s so much more than crayons, markers, and glue when you look at different disciplines that study it.

By definition, creativity means, “the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination.

Wowzas! That’s loaded.

I’m a visual person so this infographic made it easier for me to grasp.

Cognitive science defines creativity as a characteristic that produces new and useful ideas. The kicker is for it to ascend from imaginative to creative means that the idea isn’t just thought of but acted upon. Creativity is both thinking and producing. 

Positive Psychology views creativity as a core character strength and synonymous with originality and ingenuity. The definition is similar to what I stated above in which it says that creativity is the ability to come up with novel and productive ideas in order to conceptualize and achieve goals. 

When it comes to creative kids, the way I think about it is perfectly stated in this quote by Maria Montessori,

“Nothing should be given to the brain that is not first given to the hand.”

When kids can take an idea and touch it, mold it, and explore deeper, creativity begins to emerge.

Why Creativity is Imperative

Hands down, creativity is important for children whether they are born creative or not because it helps with self-expression and supports emotional and mental health. 

Being able to tap into creativity increases the quality of a child’s life all the way into adulthood. It is actually proven to increase longevity as well. 

Kathryn Haydon, author of “Creativity For Everybody” says, “Creativity as a strength is fail-safe because everybody is creative. To be human is to be creative. Creative strengths are human qualities that support creative thinking. Every person has unique strengths in creativity even if a person knows they have them or not.”

Creativity gives all people young and old confidence and tools to live a fulfilling life. If I asked you right now what you want for your child as he or she becomes an adult, I’m sure the answer would something along the lines of “be happy.” 

Creativity is the gateway to that happiness if used in a positive way.

The Importance of Creative Kids

Kids are either born creative with divergent, imaginative, out-of-the-box thinking or they are not. However, children can learn how to be creative even if they are not naturally wired that way. 

Characteristics of Creative Kids:

Creative kids tend to have:

• Creativity awareness
• Independent thought and the need to do things differently
• Insight (a-ha moments)
• Significant and detailed imagination
• More open-minded thoughts towards the opposition
• Self-actualized abilities
• A love for abstract objects and thoughts
• Strong work ethic 
• Innocence
• The ability to make unusual connections between unrelated ideas
• The ability to rearrange ideas to create new ideas or things
• Endless amount of ideas or solutions
• Unusual sense of humor
• An inquisitive mind 
• A need to challenge adults

Allow your creative kids to push boundaries but remember to set limits! Provide environments that allow for positive expression in those qualities. 

Creativity can manifest both in positive and negative ways. When kids are creative in a negative way, redirect that into a positive. 

One example of negative creativity is drawing on the walls. Redirect that behavior by painting a walk with chalk paint so they can use chalk (only on that wall, of course!) or dry erase paint to use markers (which may be a little riskier). 

How to Cultivate Creativity At Home

Creativity cannot be taught, but we parents sure can cultivate it in our kids!

To start, we need to be aware of creativity. Hopefully you are now if you’ve gotten this far. We also need to embrace novelty and new ideas, ways of thinking, mess and projects. 

Offer Choices and Opportunities

Any chance you get, offer your child a choice. This can be from what your toddler wants to wear for the day or what activity your elementary child wants to do if they are bored. Kids thrive on being autonomous so let them run free within the limits and values you have set for your family. 

In addition to choice, present creative opportunities as often as you can such as: 

• Have materials on hand in an easy to reach spot (as long as your child is responsible enough to use those materials). 
• Include creative time into your daily routine or summer schedule. 
• Help your child learn how to play a musical instrument through choosing a school that teaches it, sign him or her up for lessons, or teach it yourself. You can also try Piano For All or Rocket Ukulele).
• Take your child to museums or makerspaces.
• Choose a school that celebrates creativity.
• Sign your child up for (free or paid) art lessons (check out Creative Bug), coding classes (like UCode) or robotics classes.
• Take your child to the library to pick out books on creative mediums he or she is interested in.
• And more!

Embrace the Mess and Ambiguity! 

Just like with, “First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby with a baby carriage”, with creativity, it’s, “First comes creativity then comes exploration and invention, next comes a huge mess in a chaotic environment.” I know it doesn’t rhyme but you get the point. Ha! 

In all honesty, exploration, inventive thinking, and creation comes with messes that we should embrace. 

An important part of this is to make sure you give your creative child the tools to clean up when appropriate. Cleaning and organization require executive function skills which many creative kids typically are developmentally delayed in acquiring.

That doesn’t mean they should leave messes everywhere though! Instead, work with and teach your disorganized creative child the skills he or she needs to organize and clean up after him or herself! 

My creative child cannot organize his thoughts let alone organize a room so instead of getting frustrated, we have come up with a system to work together. Because honestly, it would be way easier if I just did it myself.

Related: 4 Easy Steps For Teaching Life Skills to Kids

Provide a Workspace or Area For Creative Time

My sister-in-law and brother-in-law transformed their formal dining room into a process art studio. It is the coolest space I’ve ever seen in a home. They have incredibly gifted and creative children who FLOURISH and stay busy for hours in that room. 

Unfortunately, we don’t have space in our home, but we do have a way to turn our kitchen table into a little creative space. 

Back Off! 

Of course, I’m saying that in the most loving way from a friend to a friend.

In order to foster creativity in our kids, we need to give them the space to be creative.

Have you ever found yourself correcting a piece of art they are making to look exactly like the protocol or telling your kids what they are doing wrong? With creativity, there is no right or wrong, and the more we interfere with the process, the less creative our kids can be.  

Creative Kids Have Special Strengths

Another reason why creative kids are important and why we should be celebrating them instead of sending them to the back of the room in a classroom or getting frustrated is because of the strengths that lie within their soul. 

I recently connected with Kathryn Haydon of “The Non-Obvious Guide to Being Creative” who also fights for people’s strengths in this deficit focused world. She has a Creative Strengths Spotter using Gary Davis’s extensive research on creative characteristics. 

I wanted to include it in this post so you can find out what your child’s super power is!

Often times creative characteristics can be seen as a problem or challenge (especially in a traditional classroom!). Instead, help your child figure out what strengths he or she beholds and you will see confidence, new ideas, more adaptability to change, and you will watch your child rise above the status quo.

When kids feel understood and heard, the unwanted behaviors dissolve and the good choices rise. 

Read Next: How to Handle Parent-Child Conflict To Avoid Permanent Emotional Damage

The 16 Creative Strengths

As you can see, characteristics of creative kids are also mostly core creative strengths. 

Creative Kids Can Change The World

When creativity is harnessed and fostered in a way that celebrates instead of alienates kids, magical things can really happen. 

Children can use their powers for good and be a big bright shining light in the darkest parts of the world we live in. 

What Are You Doing To Foster Creativity In Your Child’s Life? 

I would love to know how creativity is released in your home. And as always, I’m incredibly thankful if you share this with your mom groups or on social media. Thank you!!!

Check Out These Other Posts In The Creative Kids Series:

• Process Art: Paint Rockets Activity
• Engineering: Engineering Inflatable Project For Kids
• Art & Engineering: Super Simple Kaleidoscope For Kids