Creativity in kids
Saw this statement in a website:
‘A UCLA study found that at the age of 5 we engage in creative tasks 98 times a day, while at the age of 44 the number shrinks to only 2!’
As we get older we actually get less creative! Or to put it in slightly different words: we do less activities that stimulate and induce our creativity.
We simply, think less creatively.
The thing is, while it’s good to hear how kids unconsciously engage in creative activities sooo many times each day, parents or adults may unconsciously do stuff to them that may actually dampen their creativity.
Like, when adults ‘offer to hold’ the crayons and do the colouring instead, so that the kid’s activity book looks neat, with all the right colours ‘inside the line’.
Or when adults look at the kids’ messy drawings and instead of giving constructive positive comments, they say, ‘Huh? What kind of a drawing is that?!’
Anya started her Sunday School for toddlers today. Her very first time. And I actually was very keen to see how she’d respond to the activities there.
It felt kinda weird (read: happy in a funny kind of feeling) seeing your own kid attend Sunday School. And I had such a big grin on my face when Anya enthusiastically waved her hands during singing time.
After they prayed, listened to Bible stories, etc … it was activities time. Now, this was when I told myself, no I won’t be tempted to do the colouring for her. I’ll explain and show her how to colour the picture properly but she has to do the rest of it herself. I know it’s gonna look messy, but at least she did it herself.
And she did! (well, the teachers helped a little, but Anya did the rest of the ‘scribbling’ herself)
And as expected, the lines went everywhere. But it was Anya’s own work.
Good on you, kid!
PS: Hmm, but I was the one who wrote Anya’s name on it though. Hehe.
