Encouraging Creativity in Children: Importance and Ways to Nurture It

This article discusses the importance of creativity in childhood development and ways to nurture it. It also highlights how schools are killing creativity and how we can change our conception on richness of human capabilities. The article includes a brain test result and ways to encourage creativity among children.

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CREATIVITY DEVELOPMENT
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Creative development
Creativity proves to be the most uncontrolled type of self-expression. For children, the
ability to freely express themselves without being judged is very fulfilling and satisfying.
(Compton, 2010). If a child is able to create something based on their personal experiences and
feelings this can nurture and reflect the child’s emotional health. The experiences that a child has
during the childhood years significantly influence the growth of their creativity. If their self-
actualized activities are upheld at an early age the creativity is developed.
How schools are killing creativity
According to Ken Robinson the education system today values literacy among children
so high as compared to creativity. Ken thinks that children creativity in schools ought to be
valued in the same way as literacy because it’s equally crucial in molding and development. He
also affirms that all over the world, the education system give such importance to some subjects
while others are considered of lee importance. For instance subjects such as language, math and
science are highly ranked ,considered more relevant and given a lot of attention, while any
subject which fall under the category of humanities are less relevant. Again Art and music are
valued than drama and dance arts in schools.
The schools attention has been directed towards theoretical knowledge and left out their
role in nurturing talent and creativity among children. He asserts that intelligence ought to be
distinct diverse and dynamic to be useful and complete. Robinson recognizes that education is
vital in our lives and it’s meant to help us to be ready for future forthcomings. Robinson believes
that for someone to come up with something original one has to be prepared rather than fearing
to make mistakes as they’ll learn from them. In today’s world making mistakes has been

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stigmatized. This has made people afraid of making any self-initiatives thus creativity is
discouraged.
The schools are therefore educating out creativity instead of encouraging it. People who
are brilliant, highly talented and creative people think they are not because they never excelled in
academics (Robinson & Aronica, 2015) . He proposes that we should adopt a new understanding
of human ecology in order to enhance creativity and change our conception on richness of
human capabilities. It should not only be determined by academic success but also by the level of
creativity someone possess.
Also fundamental principles on which we are educating our children should be
reconsidered and use the gift of human imagination wisely (Robinson, Ken, 2011). This way we
can avert scenarios of ignoring creativity in development. We ought to see our creative
capabilities for what they are and the students as the hope they are and to educate them
holistically so that they can be enabled to deal with the future.
I concur with Ken Robinson argument that schools today are killing creating creativity
among the students as illustrated above. It’s evident that creativity in children is not upheld so
much in schools today. In my thinking, schools should be structured in a manner that encourages
creativity. Schools should value creativity, imagination and talents among students in the same
way as other subjects in the curriculum especially in the early childhood development.
Brain test results
After conducting the right brain left brain dominance test, the test results confirmed that
my left brain is inclined. The dominance was rationed as fifty five percent left brain and forty
five percent right brain This according to the right brain or left brain dominance theory implies

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that I could be better in tasks that are analytic, digital, rational, requires order,
objective ,symbolic actions and in significantly good in math (Gazzaniga & Inc., 2015) . On the
other hand it infers that I would have lower ability in errands that involves emotion imagination,
music, creativity, and instinct. It got me by surprise because I always thought that my right brain
was more dominant than the left brain, given that I conduct many operations using my right
hand.
In my earlier interactions with children I seem to have missed a lot in terms of
encouraging and upholding creativity. Having understood the importance of creativity in
childhood development as affirmed by (Beghetto, 2013), I would change my interaction with
children to optimally encourage creativity among children.
First and foremost, I would uphold creativity among children in various ways. One of
them being offering activities based on ideas and interests of the children. This is by attentively
listening to their conversations to help me gain a clear understanding of each child’s way of
thinking. I would also avoid dominating children play so as to enable the children to express
themselves freely without following my directives. This will ensure that the play is based on
their inspiration and not mine.
In addition I will be keen to offer children with a variety of experiences and creative
materials and adequate time to explore equipment’s and follow their ideas. These activities could
include, field trips, music, photography or working with clay, paper water, wire and shadows.
Also I will be open to new and self-oriented ideas and make sure that they have multiple
solutions for an issue. Offering equipment that encourages the child to actively use their
imaginations is also vital in realizing their creativity.

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In conclusion, encouraging creativity is vital in growth and development of any child.
Children should be given a chance to freely express themselves and cheered while doing self-
oriented initiatives through support as opposed to dominating them. Schools and caregivers
should therefore put emphasis on realization of the potential of each child. Emphasis should not
only be on academic excellence but also nurturing talent and encouraging creativity on the
students

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References
Beghetto, R. A. (2013). Killing ideas softly? : the promise and perils of creativity in the
classroom. Charlotte: IAP, Information Age Publishing, Inc.
Compton, A. (2010). Creative development. New York: Continuum International Pub. Group.
Gazzaniga, M. S., & Inc., O. ( 2015). Tales from Both Sides of the Brain. [S.I.] : HarperCollins, .
Ken Robinson. (2011). Out of our minds : learning to be creative. Capstone: Hoboken N.J. .
Robinson, K., & Aronica, L. (2015). Creative schools : revolutionizing education from the
ground up. London: Allen Lane.