Costometic

Blocks are considered the perfect creative learning toys, since they allow children to build without direction or boundaries. In a recent study at the University of Washington in Seattle, US, researchers gave families with toddlers a set of wooden blocks and suggestions for “blocktivities” they could do together. Six months later, the kids with the blocks scored 15 percent higher in a language-development test than a control group of children who did not have them. But building toys are just one way to unleash your child’s imagination. To raise a creative child, you need to think out of the box yourself.

1. Schedule downtime

Set aside at least an hour a day for unstructured play with your child, even if it means cutting down on his other activities. Do not set an agenda - let your child lead you.

2. Be a Curious and Adventurous Family

Spice up dinner time by serving a new food once a week. Visit a new park in your town instead of the same old playground. Walk the long way home from the market and point out surprising things you see along the way. When you approach the unknown with curiosity and a keen eye, you will teach your kids to do the same.

3. Try Reinventing Everyday Objects

Ask your child to help you get together some empty cardboard cartons. Have her pile them up to make a fort or a building. Put some pulses in a bottle and let her use it as a noisemaker. Or make a puppet out of an old sock. Soon your child will start coming up with her own creative play possibilities.

4. Get Out of Your House and Explore

Take a barefoot walk across different surfaces - damp grass, warm pavement, dry sand - and ask your child how each one feels. Or have your little explore look under leaves and rocks and describe what he finds. Take along a box so he can save his booty for future art or science projects.

5. Unplug Her Play

To reduce TV viewing, keep your set in a closed cabinet and stash the remote out of reach. Cut down on the electronic toys too. Basic games are best: Play peekaboo with your baby and let her bang pots and pans to make music. Cut window flaps in a cardboard box so your toddler can pretend that it is a house or a bus. Or put some water in a small plastic bucket and leave out some washable baby dolls, a towel and fresh outfits so your preschooler can pretend she is bathing her baby.

6. Tell Tales

Hearing you make up stories gives your child the tools and inspiration to come up with his own flights of fancy. Use different voices for each character. Once your child knows a tale well, have him invent a new ending. Or make up a story together - you start and have him take over when he is ready.

7. Set a Silly Example

Wear a plastic tiara when you do the laundry or a chef’s hat when you cook. Change your voice and behavior to match the costume. Seeing you having fun will encourage your child to try on different personalities too.

8. Get Together With Other Kids

By age two and a half, your child is ready to play with children, not just alongside them. Children around her make her explore her own fantasy world, negotiate for toys and turf and make friends on her own. Do not plan activities or interfere with her play unless it is really necessary (such as when one child is being too rough).

9. Expose Your Child to The Arts

Taking your toddler to a museum can get him excited about drawing his own masterpiece. Music provides a creative outlet for a child’s emotions and helps coping with the stress.

10. Choose a Preschool Very Carefully

There is nothing wrong with teaching a preschooler the ABCs and 123s. But stay clear of programs in which
kids spend most of the day following a set curriculum, Young kids do best in a play-based learning environment - says David Elkind, Ph.D., author of The Power of Play. Make sure your child has lots of choices - such as making art projects, putting together puzzles and building castles. Ask the teacher about her philosophy, she should avoid stepping in and suggesting what to do unless a child asks for help.

11. Teach Your Child Emotional Resilience

Teach your child to look at the funny side. Blunders happen but that should not bring a quick tear. When 6-year-old Franny Perl’s ice-cream soda - a root-beer float - was knocked over by the wind at the beach, her mother, Erica, came up with a word to describe the event: ‘a floatknocker’. “Someone shared his drink with Franny, but what really cheered her up was using the word ‘floatknocker’ over and again”, says the mom from Washington D.C., US. By using humor creatively, Erica showed her daughter how to bounce back from disappointment. You can be equally witty and tickle your child’s funny bone. Smile and say, “That’s what I call a real butterscorch” when your child is upset that her butterscotch ice cream has melted in the heat or “pudding puddle” when she has accidentally split her pudding on the floor.

12. Take Toys to the Park

Playgrounds are great for getting your kids exercise, but they may not have the tools to spark their imagination. So pack colored chalk for drawing on the pavement, soap bubbles for blowing and toys for sharing. You might also bring along face paint so you can transform your child into his favorite animal and have him act out the part.

13. Nurture Your Little Picasso

Art helps to bring out your child’s creative potential so encourage her to draw and paint. But pre-cut shapes and coloring pages are not always a great idea because they tend to restrict a child’s imagination. It is a good idea to set aside an area where your child can draw, paint and sculpt whenever she wants. Beth Lerman turned part of her garage into an art studio when her daughter turned 3. “There’s a big workbench with paint, rolls of white paper, glitter, glue sticks, brushes, markers, crayons and other supplies”, says the mom from Dallas, US. “It is Jamie’s favorite place, because she can be creative and make a mess”.