Empowering Imagination

EMPOWERING IMAGINATION CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT TO NURTURE CREATIVITY As a child moves from being an infant to a toddler to a kid brimming with energy, it is up to the parent to provide them with an environment that allows their imagination to expand and grow. What steps can you take to assure your child has every chance to be creative? EMBRACE NATURE In an era of endless computer screens, it is important to show your children there is more than the digital world. Give them every opportunity to breathe fresh air. PLAY OUTSIDE GAZE AT THE SKY + Balancing, jumping, running + Show your child the universe and other outside activities can through a telescope. Nothing fills the help a child forge his or her mind with more wonder than the own path. brilliance of the stars at night. LESSONS THROUGH CAMPING + Family camping trips will put your child in situations that require problem-solving and imaginative thinking. EXPLORE THE ARTS As less and less money goes into public school arts education every year, it is up to the parents of this generation to give artistic instruction inside the home. MUSIC, MUSIC, EVERYWHERE NURTURE WITH NARRATIVE + Bring music into the home by + Appropriate storybooks, movies singing to your child or from and videos can encourage children vinyl or an iPod. to think, question, and organize events analytically. + Introduce your children to musical instruments as soon as + Storytelling expands both the possible. This exercises the creative and analytical parts of the creative brain like no other brain, and exposes children to sights activity. never before seen. GREATING WITH HANDS + Whether it is through building blocks or a watercolor set, give your child every opportunity to make and create. PLAYTIME IS IMPORTANT The natural world and the arts can give a child fuel for their imagination, but you must give them the opportunity to put it in action. JULY Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat TIME TO LET'S GET THEATRICAL SOCIALIZE + Play dates are important + Encourage your child to put on because they give children time a play in the home. Learning to explore and communicate a play's well-written lines provides with their peers. "furniture for the mind." ALLOW FOR MAKE-BELIEVE + Playing house, or doctor, or chef, helps children explore how the world works, and encourages them to transform it into what they would like it to be. ADDITIONAL TIPS: * GREATE GREATIVE SPACES Have areas in your home that are solely for unstructured play. Allow these areas to be home base for exploration, innovation, and creative thought. EMBRACE FAILURE Don't scold your child when they fail. Rather, help your child to learn from those mistakes, and to understand that failing is a natural part of life. DISAGREEING IS OKAY Your child isn't you, and you aren't your child. Innovation isn't possible without divergent thought, so allow your child to be an individual, and not a mini-me. Childhood is the prime time for fostering creativity. Give your child the tools to succeed and the environment to grow as a free and imaginative thinker. n/ova NATUR AL + http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/raising_happi- ness/post/7_ways_to_foster_creativity_in_your_kids + http://www.brighthorizons.com/family-resources/e-fami- ly-news/2014-nurturing-creativity-and-imagination-for-child-development/ + http://www.novanatural.com/