The Factors of Creativity

Did you know that there are actual creative thinking skills that you can encourage in your child? They include fluency, flexibility, elaboration and originality. Below are just a few fun exercises that you can do to practice creativity!

Fluency: Thinking of many ideas. What do you think of when I say the word sun? Ex. beach, yellow, ocean, sunscreen, sunglasses, umbrella, snow cones, etc. What do you think of when I say the word Autumn?- fall leaves, pumpkins, pumpkin pie, fall colors, etc. This just warms up the brain and gets it moving!!

Flexibility: Involves fluent thinking, but takes thinking a step beyond. Flexible thinking involves being able to change ideas. Question your child about new uses for everyday things. For example, ask "What is another use for a hanger other than hanging clothes?" You can use it for a mobile, as a shovel to dig dirt, to comb your pet's hair, etc. Have your child search around the house for everyday objects and have fun creating new uses for each object.

Elaboration: adding details. Elaboration is an important skill, especially for writers who need to add interesting details to their writing. Here are a couple of fun ways to encourage elaboration through the use of art. Draw a shape for your child. Have your child add details to create something new. Their square can become a house, a present, a television, etc. For older children, talk about how to use elaboration to make a sentence more interesting. For example: I saw a tree. When did you see the tree? What color was the leaves? Were there any animals in the tree? What were you doing when you noticed the tree? An example of a more creative sentence: As I was walking to school, I saw a tree filled with fall colors.

Originality: creating something unique and brand new.
Create an original song, poem, or creation with recycled materials. Even your little ones may be able dictate an original song. You will just need to write down their words for them.

For more information on Creative Thinking, visit the following links!
Why Study Creativity?
Children and Creativity Resources

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
Edward de Bono