Research is showing that creativity isn’t just great to have.

It’s an essential human skill – perhaps even an evolutionary imperative in our technology-driven world.

The pace of cultural change is accelerating more quickly than ever before.

In times of such rapid change, we need to bump up creativity levels so that we can generate innovate ideas that keep us afloat.

Schools across the world typically encourage students to absorb existing information that is described in their textbooks, and often leave little room for creativity.

This can put some schools out of sync with both global demand and societal needs, leaving students poorly prepared for future success.

What can education leaders do about it?

For starters, they can make teaching creativity a priority.

Here are five reasons to encourage teachers to bring more creativity into the classroom:

1. CREATIVITY MOTIVATES CHILDREN TO LEARN. Decades of research link creativity with the intrinsic motivation to learn. When students are focused on a creative goal, they become more absorbed in their learning, and are more driven to acquire the skills they need to accomplish it.

Students are most motivated to learn when certain factors are present: They’re able to tie their learning to their personal interests, they have a sense of autonomy and control over their task, and they feel competent in the work they’re doing. Creative projects can easily meet all three conditions.

2. CREATIVITY LIGHTS UP THE BRAIN. Teachers who frequently assign classwork involving creativity are more likely to observe higher-order cognitive skills — problem solving, critical thinking, making connections between subjects — in their students. And when teachers combine creativity with transformative technology use, they see even better outcomes.

Creative work helps students connect new information to their prior knowledge, says Wanda Terral, director of technology for Lakeland School System outside of Memphis. That makes the learning even more effective.

3. CREATIVITY SPURS EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT. The creative process involves a lot of trial and error. Productive struggle — a gentler term for failure — builds resilience, teaching students to push through difficulty to reach success. That’s fertile soil for emotional growth.

Creativity gives students the freedom to explore and learn new things from each other, Imbriale adds. As they overcome challenges and bring their creative ideas to fruition, “students begin to see that they have limitless boundaries,” he says. “That, in turn, creates confidence. It helps with self-esteem and emotional development.”

4. CREATIVITY CAN IGNITE THOSE HARD-TO-REACH STUDENTS. Many educators have at least one story about a student who was struggling until the teacher assigned a creative project. When academically disinclined students are permitted to unleash their creativity or explore a topic of personal interest, the transformation can be startling.

“Some students don’t do well on tests or don’t do well grade-wise, but they’re super-creative kids,” Terral says. “It may be that the structure of school is not good for them. But put that canvas in front of them or give them tools so they can sculpt, and their creativity just oozes out of them.”

5. CREATIVITY IS AN ESSENTIAL JOB SKILL OF THE FUTURE. Actually, it’s an essential job skill right now. According to an Adobe study, 85% of college-educated professionals say creative thinking is critical for problem solving in their careers. And an analysis of LinkedIn data found that creativity is the second most in-demand job skill (after cloud computing), topping the list of soft skills companies need most. As automation continues to swallow up routine jobs, those who rely on soft skills like creativity will see the most growth.

“We can’t exist without the creative thinker. It’s the idea generation and the opportunity to collaborate with others that moves work,” Imbriale says.

When students engage in transformative learning experiences that spark their imagination and prepare them to thrive in learning and life, innovation will benefit businesses, technology, and research.

The fusion of creativity and strategic thinking is no longer a luxury but a necessity. While traditional business skills are crucial for maintaining operations and managing resources, incorporating creative skills into the business mindset can be the key to unlocking innovation, fostering adaptability, and driving overall success.

WHAT IS CREATIVITY?

It’s usually defined in terms of imagination and innovation and especially related to the production of artwork.

Yet creativity isn’t necessarily about art per se but is a quality of being artful.

It’s about how we make and weave meaning and richness into our days.

Being creative means possessing curiosity, the ability to observe keenly, and a passion for innovation to move about in space and time in new ways.

It means trying something different, which requires us to take the leap to trust our intuition so we can play in the unknown.

RAISING A CREATIVE CHILD

Children are filled with a sense of wonder, vibrant imaginations, and often a love for adventure and learning.

They naturally dream, play, and create.

While there is research that shows certain people may have a genetic predisposition to being more creative than others, many experts believe that creativity is something we are all capable of and it can be developed and cultivated over time.

We need to continue to nurture our creativity throughout life and it doesn’t need to be reserved solely for artistic expression.

Creativity and innovation is important in technology, business, education, and our personal lives.

There are many obvious ways we can foster creativity in young children.

Modeling creativity through making or creating projects of your own, or exposing your children to a variety of rich experiences through nature, music, performing arts, museums, and books, are great places to start.

Creating an environment, providing materials, and allowing the time and space for creativity is important, too.

Living a creative life is more than just encouraging the occasional craft project, dance party, or science experiment, it’s a lifestyle that is formed through practice and eventually habits are created.

Below, we’re sharing a few ways you can raise a creative child:

1. CREATE OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALONE TIME

Creative children need opportunities for alone time.

It’s not uncommon for children today to be scheduled for every activity in which they could possibly participate, and while this level of participation introduces them to a variety of areas of potential interest, it also allows them very little in the way of free time.

Without enough time for their brains to process thoughts and ideas, these over-scheduled children lose out on the opportunity to passively engage in one of the fundamental stages of creativity.

Parents should remember to include some down time in their children’s schedules so that they have time to think, explore, tinker, and let ideas incubate.

2. ENCOURAGE QUESTIONING

Creativity starts with a penetrating research question, a startling vision for a new work of art, an urgent business challenge, a predicament in your personal life.

Mastering this step means you’re always looking for good problems, always seeking new inspiration.

You know where you’re going, and yet you’re receptive to questions that emerge unexpectedly.

Let your child be the teacher.

Think about letting your child be the guide, director, and teacher, while you try to be a student.

Your role is to provide the environment and to watch and learn.

Try to forget and put aside all the things running around in your mind – all the lists that need completing, all the distractions of your day, and all of the mess that you might be making.

Focus on your child. Watch. Never forget to play – and if you have forgotten how, just watch your child

3. PLAN CREATIVE EXPEDITIONS

Creative Expeditions are dual adventures that the parent and child plan, look forward to, and take together.

A Creative Expedition doesn’t need to be large, but it does need to be festive.

The point is to refill our spiritual coffers.

When looking for ideas for Creative Expeditions, think whimsy, frivolity, fun.

Depending on the age of your children, they may be actively involved in choosing the destination.

4. FOCUS ON VALUES OVER RULES, AND CHARACTER OVER BEHAVIOR

We want to focus on values over rules.

When kids follow the rules, they are basically trying to please adults, which is not good for teaching them to think for themselves.

If they don’t follow the rules, then they rebel.

And you want them to become creative because they are interested in looking at a problem from a new perspective, not because they are rebelling against authority.

You can also help kids think about themselves as creative by praising their character, not just their behavior.

Instead of saying, ‘Don’t follow the crowd,’ you could actually say something like, ‘You are a non conformist, you are somebody who thinks differently.’

They are much more likely to internalize that as part of their identity and they’ll want to be creative again.

5. CREATIVITY IS NOT A LINEAR PROCESS

Cultivating creativity is one of the most interesting challenges for any teacher.

It involves understanding the real dynamics of creative work.

Creativity is not a linear process, in which you have to learn all the necessary skills before you get started.

It is true that creative work in any field involves a growing mastery of skills and concepts.

It is not true that they have to be mastered before the creative work can begin.

Focusing on skills in isolation can kill interest in any discipline.

Many people have been put off by mathematics for life by endless rote tasks that did nothing to inspire them with the beauty of numbers.

Many have spent years grudgingly practicing scales for music examinations only to abandon the instrument altogether once they’ve made the grade.

The real driver of creativity is an appetite for discovery and a passion for the work itself.

When students are motivated to learn, they naturally acquire the skills they need to get the work done.

Their mastery of them grows as their creative ambitions expand.

You’ll find evidence of this process in great teaching in every discipline from football to chemistry.

6. PARENT-CHILD ART COLLABORATIONS: A CELEBRATION OF IMAGINATION

Toilet paper Santas. Valentine’s cards with doilies and red construction paper. Painted stone fridge magnets.

What family hasn’t sat together at the craft table, making wonderful projects from whatever scraps we find around the house?

But have you ever thought about what it might be like to collaborate with your kids more seriously?

Children are known for thinking miles outside the box but too often we limit their expressions to prefab projects and ideas that start with an end in mind.

And on top of that, we find ourselves limited, both by the restrictions of adult life and being out of the habit of imagining.

Diving into the unknown with your little ones can seem scary at first, but the benefits for both you and your children are tremendous and far outweigh the courage it takes to try something really different.

7. CHARACTERISTICS OF CREATIVE CHILDREN

There are a number of very good tests that might help in developing a rubric for distinguishing the characteristics of creative children.

Many of these types of tests are concerned with a narrow range of skills and attributes – divergent thinking patterns; the potential for creative production; or with scoring aspects of thinking like: fluency, originality, frequency, or complexity.

But these tests may be expensive to administer and require highly trained psychometric interpreters to explain the findings.

Most researchers studying this topic agree that perceptions of creativity revolve around the frequency and easy display of many of the above thinking and processing traits.

However, they also emphasize that highly creative people also possess the ability to problem solve – that is to easily generate viable solutions by applying knowledge and imagination in a given situation.

Also, creative people are producers of something that is valued or has worth to others.

Both products and problem solutions are not only novel and useful, but often surprising or non-obvious to others.

While taking all of these things into consideration, with children perhaps an easier way to determine predilection toward high creativity is to simply observe students/children in action, to talk with them about how they think, imagine, and solve problems.

Collecting and examining anecdotal data concerning certain key personality characteristics from teachers, parents and peers can also be very helpful in recognizing highly creative children.

8. CHARACTERISTICS OF CREATIVE CHILDREN: SHORT LIST OF WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR

Highly creative students may:

1. Have the ability to make unusual associations or connections between seemingly unrelated or remote ideas
2. Have the ability to rearrange elements of thought to create new ideas or products
3. Have a large number of ideas or solutions to problems
4. Display intellectual playfulness, fantasize, imagine, and daydream.
5. Are often concerned with adapting, improving, or modifying existing ideas, thoughts or products or the ideas or products of others
6. Have a keen or unusual sense of humor and see humor others do not see
7. Do not fear being different, but may still be emotionally hurt by non-acceptance. Often the importance of an idea outweighs that of peer acceptance
8. Ask many questions at an early age – this trend generally continues past early childhood into adulthood. These are the kids that surprise others with their wonderings
9. Frequently challenge teachers, textbook authors, and those in authority or “experts”
10. Sometimes come up with unexpected, futuristic, bizarre, even “silly” answers or solutions
11. Are sometimes resented by peers because of crazy or unusual ideas and their forcefulness and passion in presenting them or for pushing their ideas on others. In the context of cooperative efforts or groupings, highly creative students may get along or work better with younger or older students, or with adults
12. When completing special or unusual projects or assignments, often show a rare capacity for originality, intense concentration, commitment to completion, and persistence. In essence may be perceived as working hard to achieve personal goals
13. Become obsessed with completing varied projects, or exhibit unusual persistence in completing tasks. It is this obsessive need to complete a task that is so important in differentiating folks with good ideas from those who are truly creative.

Research shows that children are naturally creative from a young age – and scientists agree that kids who remain creative prove to be better problem-solvers and innovators.

These creative kids also tend to be less anxious and more resilient, with a greater ability to express their feelings.

“The more a child believes in their powers of creativity, the more they believe that whatever happens to them, they can overcome it because they can figure out a way to survive,” says Angus Fletcher, professor of story science at Ohio State University’s Project Narrative.

Another major factor for creativity to decline in children as they grow older is how children learn in structured school environments. “Standardised testing, for example, encourages kids to think that there are right answers and wrong ones.” Fletcher says. “That way of thinking negatively impacts creativity, because creativity depends on the brain thinking that there are multiple possible answers.”

SUPPORTING YOUR CREATIVE CHILDREN

Fortunately, those creative attributes that many young children display don’t have to disappear as they grow older.

Researchers from the University of California at Berkeley theorised that a playful protected environment could lead to more flexible, exploratory, and childlike learning—even in adulthood. “Creativity is a skill that can be developed and strengthened over time,” Fletcher says.

It can be difficult to know where to start, so don’t be afraid to use things your kid already loves to help inspire joyful, imaginative play.

Perhaps you could look through books they love, and imagine yourselves in the worlds of their favourite characters.

Or you might nurture their creativity with a subscription to National Geographic Kids magazine.

Each issue is packed with brain-boosting puzzles, games and things to do, and with pages full of wonders from around the natural world, it will help inspire their imagination too!

Here’s how to help them continue to exercise those creative muscles throughout their lives:

CREATIVE SKILL #1: PLAYING ALL THE TIME  

From stacking blocks to kneading clay to climbing trees, creative kids can be engrossed in imaginative play for hours, with friends or by themselves.

“Creativity is something innate in humans, and it’s fostered naturally through play,” says Nancy Carlsson-Paige, author of Taking Back Childhood: A Proven Roadmap for Raising Confident, Creative, Compassionate Kids.

Play is often just for fun, but it can also help resolve upset feelings, conflict or trauma. “It’s giving them an opportunity to re-enact things they’ve experienced that they still need to work through,” she says.

HOW TO ENCOURAGE MORE CREATIVE PLAY

Unlike board games or sports with rules and goals, free play is meant to be unstructured with no real purpose.

Carlsson-Paige encourages parents to allow children to play on their own, even if it seems unproductive. If they want you to join them, let them take the lead.

She also recommends setting up a dedicated play area, even if it’s just a corner in a room. Stock the space with open-ended materials, such as hats, scarves, and costume jewellery from the thrift store; recycled materials like refrigerator boxes and old newspapers and building materials, art supplies, or sets of wooden blocks.

“Any of these open-ended materials will allow for children to make up their own stories and decide from their own creative impulse and needs,” Carlsson-Paige says.

CREATIVE SKILL #2: IMAGINING ALL THE THINGS  

Children are uninhibited and have a talent for dreaming up stories in the world of make-believe, excitedly regaling tales of powerful wizards and dancing bears.

That can serve them well as adults – after all, who imagined 30 years ago that a tiny, magical device would make phone calls, send messages, stream shows and take photos?

HOW TO INSPIRE IMAGINATION IN CREATIVE CHILDREN

Teach children to think of all scenarios, even the far-fetched ones. “Rather than being fact givers and repeating information, parents should provide children with the skills to be problem-solvers and risk takers,” says Rebecca Isbell, author of Nurturing Creativity: An Essential Mindset for Young Children’s Learning.

Start by asking kids open-ended questions. For example, “What if the rain came from the ground to the clouds, instead of the clouds to the ground? How would the world be different?” The child will then have to come up with an alternative to an umbrella or suggest different ideas to capture rain. Or, when you’re out on an errand to the grocery store, ask your child, “If you could invent a brand-new food, what would it be? What would that taste like?” These can be great for breaking up the boredom on a long drive, too!

For a hands-on activity, suggest that instead of buying a birthday present for a family member, the child can create a time machine using only things they can find in the garden. Or maybe come up with a new outfit from materials they can find in a kitchen.

CREATIVE SKILL #3: SEEING THINGS DIFFERENTLY – REALLY DIFFERENTLY  

Ask a child how many ways they could use a cup, and their answers might surprise you: a hat, a hammer, a scoop, a shovel, a drum, etc. “One of the key components of creativity is looking at things from a new perspective and connecting disparate things that might not otherwise connect to come up with a unique or original idea or invention,” says Catherine Thimmesh, author of Girls Solve Everything.

HOW TO ENCOURAGE KIDS TO DEVELOP NEW PERSPECTIVES

Challenge your child to look at things from a different angle or viewpoint. For example, if your child normally walks from the living room into the kitchen, ask them up come up with a new pathway. Add in fun obstacles like, “without your feet touching the ground.”

“Have them think and problem-solve,” Thimmesh says. “Maybe they can get their sibling to roll them into the kitchen, or maybe they’ll put pillows on the floor like stepping-stones.”

Or, if a child likes to picture themselves as a superhero, you can help build their skills by asking them to imagine themselves as the nemesis. What’s different about that person’s mind or how they think? How would this character defeat the hero?

CREATIVE SKILL #4: SUPER STRONG CURIOSITY

“Young children have not been inhibited by the world yet,” Isbell says. “They’re very curious about everything, and they want to know how things work and fit together.” The problem, she adds, is when society’s rules make children afraid of failure and get in the way of that curiosity.

HOW TO INSPIRE CURIOSITY IN CREATIVE KIDS

Show interest in your child’s idea or exploration efforts. “It can help build their creative confidence as they learn that their thinking is valued and encouraged,” Isbell says.

Encourage your kids to channel their inner explorer and think creatively while they’re outside. For example, if your child is looking at a stone on the ground at the zoo instead of the elephants, allow the child to investigate the thing that piqued their interest – and ask them about it, too.

Another way a parent can help is to model how to deal with mistakes. Making mistakes is part of the creative process, and the fear of failure can impede curiosity and innovation. So, ask your child to “teach” you a game or about a project they’re working on. “Then the parent should deliberately make a mistake and patiently let the child try to help them,” says Thimmesh.

Two things happen. The child becomes the expert and feels empowered. Plus, they see that the grownup, who’s supposed to know everything, is still trying and asking questions.

Or you can try the improvisational comedy technique “Yes, and …” in which a stated answer is accepted (“yes”) and the line of thinking can be extended (“and”). Fletcher says this encourages children to gently expand their conclusion or identify a hidden success in what seems like a failure. By not passing judgments on their answers, you’ll create confidence in your child and encourage them to stay curious.