How can I encourage creativity in my children? It always seems to involve expense, mess, and the danger of their poking their eyes out.

Laurie Williams Sowby, mother of four and preschool teacher, American Fork Thirteenth Ward, American Fork Utah Stake Let’s take the “mess” issue first. If an activity is worthwhile, exciting, and fun, then it’s worth a little inconvenience! Besides, some very simple precautions—such as covering the floor with newspaper and using aprons—can minimize the mess and make cleanup a snap. If we are truly interested in fostering creativity, the mess should be the least of our worries.

As for expense, encouraging creativity is not a series of costly projects—it’s a way of life! We can work creativity into our everyday routine at virtually no cost. A parent’s greatest expenditure should be in time spent with a child.

Creativity begins with stimulation of the brain at an early age. Giving a baby a variety of interesting things to look at, listen to, touch, and manipulate helps his brain to begin storing many different images and ideas that he can draw upon later. Parents can make a child aware of how things look, feel, sound, and smell by stressing details and differences in color, shape, texture, and size, and by giving simple explanations of how things work. This builds in the child a natural curiosity for learning, leading him to experiment and make discoveries on his own.

It can be as simple as pointing out at lunch that green peas are round and therefore roll, while cheese cubes won’t; or suggesting to your children, “Look at that tall house. Is it old or new? What’s it made of? What do you think is behind those windows way up on the roof?” The wider a child’s variety of experience (zoo, concert hall, farm, airport, grocery store, etc.), the greater his creative potential, because he has so much more to draw upon than a child who is limited in his sphere of learning.

Creative thinking is always encouraged when it is not discouraged. Imagine, for instance, the child’s feelings when he shows his latest creation, a crude drawing of an airplane, to his dad and Dad says, “Oh! It’s a plane. I see now. Would you like me to show you how a real one is drawn?” Or picture his response when his older brother comments, “What a dumb drawing! Nobody has purple hair!”

A parent who always chooses what the child will wear or insists on decorating and arranging the child’s room to his own tastes is missing a great opportunity to encourage the child to try things his way. A child needs an area to do with as he pleases—perhaps a bulletin board in his room for displaying his art or writing attempts. There is a need for the child to be flexible within his own environment.

I learned from my mother’s example the value of doing projects with children. My children have access to finger paints, play dough, crayons, scratch paper, and a variety of “dress-up” and make-believe props both at home and when they visit grandma.

Our boys bedroom is adorned with plaster-cast knickknacks that they have painted at Grandma’s with water-soluble acrylics. A part of our own home art supply is powdered tempera paint, which I can mix up at a moment’s notice for a little boy who wants to paint the “airplane” he’s hammered out of two boards. (I send him outside to do it, and I can do something else in the meantime. If it looks like he’s working too fast, I give him a smaller brush!)

One night as I was wallpapering my kitchen, the boys (ages four and six) begged to help. As they gathered up the scraps, I got a brush for each of them and filled a cottage cheese carton half full of paste. They headed out to their “hut” under the deck with their supplies and a flashlight, and I could hear them giggling and exchanging ideas as they “papered” the hut’s walls. Occasionally one would express self-confidence by exclaiming, “Hey! That looks nice! That was a really good idea I had, wasn’t it?” (They also had some really good splotches of paste on their jeans, but it washed out.)

The kitchen is one of the best sources of creative materials. Once you accept that the mess is worth it, the rest is easy. One adventurous mother of six occasionally turns the kitchen over to the children for a day. They get everything out of the cupboards and, with a few guidelines from her, mix and match ingredients until the batter tastes edible. “So far,” reports the mother, “we’ve been able to eat everything they’ve concocted.” Rolled dough cut out with cookie cutters is every child’s delight. As my two-year-old cut out his first star, he exclaimed, “I done it!” When I corrected him by saying, “I did it,” he beamed, “So did I!”

Much of the “danger” of creative projects can be eliminated by close supervision of small children and by stressing safety measures as the skill is taught: teach them how to cut with blunt scissors, how to hammer a nail without getting their fingers in the way, and how to saw cardboard with a paring knife. Even preschool children can safely learn simple skills if the instruments are the proper size for little fingers. At age two, our children have started using small, round-tipped scissors: the toddlers sit on the floor with a pile of old newspapers, the scissors, and a wastebasket, and by their third birthday, all have been expert cutters. (Yes, it’s a mess, but part of learning to create is learning to clean up!)

I have seen from experience that a child who has no skill at using scissors, paste, crayons, or paint will not be too interested in creating anything that requires these tools. Take the time to help your child gain the self-confidence that comes with knowing these basic skills.

Of course, creativity is not manifest only on paper, so try some other kinds of activities that stimulate the imagination: role-playing in family home evening; “what if” questions and situations that require alternative solutions; making up songs about the family or some place you’ve been; decorating windows and bulletin boards for a holiday; creating patterns and sewing doll clothes; building a playhouse or hut with large boxes or boards; etc.

The most important aspect of encouraging creativity is building the child’s self-esteem, so he feels his ideas are worth expressing. My own formula for encouraging creativity is half stimulation and half opportunity. And then we clean up the mess.