3 Things to Do When Fostering Creativity in Kids

The past 4 weeks have seen me preparing workshops for school children and teens. I was invited to be the resident artist at a secondary school and also a trainer for upcycling for a group of primary school children.  Based on my lessons so far, I have to say that it has been exciting and very engaging not just for me but for the kids. It was definitely a learning journey for me too, especially the things not to do. So I'm sharing them with you in this post.

1. Make It Simple, Make It Relatable

Kids are smart but they can also get bored very easily if you start giving facts and figures. Do away with the long talks and sharing sessions, show an engaging video, play a team building game or even make it competitive.  I was running a 4 day upcycling programme for the primary school and I showed them a short cartoon on t-shirts and their impact, and one on Caine's Arcade.  Which one did they like and remembered?  You guessed it, Caine's Arcade rocked, but even though it was unrelated to the textile activity we were doing, the kids understood how you could upcycle waste materials, be creative and come up with a solution.

2. Make It Fun

Everyone likes workshops that are fun, and that goes without saying!  For the teenagers we explored textile art using shaving foam marbling and jelly printing. Although messy, it's extremely fun for them. I don't think they get a chance to play with shaving foam!

3. Let Them Take Over, Make It Free Flow

I love it when they experiment on their own. We can give them tools and the instructions but if they find a better way to do it then why not let them? We were upcycling t-shirts into a round mat when one of the children said why not make a flower-shaped mat instead? Why not? So this is what we ended up with. Each child dictated what colour and the size of their circle before combining them together.  It was very self-directed! At the end of the lesson, one of the kids said it could be transformed into a box too! Very creative, indeed.

What are your tips? Let me know, I would love to find out.