My kids were always outside making things, creating games. Then they came inside and used their imaginations to keep busy. My grandson is exactly the same. Not lacking creativity and imagination in my family

Great tips. It is so important to stay creative

I have told my parent’s in law to not buy our son an ipad, he’s 1 now and were in no hurry to get him one, i’d rather see him entertain himself and play not just look at a screen all the time

Playing outdoors is the best thing for kids to do when the weather is ideal.

Outdoor play is wonderful – use the verge, garden, park and just about anywhere outdoors – on a wet day get outside in boots and raincoat and on a cold day check out footprints first thing in the morning on an oval, it’s great for making a giant picture!

We love getting outdoors and love the new nature scape parks that are being developed in inner city areas these days.

My kids spend do much time outside, making up games and all sorts of creative ways to play outside.

Great article. We have no TV time in the afternoon and my daughter gets to choose if she would like to play with play doh or draw

All sorts of ways. We get outside and jake cubby houses. They have Lego sets. Paints and crayons and glue. They are very arty and I’m renowned fir showing off their creativity

It is so important for kids to be outside!

We definitely need to foster more creative development but perhaps it’s us as adults that need to schedule space for creativity

This is so true that creativity has been squashed in todays society. Dr Yong Zhao does a great lecture on this topic which I have recently attended.

Childhood should be all about creativity. Unfortunately these days it seems everyone is so busy that many just sit their kids in front of a TV for the afternoon.

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  • • mom150983 replied
    • 04 Sep 2015 , 3:32 am

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  That is very true unfortunately

Many children are so busy with extra curricular activities now a days that they have forgotten how to entertain themselves with creativity and individuality. It’s great for kids to experience different things, but downtime is important as well. My children when younger had great imaginations and were all able to find things to do without complaining of boredom. Things like a craft box, old clothes for dressups will keep imagination flowing.

A box fo arts and craft, two tubs of glue, endless supple of paper and my supervision. they make things and tell me all about them. I scaffold their ideas by suggesting certain things look like this or that or asking specific questions that excite and question their curiosity.

We go outside in the afternoon and play.
My daughter chooses which books she wants and we read every night.
She also chooses activities during the day

I encourage curiosity and seeking answers by replying to their question with a question on how they think it should/could be done, what they think the answer is or how could we find out? I always show appreciation of their creative efforts by displaying their stories or artwork and we play imaginative word games.

Creativity is what childhood is about. With not much money my children were able to have lots of fun with things they found. Plenty of time for structured time later in life, the best way to learn is through play.

My boys made a Tee Pee with 3 long sticks and some hessian and had a lot of fun in that – also played in the sandpit and made things out of boxes – you can make a house with a door and a window or a shop with a box that a washing machine or fridge comes in and even decorate it with pictures. Painting and drawing outside things or go on a treasure hunt for different coloured leaves, pods etc, and then stick them on a piece of cardboard all can be fun things.

My boys are very creative and they spend a lot of time out side and inside using there imagination with things around them.