Creativity and Imagination
First of all, the development of creativity and imagination is of great importance for the mental development of every child. The support of parents from the childhood days is also important for the child to discover the areas where he can use his talents best and reveal his creativity. The development of creativity in children is important; because it will affect all areas of your life in the future. The contribution of creativity is of great importance in solving problems, creating alternatives, and having a more productive working life. The most productive period for the development of creativity is the preschool period. As a matter of fact, children’s imaginations are very strong during this period; It is not even clear yet what is a dream and what is reality. (Especially between 2-3 years old). It is very important to allow children to create their own solutions. Children should experiment on their own, discover cause-effect relationships, think flexibly, and develop their own methods and solutions.
What can you do to increase your children’s creativity?
First of all, you should support your children’s active participation in life. When your child wants to buy, find or open something, instead of opening it or finding it, you should help him or her by creating platforms where they can try and learn, sometimes with little hints and sometimes completely on their own. You should make your home and garden a place where they can move safely and behave more flexibly, instead of constantly controlling and restricting your child and saying “no”, “don’t touch” or “don’t” every minute. Especially 2-3 years old is very important in this respect. Because at this age, while teaching your child some limits, self-limitation or control; on the other hand, you need to enable them to experience the freedom that will develop their creativity. It is the most important and most difficult test for parents to give teachings, limits, freedom, in short, everything in balance.
In order for creativity to develop, imagination must also be strengthened. In order for the imagination to develop, it is necessary to move away from passive activities such as watching TV and to active activities such as reading aloud, taking walks in nature, playing selective games. Such activities, especially if they are done together with educational elements, contribute significantly to the development of the child’s imagination. It is very important to share these activities with your child, especially when they are 1.5-3 years old, to play games together, to tell them about what you do, to talk to them constantly, to encourage them to think, and to share them in your daily work. These teachings can make a big difference for language development, socialization and imagination.
Children between the ages of 1.5 and 3 can be easily distracted. Instead of waiting for them to be creative by trying to make them do things they don’t want, if necessary, increase your sharing and communication by being a partner in their activities. Instead of keeping their toys scattered, try to play with a single toy as much as possible and in an instructive way so that their attention does not get distracted even faster. Avoid repeated repetitions of the same toy. Repeated games will become less instructive after a while. Then you can switch to a new game.