How Can I Help My Kids (6 and 9) Be Creative Without Being Too Involved in the P

I get out the crafting supplies and make something. My kids join I don't tell them what to make, they decide that.. They see me doing and having fun so they join in the fun. My daughter is more creative than my son but both enjoy a good craft time without being forced to join or make a certain thing.

didn't you just ask this question recently?

didn't you read any of the responses you already got?

i'll repeat my answer- boredom is the best creativity-inducer there is.

stop making suggestings. and stop 'exhibiting your creativity.' if they were going to be miraculously sparked from your sterling example it would have happened years ago.

what's wrong with board games?

do you REALLY think you can 'force' creativity?

you haven't been unfortunate. your friends' kids aren't more naturally creative. you're just too micromanagey.

they won't get creative when the tv and computer are available.

turn them off and get the hell out of the way.

not for 20 minutes. not for the afternoon.

stay. out. of it.

khairete
S.

Maybe you are thinking of "creativity" in terms of arts and crafts projects, but that's just part of it. Not everyone likes to paint and draw. My daughters liked crafts but my son had zero interest. He loved Legos though, and of course that's very creative. So is cooking. I frequently had some or all three of my kids in the kitchen with me. Not just baking cookies at Christmas, but all the time. Cooking is creative AND it's an important life skill.
Beyond that it's okay to have some lazy days and downtime in the summer, but if you don't want "bored" kids you need to get them outside. Go for a hike, go to the beach or pool (we joined a pool and went several times a week, it was great fun and exercise.) Take them to the library, museum, skating rink, movies. Lots of places have low cost or even free days during the summer. We had a Zoo membership for several years that was more than worth the cost, great programs and again, great exercise. Finally, make sure they get plenty of time with friends. We didn't have kids in our neighborhood but we arranged playdates all summer long. When they had friends over they were never bored, and I got some time to get things done while they played.
ETA: NEVER compare your kids to other peoples' kids. They will pick up on your disappointment so just don't do it. Love your children for who they are not what they can do. Help them find their passions by exposing them to many different things, including sports, nature, community service, music, etc.

Same question as you last asked basically.
Did you not like the answers you got before?

If you don't want them watching screens - take the devices away, put plug locks on the tv(s) and toss the kids outside and leave them to figure out how to occupy themselves.
Stop trying to suggest anything.
Stop trying to force creativity.
Stop observing.
In fact - get out of the house yourself and take a cooking class or something so you are not hyper focused on the kids.

Not everyone is creative.
Perhaps the creativity gene skipped a generation in your family and your kids are doomed to become accountants - not that there's anything wrong with that.
Good grief - this one post alone mentions 'creative' and derivatives of it no less than 8 times before I lost count.
Creativity has become an obsession for you and you need to cut out the obsessing already.

You cannot force creativity, and you cannot schedule it.

And you cannot define it. One creative person can do a perfect one-handed cartwheel but another creative person cannot walk across the room without tripping on something invisible. One can make a twelve layer cake, and another can't make a sandwich. Creativity is seeing something (a motor, an egg, a piece of paper, a leaf, a toy, a piece of fabric, some scrap metal) and imagining a different use for it, a different way of presenting it, or how to turn something into something else entirely.

Do your kids eat breakfast? Do they grab an energy bar, or pour a bowl of cereal? Can they make a smoothie out of some fruit and some yogurt? Can they make a pancake, and then return the kitchen to its original clean state? Can they make lunch besides slapping peanut butter on some bread? Do they like cookies? Can they make cookies and come up with fun ingredients (substituting a favorite candy, chopped up, for chocolate chips, for example)? If you prepare breakfast, or set out cereal, maybe you could cook something with them - cinnamon rolls, doughnuts, smoothies, yogurt parfaits, or oatmeal with interesting things mixed in. Get them some kid-friendly cookbooks and stock your pantry with the basics.

Have you ever sat down and really evaluated your kids, by just quietly thinking about what kind of kids they are? Does one of them pair interesting clothing together in wild color combinations? Does one hum along with any song on the radio, in the right key and tempo? Does one mix weird stuff into yogurt and enjoy it? Does one enjoy jumping on a trampoline or dribbling a basketball? Does one like looking at bugs or lizards or flowers? Does one try to plant seeds or keep trying to figure out what's in the middle of an apple or a dragonfruit?

Your children might be very creative, but it might be something you don't recognize. Their strengths may be in an area you never dreamed of. Sometimes we get so busy making sure our kids eat their vegetables and get to school on time and have clean clothes on that we don't stop to really look at them objectively, in order to appreciate what they are really like. And their strengths might not look anything like anything you ever imagined.

Don't try to schedule their freedom to create. And don't label it. Help them to listen to their own hearts and spirits, without your directing it.

I think we answered this the other day, didn't we? What's different about this question and why do you think you will get different answers? Can you elaborate a little more on your concerns?

You can't teach creativity. You can't force creativity.

And you have a very narrow view of creativity. It's more than drawing. It may be designing a structure with legos. It may be turning a refrigerator box into a fort or castle. It may be designing a flower or vegetable garden, a rock garden, a pot of succulents. It may be writing a poem or designing a bunch of tunnels and troughs in the sand at the beach. Maybe it's inventing a game outside or drawing a "town" on the driveway, then riding bikes through the "streets." Maybe it's finding recycled materials to string together to form garlands for your patio or screen porch or apartment balcony. My son and the neighborhood kids did these all the time. Because I got out of the way, and turned off the TV. Try it.

Perhaps you have allowed them way too much zone-out time. You have to get out of the way and stop telling them how to be creative. Even posting the question a second time shows that you aren't thinking all that creatively yourself. Maybe no one let you be you when you were young either?

Your children are individuals. They will have their own talents and expressions. My mom and my sister sew beautifully. I HATE sewing and never got beyond basics. I play the guitar, wrote songs and poetry. Creativity comes in a lot of forms. Please manage your expectations so that your kids can find pleasure in whatever talent they have and don’t feel less than.

They are very young. Expose them to picnics and great books. Reading together is a great way to engage. Cook with your kids, go on walks with them and appreciate creation. Plant a butterfly garden. Have fun and realize some day they’ll be independent and you’ll remember this time of wonder and wish they weren’t asking for your keys to the car.

You can't force them to be "creative," but you can limit their screen/computer time. Most kids, if given the opportunity to use screens all the time, will choose that over just about anything else. I'm fortunate that phone/computers weren't really a thing until about half way through my child rearing years, so my kids did other things. Even my kids have said they are glad that phones and computers weren't as pervasive when they were growing up as they are today.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Limit their screen time, and they will have to come up with other things to do. Provide them with toys, art supplies, books, games, etc., and they will gravitate toward whichever of those things interests them, as long as they don't have the option of screens. If you are going to place limits on their screen time, you need to be VERY consistent, or else they will spend their whole time pestering you to go on the computer. Set times, and adhere to them to the minute. And that means "No son, it's 3:00, you can't 'just finish your game', it's time to turn it off." When your kids know that after 3:00 p.m. (or whatever) screens go off, they will figure out other things to do. If you have been lenient on the screen time, this may take a while for them to get used to and stop hoping you will change your mind, so you will have to stick to your guns. For a while after you limit their screen time, they will just wander around aimlessly not knowing what to do with themselves, until this new reality sets in and they finally start to try out other activities.

Good luck.

Creativity was when they disassembled the neighbor kid's Lego set to turn it into something else!

Your questions are becoming strange because you show no sign of having read the many great answers that people have posted to your other similar questions in the past few days.

This question here, I suppose translates to you saying you are irritated that your children do not show signs of being young painting/drawing artists? Why is that one narrow skill/interest so important to you?

Offer options. They can help you come up with some things they could do or might like to do. Set aside the time you want for this. Not just no tv, but no phones or laptops or games either. Have activities they can choose from during this time. Some examples would be reading, writing, any type of art (coloring books, paint, clay), crafts (you can even buy kits with everything included), building blocks or legos, cooking with supervision, dramatic play (puppets or act out things), exercise or walking or biking with mom, singing along with kid videos, dancing, board games, bubbles and sidewalk chalk, playing with actual toys like ponies or soldiers, etc. Have a brainstorming session where all of you come up with ideas to choose from that you have ready to use each day. When it's time, they can choose one of the activities or just sit and stare at the wall, lol! Just remember no screen time. They will get the hang of it and maybe develop some interests. Certainly they should be able to come up with something to do if you always have a menu of options available.

I don't schedule creative time. I do limit screen time though. I encourage my kid's interests and try to expose them to many different things such as sports, the skate park, skiing, crafts, sewing, painting, gymnastics, swimming, geo caching, spray paint art, dance, pottery, building, volunteering, cooking, gardening, etc. Of course not all these things at once or even the same year! When they really like something then we delve into it more. I encourage by signing them up or helping them get the supplies they need. Also, my husband and I both have hobbies and the kids naturally want to help or do it themselves. For example I like to paint, make tiles, do printmaking, help at the environmental center, and cook from scratch. So I always have some kind of project going on for myself. The kids just tend to get their own projects as well and we will work side by side sometimes. When the kids were younger I would sit them down with newspaper and paints and let them go at it painting (as an example). And I would give them help and tips. As they have gotten older they have their own ideas about things. My 9 year old is really into felting and learning ukelele right now. When she plays with the neighbor kids they do things like set up a lemonade stand or play some complicated game of chase involving two teams. I don't help or involve myself at all. Just so you know if I did not make her get off the ipad she would totally lose herself in it for hours and hours and would not do anything creative. I know this bc my husband will forget and will just let her keep playing on it if I'm not home. I kick her off after and hour and she's done. Do you ever just hang out in nature with your kids? With nothing to do? My kids always find all kinds of cool things to do in any spot in nature. Show them how to build a fairy house. Or give them a tin box and shovel and suggest they come up with a treasure to bury and make a map for a neighbor kid. Go on a picnic by a stream. Bring string and tell them to make pretend fishing rods. If one kids seems interested in a specific thing encourage them to learn more (hit up the library) and become the expert in the family.

Some really good answers below.

When mine were really small, and I had a basic 'routine' to my day, I did have an outdoor time, and we'd hit some place for an outing in the summer, then we would come back and have snack etc. and maybe we had a creative time ... I can't remember - but it really wasn't that structured. I probably pulled out paints or clay or something (whatever we had on hand) just as something to keep them occupied.

Once they hit the iPod/ipad stage, and had more say in what they wanted to do, I don't think it was that structured. I still have the supplies, in a cupboard in our kitchen, and sometimes my kids get kits for birthday presents, etc. We've had Lego take up our dining room before when they had an afternoon playing together (all the kids). It's more up to them - spontaneous I would say.

In the summer, I would say "electronics here" and the afternoon was free of all devices. I didn't want to time their use so it was easier. Then they HAD to find stuff to do. I didn't put stuff out for them. It's here, in tubs, or in their rooms, or wherever - outside, etc. and I'm laid back, if they drag it in, or do chalk outside (one day, the girls colored our swing set with chalk and it just washed off in the next rain storm).

We made those little garden stones not long ago (because my daughter was given a set for her birthday). We have a fairy garden through our woods, so my kids will make things to add to it, like pin wheels (they may get ruined, but so what).

My boys - my 'non creative' son will make a fort.

I'm not fussy, which means I don't care if my house gets turned upside down or they head outside to use our pool noodles for some other purpose.

I think if you 'overthink' it kills creativity :) Good luck

I would just keep letting it be an option. Some kids are simply not that into arts and crafts, but they usually have to do at least SOME of that at school. I don't see myself as a creative person. It's not through lack of exposure but just that I don't feel like I was born that way. I'm just more logical.

Watching tv in the morning is a totally separate question. You can decide not to let them watch tv in the morning and let arts and crafts be one of their options. They may choose board games or legos or outside play instead.

Keep letting it be an option and let them choose for themselves.

i'm going to paste what I already said to you

these are the same kids that tore down a LEGO set?

You're in Hawaii - get your kids OUTSIDE!!! Take them to the beach. Get them OUTSIDE!!!

Enroll them in sports and see what they like. Find a summer camp that has multiple things for them to do and try and get them out there!!

Stop holding their hands. Tell them to go explore. Give them books to read. Take them to the library and have them find books they are interested in.

and now I'll add:
They may not have the same interests as you. You cannot force them to be "creative" - my mom was VERY creative and could sew (as in quilts and blankets as well as clothes) and crotchet and knit....she tried teaching me...I can sew...but as far as knitting? I got to a pearl stitch and that's it....and that wasn't any good...after many times of trying...

So I will say again - ENROLL THEM IN SUMMER CAMPS!!! You need to break the hand-holding habit! You need to stop TRYING to make them like what you like and what YOU feel is "creative".

STOP HOLDING THEIR HANDS!
DO NOT EXPECT THEM TO BE LIKE YOU!!! They will NOT have the same tastes as you.
THEY WILL NOT be you. You are the ONLY "YOU"!!! Accept that.