The dragon library book. The one you begged me for. It has been sitting in my car for seven weeks.
It was a DRAWING book. Of all the books for us to bring home, I wouldn’t have guessed my 8-year-old would drag his feet to use it, and I was left with a choice. Cave in and return the book? Or work on sparking creativity in my son? I took a step back from my library-book-returning negotiation skills to asking myself the same question. How could I get excited about drawing dragons? What could we do together by adding a level of excitement and sparking creativity?!
Inspiration left my son as soon as we left the library. I see this more and more with my son, as he gets inspired and comes up with BRILLIANT ideas and has the best intentions, only to get distracted and move on to dare I say it..the iPad?
Below are a couple of things I did when sparking creativity with my son:
- Add a themed snack or complementary meal to an activity: Caleb loves dragons so much, I just happened to have smoothie mix in my freezer that had dragon fruit as an ingredient listed. This happened to be the perfect occasion to bring this out and make our time together special as we drew our dragons. Other ideas: Food that makes “Dragon Breath” like garlic flavor, sushi Dragon rolls (some grocery stores may have a sushi section). Pick foods to fit the theme of your activity or bring out your kiddo’s favorite snack regardless, the activity instantly adds a new level of improvement!
- Take their ideas into account, no matter what! As soon as your child decides to add their idea to the activity, you have won. This step makes the rest come to life. Listen to them and add their idea to the list. Now you have teamwork in sparking creativity.
- Smile! Attitude is everything. Our kids take our cues. For me, I have to constantly put myself in check when I am tired.
- Remember, it’s the little things and you don’t have to go “all out” to spark that creativity. For us, adding a dragon-themed smoothie and playing the “How to Train Your Dragon” show in the background was enough to re-inspire Caleb to draw dragons ALL day long! Well worth the extra effort.
When it comes to sparking creativity in your kids, what would you share that’s worked with your family?
