We all know there are many benefits to exploring creativity with your children. Creativity allows kids to express themselves, explore their imagination and develop essential skills that will help them throughout their lives.
Where better to inspire your child’s minds than in your home where they spend so much of their time? A clean and tidy home with bright colours and lots of opportunity for expression can get the creative juices flowing.
Don’t worry, there is no need to renovate your whole house. You can make small changes that will stimulate creativity every day.
Here are some tips for making your sanctuary the perfect place to spark their (and your!) imagination and productivity.
Inspiration Through Design
Display affirming phrases on walls, hang meaningful art from places you have travelled to or photographs you have taken, and incorporate anything that inspires creative thinking into your décor.
Hang your children’s art, not just on the fridge, but in their bedroom, the playroom and even your bathroom. Make a piece of art that you work on together a focal point in a living space in your house. A great example of this is collecting many different colours of leaves in the fall and making a collage or other work. You can even switch it out seasonally with pressed flowers for spring, a sculpture made of rocks or sticks in the summer and paper snowflakes in the winter.
Write on the Walls
No, really! Earn cool parent points by encouraging the budding artists in your home to capture doodles or ideas on white boards, chalk boards or writable surfaces on furniture. You can purchase inexpensive laminate that can be installed vertically or horizontally to enhance countertops, desktops, cabinet fronts and closet doors with dry-erase capabilities.
You can use them to jot down the thought that just popped into your head, your grocery list, the funny joke you heard at work or an inspirational message to encourage success on a important day.
Build a Comfy Nook
Create a space all their own with a reading or art nook. The corner of a room, under the stairs, a teepee tent or an egg pod chair are all great options for a (somewhat) private place they can go to get away from it all.
All the space needs is a few pillows, blankets, a favourite stuffy and some books. If you have a reader on your hands, let them curl up with their favourite novel. An artist might hide away in their nook with a pad and pencil, and a music lover might escape the bustle of their life with their headphones and their favourite beverage.
Whatever creative way they choose to escape, having a quiet place all their own to do so can go a long way to not only inspire imagination, but also reduce sibling/family conflict and promote good mental health.
Bring Nature Inside
Remember those natural elements I mentioned earlier? It has long been proven that connecting with nature helps us connect with our imaginations. This can be as simple as incorporating a painting or photograph of a mountain scape, adding a tropical houseplant, setting out some wooden artwork, hanging foliage wallpaper or even purchasing a small table-top water feature.
Get Crafty
Having a dedicated space for creative endeavours like writing, artwork or crafts is key to bringing projects to life. Give your family members the opportunity to create their masterpieces with a dedicated desk or craft room. Make sure all the supplies they need are at their fingertips and are organized in a way that makes sense. Sometimes the biggest reason for creative block is not having what you need at hand when inspiration strikes.
Colour can also spark imagination. In a space dedicated to arts and crafts, you can think outside the box and get adventurous with a splash of bright yellow or orange on the wall. If painting is too much of a commitment for you, incorporate pops of colour into your furniture with a punchy chair or vibrant pillows that are easy to switch out.
No matter how you decide to do it, designing a creative vibe in your house requires little effort and has a multitude of benefits for the whole family.