Creative Play for Kids
We teach Art to various age groups of homeschoolers each week. Okay, maybe we should rephrase that statement. We teach kids the ability to explore their God given creativity through art to help them in expressing their heART.
A few years ago, we began noticing that fear and insecurity were issues in every class no matter whether it was a 4 year old or a high schooler. No one was comfortable with creative play or their own creative ability.
The same fears and insecurities were even found in our adult classes!
How could we teach the kids in our Art classes that they all had God given creativity inside them?
What could we do to inspire the creativity already within them to battle the fears and insecurities?
The key to inspire their own creativity was to allow them the permission to be creative and play. That’s why we created Creative Energy Day each month. The play replaced insecurities with imagination and fear with creativity. Because we gave them permission to play with no specific lesson play or agenda, the kids began to explore what they could do rather than allow the “I can’t” to snuff out their creative light. *Post contains affiliate links
Creative play
Each month we discover how 25 artists from Michelangelo to Warhol expressed their version of that month’s theme. Imagine for a moment that we are studying flowers. We research and collect those 25 artist’s work’s of flowers.
When you look at those artist’s works all together, not a single flower is the same.
None of the artists painted or drew flowers that looked like any other artist’s work.
We are all unique individuals fearfully and wonderfully made by a creative God.
You will not paint or draw just like someone else and neither did they!
This also means in our classes, no two kids will produce the same “flowers” or whatever theme we are covering that month. Creative play has taken the fear and insecurity edge off of the kids.
They have stopped comparing themselves or their work to one another and instead are finding their own creativity, encouraging one another and playing or creating together!
We aim to inspire each child to discover their own creative gifts inside of them.
One class each month, we have Creative Energy Day. The kids feel that it should be a national monthly holiday because they love this day so much! It has become something that we too as teachers are cherishing!
What is Creative Energy?
Creative Energy Day is the day that we bring in creative toys and art supplies into the classroom. We give them no assignment, no instruction and no guidance.
We turn them loose to play on their creative side and see what they can create. The room becomes a messy floor as kids pull out Legos, blocks, Lincoln Logs, Magnetic Tiles, and so many more creative toys along with every Art medium we can allow on carpet! (We’ve been banned from glitter….)
Creative thinkers are explorers, inventors, innovators, and problem solvers.
he creativity inspiring toys we use can be found HERE in our Art & Creativity.
Most of the creative toys are things from our own childhood… such as LiteBrites, Etch a Sketch, Play doh or Lincoln Logs.
Our generation didn’t have all the bells and whistles that many kids today have at their fingertips. Before iPads, video games and apps, we had bicycles, mud pies, and paper chains.
Don’t get us wrong! We are not opposed to video games or iPads…. they too have their place in the art world and creativity!
We love games such as Minecraft to help kids visually build and create in a different medium!
Our Creative Energy Day allows the kids to play and discover creativity in new ways.
Imagine still a group of kids turned loose in a room and you’d probably envision a chaotic, loud disorganized room. But that’s not actually the case.
Some days, the room is quiet as the kids are deep into their creative thoughts!
Look through the following photographs for a moment. What inspires your creativity? Is it color? Paper? Gardening? Sewing? Painting?
How you can inspire your children's creativity with a Creative Energy Play Day!
• Collect
Purchase or gather as many Art supplies as you can. If you are a visual person, or have visually stipulated children think about how you display your supplies.
• Display
Set up your supplies in an organized display will help them to feel the desire to return them to their proper places. We eat food that is pretty or looks appealing.
Visually displaying supplies in a way that makes kids want to use them. Organized art supplies and toys don’t feel chaotic, instead they are creative.
Just because we are stirring creativity doesn’t mean we have to explode all over the room!
• Organize
Just looking at the colors, textures and shapes of supplies in these pictures makes you want to go out and make something! Organize your supplies for creativity in a way that inspires you!
Creative play can still be clean and organized! Disney World is creativity everywhere you look, but it is completely organized and runs like a well oiled machine.
Boxes, wood crates, a dresser with drawers, plastic storage containers or even something that goes with your home’s interior style can hold all your creativity supplies.
• Make- Create-Share
When you allow a child or yourself for that matter, the freedom to play, creativity will abound. There are no rules to what your creativity should look like. Instead, just allow the “what if” to be discovered.
If you are asked, “What happens if I mix watercolors with Elmer’s glue?” Don’t answer them. Let them discover the results for themselves.
We just reply, “I don’t know! What does happen when you mix watercolor with glue?”
“Let’s find out!”
Your creative exploration can result in cool new art or flop, but you won’t know until you try!
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Our desire is sharing God’s Word and love through creative resources for all learning styles.
Supplies for Creative Energy Play Day
paper
colored / construction paper
cardstock
scissors
glue
glue sticks
pencils
pencil sharpeners
erasers
crayons
chalk pastels
markers
colored pencils
tape
watercolor pencils
water color paint
paint sticks
acrylic paint
oil pastels
brushes for each paint medium
paint pallets or styrofoam plates
paint cups to hold water for washing brushes paper towels
Ideas for a Creative Energy Play Day
We store all of art supplies in a rolling art supply carts! **Amazon affiliate links
We only have a creative play day once a month. But you could do this once a week or even just a few of the items each week.
For a extra fun creative play day, get together with other moms to share or rotate their creative energy toys!
Give the kids a theme for your day: leaves, flowers, water, clouds, trees… etc. What can they creative with an assigned theme?
Use your imagination and creativity to come up with your own with our Creative Energy Day selection of toys to inspire creativity in kids.
We hope it becomes a day that you and your children make, create, share creativity and make memories together!
To discover the creative child inside of you. Download our free mini course, The HeART of You by subscribing to our newsletter or freebie library!
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