While the lockdown has brought families closer together, keeping children occupied and busy has proven to be the second biggest challenge of the day! First challenge being what and how to cook differently to keep children nourished and satisfied. Thinking on your feet or Creative Thinking as a life skill is definitely the need of the day, not just for parents but also for children.
The ability to see situations and things from different perspectives which leads to finding creative solutions is referred to as Creative Thinking. It may not always be possible to think creatively at all times but with some practice thinking clearly can be mastered. Especially in children, as they have fresh and open minds; starting now will equip them with this very important life skill. Here?s how:
One of the most reliable techniques is Mind Mapping. It is a way of linking and inter-linking ideas and concepts. The topic has to be mentioned at the centre, and the radiating ideas need to be written around the main topic. The main idea is that every single idea should be noted without any judgement.
Are you familiar with Edward De Bono?s 6 Thinking Hats? This popular technique is used worldwide to make decisions. Each hat represents a direction. This is a great technique to steer a conversation in a direction. When you want the child to state facts and information, you can ask the child to wear a white hat, similarly, for emotions wear a red hat, for evaluation wear a black hat, for logic wear a yellow hat, for creativity wear a green hat, and for control, a blue hat can be symbolically used.
This technique is another successful technique which can be used to encourage creative thinking. This stands for seven thinking approaches, namely Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate and Reverse.
Pick any two random words and ask the child to make an association between them. You can use a dictionary or randomly pick two words online. You could even write words and pick two chits to create an association.
This is a great technique to communicate your ideas. Once you list all the ideas in your mind, you can quickly organize the ideas and shape them.
Through this technique, you can show the child to list the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This step can be used to analyze various situations and mitigate risks.
Children have a knack of getting lost in their dream world. You will see them pretending to have a conversation and engaging in play. This helps them to come up with new ideas and situations. The next time you find your child pretend to play, let them continue with that.
Allow your child to come up with any creative way of doing things. Don?t tell the child to colour the sky blue, probably for the child the sky is yellow. The idea behind abstract painting is to let the child see the world through her or his eyes.
Encourage the child to say whatever the child feels ad thinks. Children have a way of weaving stories. Storytelling is their imagination at play. They need a space to talk and know it is a safe space, and only then will they express their individuality.
You can help the child exercise their creative juices by giving them actual or make-believe scenarios and asking them for a solution. You?d be surprised how innovative children can get. This is not an activity to make them give right or wrong answers but to get the children to think.
Follow these techniques one by one or in combination, as each child is unique and there is a guarantee you will never hear ? I?m so bored? from your child again!
" />While the lockdown has brought families closer together, keeping children occupied and busy has proven to be the second biggest challenge of the day! First challenge being what and how to cook differently to keep children nourished and satisfied. Thinking on your feet or Creative Thinking as a life skill is definitely the need of the day, not just for parents but also for children.
The ability to see situations and things from different perspectives which leads to finding creative solutions is referred to as Creative Thinking. It may not always be possible to think creatively at all times but with some practice thinking clearly can be mastered. Especially in children, as they have fresh and open minds; starting now will equip them with this very important life skill. Here?s how:
One of the most reliable techniques is Mind Mapping. It is a way of linking and inter-linking ideas and concepts. The topic has to be mentioned at the centre, and the radiating ideas need to be written around the main topic. The main idea is that every single idea should be noted without any judgement.
Are you familiar with Edward De Bono?s 6 Thinking Hats? This popular technique is used worldwide to make decisions. Each hat represents a direction. This is a great technique to steer a conversation in a direction. When you want the child to state facts and information, you can ask the child to wear a white hat, similarly, for emotions wear a red hat, for evaluation wear a black hat, for logic wear a yellow hat, for creativity wear a green hat, and for control, a blue hat can be symbolically used.
This technique is another successful technique which can be used to encourage creative thinking. This stands for seven thinking approaches, namely Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate and Reverse.
Pick any two random words and ask the child to make an association between them. You can use a dictionary or randomly pick two words online. You could even write words and pick two chits to create an association.
This is a great technique to communicate your ideas. Once you list all the ideas in your mind, you can quickly organize the ideas and shape them.
Through this technique, you can show the child to list the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This step can be used to analyze various situations and mitigate risks.
Children have a knack of getting lost in their dream world. You will see them pretending to have a conversation and engaging in play. This helps them to come up with new ideas and situations. The next time you find your child pretend to play, let them continue with that.
Allow your child to come up with any creative way of doing things. Don?t tell the child to colour the sky blue, probably for the child the sky is yellow. The idea behind abstract painting is to let the child see the world through her or his eyes.
Encourage the child to say whatever the child feels ad thinks. Children have a way of weaving stories. Storytelling is their imagination at play. They need a space to talk and know it is a safe space, and only then will they express their individuality.
You can help the child exercise their creative juices by giving them actual or make-believe scenarios and asking them for a solution. You?d be surprised how innovative children can get. This is not an activity to make them give right or wrong answers but to get the children to think.
Follow these techniques one by one or in combination, as each child is unique and there is a guarantee you will never hear ? I?m so bored? from your child again!
" />