Promoting Creativity With Fun Activities for Young Children

Parents always use the help of toys to keep their infant or toddler engaged. But most of the toys leave little space for creative development as there isn’t any opportunity for experimenting with the child's ideas. Parents can develop a number of creative activities with a little imagination and patience. Both infants and toddlers prefer to play with natural objects like water or sand.

Infants do not know how to hold a paintbrush, but it doesn’t mean that they can’t paint. Take a big canvas sheet of paper and write down the alphabet (capital letters) on it. Using thin tape cover each alphabet letter and then let your infant paint the entire canvas by dipping his hands in non-toxic paints. Once the color is dried, slowly remove the sticky tape and let him/her examine the paper. Infants will enjoy this activity, while at the same time it will introduce them to the world of the alphabet. Instead of alphabet letters, parents can draw numbers, cartoon characters, vehicles and flowers. For toddlers, use small canvases with one picture on each and stress the alphabet each time while you unmask an object. If they choose the color ‘Red’ to paint, then select the sheet with the alphabet ‘R’ and pronounce it repeatedly while you unmask it to reveal the letter. (The image above is the letter 'A' produced using the above technique.)

Like adults, children love to be appreciated for their work too! This activity provides an opportunity for toddlers to exhibit their talents. Take a tracing sheet and trace any shape or image in it. Let your toddler color it according to his wish. Now place the tracing sheet upside down on a T-shirt or skirt and press the painted picture using a hot iron. As the crayons are waxes the image will be transferred to the fabric. (The image above shows an Umbrella on T-shirt)

Cut chart paper in the shape of book and draw stars, moon, square, rectangle etc. on each paper. Color these pictures with crayons and keep aside. Take a container large enough to dip these square papers and pour some water inside. Add a large quantity of watercolors into the water and dip each paper, one after another and let them dry. If toddlers are using bright colored pictures then use light colored paints to color the paper and vice versa so that the pictures stand out. Bind these papers to form a beautiful book.

Infant-toddler creative activities should be designed in such a way that it imbibes an urge to experiment. Infants are too small to draw pictures; hence parents can draw pictures on paper for them. Cut papers of different colors into very small pieces. Now paint the inside of the picture with child friendly glue. Let your infant sprinkle the paper pieces all over the paper. Lightly shake the paper sheet so that excess paper pieces are removed and the paper picture remains. Frame and hang it on the wall of your infant’s room so that, he/she can enjoy his/her work.

The same activity can be done with sand. Collect sand from the courtyard and allow it to flow through a sieve to make it a fine powder. Let your toddler draw a picture on a big canvas sheet and let him/her cover its body with glue. Now sprinkle the sand over the picture and remove the excess sand by lightly shaking the canvas sheet. Keep aside for one day so that the sand will get completely dried. Color the sand using a brush and watercolors and then frame it. (The image above shows a parrot made using this method).

These creative activities for children are intended to foster the talents of small children. While using these messy but fun activities, care should be given so that your child is not left all alone. These projects are so simple that parents can use them to keep their children engaged, while at the same time children will develop self-esteem by exhibiting the art works they have created using their own imagination.