How to Cultivate The Power of Imagination In Your Child

In recent times, however, more and more children have got into the habit of watching TV in their free time, and they have few chances to exercise their imagination. If you don’t want them to keep the spark within them alive, here’s how you can boost your child’s creativity.

• Reading has been considered a great activity for children and adults alike. In children, specifically, it helps them visualize the world and the characters they’re reading about. To make things more fun, you could also read to them at bed time.

• Writing is yet another great exercise that gets the creative juices flowing. Get your kid to write essays, stories, poems, journals - anything that will require them to use their imagination. Writing also encourages clear and logical thinking, which is an added bonus of this activity.

• Have them draw something from memory - maybe an animal, a place they visited recently, their grandfather’s new car, or a dress they saw in a shop window. This exercise enhances both recall and imagination as the child has to paint a picture from what he remembers.

• Ask them to describe something minutely. It could be their last picnic or a birthday party they attended. Doing so helps children visualise a specific event and recall the smallest of details.

• Make them listen to music with closed eyes. This might sound odd, but doing so allows a child to imagine what a song would look like, including the lyrics, the singer, and the instruments being played.

• Ask them a lot of ‘what if’ questions. The questions could be of any kind – logical, absurd, or funny. The point is to make them think outside the box and have them come up with creative answers.

• Get them to spend time with creative people. Seeing an adult who freely uses imagination to deal with problems gives them a sense of confidence and assurance that they’re doing the right thing.

People say that you’re either born with imagination or not. It cannot be cultivated. We believe that there are ways in which children can be taught to use their imagination. All you need are the right tools and techniques and before long, your child will be exploring a whole new world beyond this one.