Keep Kids Creative Week in September

With television, computer games, video games, movies, and more, at their disposal, today's children don't have to work very hard to have fun. It seems like everyone in the world is competing to entertain them! But that isn't necessarily a good thing, When children only have to look as far as the TV or the computer screen to have a good time, they don't need to use their brains or their imaginations. During Keep Kids Creative Week, September 21 to 27, lets encourage kids to exercise their minds and create their own fun!

The first thing you can do is visit Bruce Van Patter's website. Bruce Van Patter is an author an illustrator who created this holiday week in order to encourage kids to use their imaginations and find their creativity. On his site, Van Patter lists many ideas and websites that can help your entire family to get their creative wheels spinning!

Parents and caregivers also need to provide children with supplies for creativity. How can we do this? Here are some tips.

Provide novel art supplies that kids will be excited about using. Poster boards, sparkly or scented crayons and markers, oil pastels, paints, glitter glue, feathers, craft sticks, Magic Noodles... all of these are examples of supplies that can motivate children to experiment with their own creativity.

Or, have your kids create their own art supplies! The website Artists Helping Children lists many recipes for art and craft supplies that kids can make themselves.

Get notebooks and pens, and invite children to write their own stories. If they're too young to write, they can still draw pictures, and dictate to you what to write down. If kids have trouble coming up with ideas for what to write about, suggest that they write about a dream they had! You'll be amazed at what they come up with.

Supply kids with dress up clothes to play with. Resale stores are great places to find inexpensive but fancy dresses, suits, hats, shoes, and jewelry. Ask friends and relatives to hand over their older kids' outgrown Halloween costumes, as well! Suggest that your kids put on a play together, with you as their audience.

Listen to different types of music. The car is a great place to listen to new CDs together. Instead of buying new CD's, consider checking them out at the library. You'll be able to find all sorts of music! When you listen to music at home, invite your kids to dance!

Kids can also make up their own music. Resale shops or pawn shops are great places to buy genuine musical instruments. Or, create your own! Pots and pans make great percussion instruments, as do oatmeal containers filled with noodles. Let your kids come up with their own ideas for making musical instruments!

When choosing toys to give children as gifts, look for toys that don't make their own noises or move by themselves. Kids can be more creative when they have to control what their toys do. Magic Cabin is a great place to find toys that allow kids to use their imaginations.

Take your kids outside to play. Get them out hiking in the woods, playing on the beach, or jumping around in the leaves or the snow. Without any toys or games to amuse them, kids will often naturally come up with their own imaginative things to play with! Keep Kids Creative Week is a great way to start kids off at being creative. Hopefully, we can keep them creative all year long, as well!