"Creativity is the production of novel thoughts and solutions based on experience." The main idea is to use an item in a new and creative way. This time, we built a farm. The ducks in the pond are made from paper plates and colored with the finger paint by Camilla. And we made apple trees from apple, pretzels, peanut butter, marshmallow, and candies: Yummy Trees!
Here are some ideas.
Household
items. A
variety of textures, colors, and scents.
A plastic container that held cinnamon or vanilla will hold
those scents for a long time. Shakers are always fun!
A clear
plastic bottle with some oil, water, glitter, and coloring (with
the lid securely glued on). Pine cones and leaves.
Starting
at about 18 months, toddlers have better hand-eye coordination. This is a good time to
introduce finger paints (or pudding), crayons and chalk. They can develop their creativity by using
paste (water and flour), tearing, cutting, and manipulating play dough or
shaving cream.
Mix
familiarity with novelty to keep these materials interesting. Add toy cars or toy people to the shaving
cream. Small rolling pins,
plastic cutlery and cookie cutters along with the play dough. Boxes and tubes of all shapes and sizes. Figure out what can be
done with the new additions. Include as many real things as safely possible. But be careful not to take over or over-direct their play. However, you can ask questions, label objects and be there to smile, admire and encourage the child’s play.
Fantasy play begins somewhere between 18 & 21 months of age. Linked to creativity and
problem-solving, larger vocabularies, and ability to be more flexible and
adaptable.
Avoid questions like, “What is it?” or “What color is that?” as these
are questions with a specific answer and do not enhance creative thought. Open-ended questions encourage children to
think. Open-ended questions rarely have
one right answer. Ask questions such as,
“Why did you put that there?” or “What do you think will happen if…?”
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