Creative kids are so much fun, recounting vivid dreams, drawing and building in interesting ways, and telling wild stories. These kids are often the innovators across industries when they grow up. They can typically think outside of the box in ways others can’t. As Steve Jobs once said, “Creativity is just connecting things.” Teachers can help kids develop these creative qualities by encouraging imaginative play. How? Keep reading.
1. Utilize Outside Time
Free play outside is an underutilized part of childhood that parents and teachers can take advantage of. Some of the greatest thinkers in history spent time wandering and playing outside. It was only a few decades ago when children were still being sent outside “until the streetlights came on.” Sadly, kids today spend a tiny fraction of that time outside. Yet, it’s often the hours in open space that lead to creativity and imaginative play.
Even on the playground at school, where kids are fenced in, their imaginations can run wild. Swing sets can become opportunities to soar into space like an astronaut or fly like a bird. High playground towers can be castles filled with dragons or evil queens. Slides can stand in as escape routes from bloodthirsty villains chasing Robin Hood. Give kids an idea before sending them outside and watch them run with it.
2. Limit Screen Time
One true imagination killer is the screen — television screen, smartphone, iPad, you name it. This is not a lecture on how kids should never have access to technology. Technology has a valuable place in society. But there’s little doubt that watching a screen is a passive activity that requires little to no imagination. Kids are spoon-fed information, and they may eventually stop using their creative skills altogether.
The advice most experts give is to limit screen time to a maximum two hours per day on school days and four hours on weekends. While you don’t have a ton of control over this as a teacher, you can talk to parents. You can also avoid giving homework that requires screen time, and try to keep screens out of the classroom. Engage in discussions, use eye contact, and encourage active play in class instead.
3. Let Kids Be Bored
The biggest challenge with limiting screen time is that teachers and parents worry kids will get bored. That’s the whole point! There’s a general fear of boredom today that simply didn’t exist before the advent of technology. Before, kids would run free and play. If they didn’t, parents would tell kids, “I’ll give you something to do!” (Usually that meant chores.) And kids would head for the hills with the screen door slamming behind them.
It’s a difficult hurdle to get over in the beginning, but yes, you have to let kids be bored. Even in the classroom, you can give them a half hour to just daydream. Let them doodle on paper, free-write a story, or wander the class and investigate objects and wall art. You can provide some basic resources — books, paper, writing utensils, and blocks. You can even offer a list of ideas for what to do during free time to help jog their imaginations.
4. Expose Kids to the Arts
There’s just so much to be said about the value of early exposure to the arts. While it may seem like a practical decision to emphasize STEM subjects and cut art, it can be a devastating one. When children don’t have access to art, often their academics suffer, stress levels rise, and depression is more common. Many times, you won’t see these side effects until later in life, and by then, they may be hard to control. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be that way.
Teachers have a tremendous amount of power in the classroom to expose kids to the arts. You can incorporate music, painting, theater, and so much more into your daily lessons. Teach a part of history and have kids create and act out a play around it. Incorporate music from different genres and periods and have kids recreate the sounds they hear. Any way you can find to bring more art into the class, you’re fostering imaginative play.
5. Read Aloud and Recreate
Reading aloud is a tried and true opportunity to encourage imaginative play. Literally, hundreds of picture books exist for kids to draw from. Read a book in class, show kids the pictures, and then have them “become” the character. As kids get older, you can have them read to the class and act out their favorite parts. Then, you can have them “write” their own version of the story — or a spinoff!
You can also utilize early chapter books and novels without pictures for kids to foster even more imagination. Read aloud a short book with short chapters, one chapter at a time. Stop frequently to have kids tell you how they envision the events unfolding. Have them draw you a picture or describe it for the class. Finally, ask kids to engage in small group discussions and co-write their own novels. Give them a list of ideas to help get them started.
Truly, the possibilities are endless when it comes to encouraging imaginative play for kids. You can never start too early or even too late. Curiosity is a natural human trait, which you can feed with imaginative play. Get kids thinking about the “what ifs” and exploring potential avenues and results. Curiosity and imaginative play go hand in hand and help lead to naturally creative adults — an outcome most teachers and parents are hoping for.