Spark Your Toddler’s Creativity And Imagination

By age six months onwards, your toddler has become even more curious about his surroundings, experimenting on various things, putting on his mouth whatever he gets his hands on. It is by this time that you see that your baby is excited to explore the world around him. It is also by this time that you have to level-up to more advanced ways to hone two of the most important aspects of his overall development—his creativity and imagination.
One effective way to stimulate your kid’s creativity is to fill his world with colors and shapes. Redecorate his baby color themed nursery by painting the walls with vibrant colors and maybe even turning it to a mural wall painted with kid friendly characters and drawings. Adorn his room with decorations of various shapes, colors and sizes.
Give him toys that will incite his creative imagination. Building blocks are ideal toys for this age, not only because it works to improve fine motor skills but also encourage your kid to use his imagination to build. Stacking toys such as stackable cups and pails are also exciting for your kid and will also be good for the stimulation of his creativity.
Do toddler art projects with him. Who says a toddler like your kid is too young for an art project? There is no age limit for anyone who desires to be a Picasso or a Van Gogh. However there are appropriate art projects for every age especially for kids. For your toddler kid, you can engage him in a little painting session. Paint his feet and hands with non-toxic, water-based and hypoallergenic poster colors and have him put his hand and foot marks on a piece of paper or canvass. This will not only spark his creativity but also elicit giggles from him. Just be sure that you clean him thoroughly afterwards and that he does not put his hands in his mouth during the activity.
Encourage imaginative pretend plays. You may not find your toddler zooming around pretending to be Superman like his older kid brother but it doesn’t mean that he can’t engage in his own kind of imaginative pretend plays. As early as now, you can encourage pretend plays by playing with your kid. For example, you can pretend to be characters in a story, use his Baby Einstein puppet to act like a wizard while you are the princess and your toddler is the hero of the story.
Read books to him. Toddlers are fascinated with books especially those that have vivid and colourful visual prints and images. Engage him to browse at these books while you go on to read to him the adventures of little duckling or the classic Pinocchio. Remember, even though you’re toddler is too young to completely comprehend an entire story, this is a stepping stone in stimulating his imagination.
Your toddler has untapped creativity that needs to be honed. It is up to you as parent to awaken his creative imagination, and help him make it bloom and flourish.