Most preschool children are curious and creative by nature. Parents hinder children’s creative development by imposing ideas and limits on them. Children develop artistic creativity best when offered supplies and a little guidance. Experimentation with a wide variety of materials allows them to expand their imaginations and creativity.

"Having an opportunity to use all kinds of things and to figure out the best way to use them is the key to creativity," says Debbie Libby, kindergarten and music teacher and mother of eight. "Children don’t always have the chance to do this because it’s easier to go out and buy a toy, but actually doing things is what’s important."

Choose a convenient and comfortable place to work

A child-sized table, or dining room table covered with a plastic cloth works well. Avoid carpeted rooms; work on a linoleum or tiled floor so paint, glue, and other spills can be wiped up easily. Keep paper towel nearby to wipe up any spills.

Provide a variety of materials

Choose materials that have multiple uses and allow your child to create her own masterpieces rather than following a set pattern. Include yarn, scraps of material or felt, colored pipe cleaners, paper bags, chalk, water colors, markers, crayons, finger paint and paper, and popsicle sticks.

"Parents need to let the children have boxes and junk to create with," says Debbie Libby, who as a child built an entire Barbie house and furniture out of boxes and cardboard decorated with fabric. "It’s so easy to go and buy everything for our children and they never learn to make things. It’s easier to go and buy playdough rather than make it on the stove and then play with it. Having opportunities to solve problems and figure things out. This is where creativity comes from."

Keep the art supplies in sturdy plastic tote boxes or in a kitchen drawer that is accessible to your child. Make sure all art supplies are non-toxic.

You don’t need a special paint bib, a large sized T-shirt or man’s short sleeve dress shirt buttoned up the back will do the job. Check that paints and glue are water soluble so they can be sponged or washed off of clothes and other surfaces.

Encourage experimentation Encourage your child to mix paint colors, paint on different textures, glue different things on paper to make a collage, and to work with different materials. Offer suggestions, not absolutes.

Encourage predictions. Learning to predict outcomes is a necessary skill in learning. Encourage your child to mix paint to make new colors. Ask, "What do you think will happen if we mix blue and yellow?" and so on. Have her test her ideas. Shave little pieces from old crayons. Ask, "What would happen if these got hot?" Put the shaving between two pieces of wax paper. Cover with a paper towel or ironing cloth. Run a hot iron over it until the pieces are melted. Your child can examine the finished product and decide the outcome. She may want to arrange the shavings in different patterns.

Ideas to Try

Sometimes your child may have trouble thinking of ideas, especially if she hasn’t worked with art supplies before. Offer suggestions. Here are some ideas to try.

· Create puppets resembling the main characters of favorite stories. Draw eyes, nose, ears etc. or cut them from yarn and construction paper and glue to a small paper bag. Use the fold of the bag as the mouth and put a tongue inside the fold. Then read the story acting it out with the puppets.

· Wallpaper the inside of a cardboard box or shoe box with gift wrap. Use scraps of material or felt for carpet. Make furniture from spools, small boxes and other material. Make people from clothespins by drawing on eyes, nose, mouth and gluing on material scraps for clothes.

· Find several objects with different textures such as a key, leaf, piece of screen, or sand paper. Cover the items with a sheet of paper. Rub a crayon over the paper so the textures are copied onto the paper. Predict what kind of tracing certain items will make.

· Make a yarn picture. Draw the picture with a thin strip of glue then cover the glue with pieces of yarn to make a colorful picture.

Display finished products. Have a special wall or corner just for art work. Allow your child to hang her pieces and experience pride from having it displayed. As you replace art work, make a portfolio of your child’s work that you can keep over the years.

· Enclose drawings with birthday cards to relatives.

· Cover drawings and construction paper masterpieces with clear contact paper and use them as placemats.

· Buy a mat to frame a drawing and hang it in your office at work.

· Have your child decorate a box to use as a display case for clay sculptures and other pieces.

· Let your child arrange several pieces of artwork and have a special art show for Grandma.

Creativity will come easily to your child as you allow her the freedom of experimentation and encourage her in her attempts.