Creativity is a word that gets thrown around a lot these days. It has always been an important skill for children, but in today’s world, it’s more important than ever before.
It can help you express your ideas and emotions, which can be useful when working on projects or writing papers. Creativity also helps you think outside the box, which can be beneficial in problem-solving situations.
But what does it mean, exactly? Can creativity be taught?
Allow us to answer these questions.
What Is Creativity?
Creativity is the ability to create new and useful things. It’s not just about making art or writing a novel. It can be something as simple as coming up with a new way to do your job or solve a problem.
The important thing about creativity is that it requires you to use your brain in unique ways You can usually do so by connecting ideas that wouldn’t normally go together or doing things differently than you’ve done before.
Although creativity and artistic expression were once encouraged in schools, the Industrial Revolution and the subsequent shift from an agricultural economy to a manufacturing one, led educators to deemphasize beauty and promote more practical skills.
The Level of Creativity of Children vs. Adults
Creativity is a mental process that involves making connections between seemingly unrelated ideas or objects.
In order to be creative, our brains must be able to access information from different areas of our knowledge base and then combine that information in new ways.
Generally, adults are not as creative as children because their brains have already developed the ability to filter out stimuli.
To put it clearly, adults tend to use more “controlled” thinking processes that involve filtering out irrelevant stimuli and focusing on specific goals. That is why they often struggle with creativity or engage in creative activities.
On the other hand, children are more likely to think more freely without filters or goals. Therefore, they experience a higher level of creativity than adults.
Can Creativity Be Taught?
Everyone has a creative side. We each have the unique ability to be innovative and make new and different things. However, we don’t all have the same level of creativity.
Some people are more creative than others, and some people are not at all creative. After all, genetics also plays a significant role in one’s level of creativity.
Studies have also shown that the ability to be creative is inherited. As such, children with creative parents are more likely to be creative than those who don’t.
Fortunately, creativity can be taught; in fact, children and adults can learn how to be more creative through practice and learning new skills.
That said, you or your child can’t learn creativity in a traditional classroom. You cannot learn creativity through memorizing facts or following formulas.
That is simply because creativity is an ability to see things differently and make new combinations of ideas and concepts.
While experts have no absolute consensus on whether or not creativity is learned, most of them agree that certain strategies can help improve your ability to think creatively.
The most obvious way to develop creativity is to practice drawing and painting, as these activities help you see the world in a different way.
You can also try writing poetry or short stories, playing musical instruments, and tinkering with electronics such as computers or robots.
What Do Experts Think About The Matter?
To further prove the “yes, but” answer to “Can creativity be taught?”, here are what creative professionals say:
| Name | Position | Thoughts |
| Esther Wojcicki | Journalism Professor | “Children can’t develop a creativity mindset in a classroom that only teaches them to follow instructions.” |
| Chris Bennett | CEO of Wonderschool | “The skill of creativity can be nurtured just like any other. Through work, presentation, and feedback—as well as travel and nature—children can develop their creative talents.” |
| George Anders | Senior Editor at LinkedIn | “The creative process can be taught, at least to some extent. By encouraging children to think outside the box, we can increase their creativity—to a point. Some people are simply more creative than others; they’re born that way and no one knows quite why it is so.” |
| Lynda Weinman | Founder of Lynda.com | “Children need to do open-ended problem-solving with no right answer in order to learn creativity. If they learn in an environment that focuses too much on rote learning and standardization, they can lose their creative spark.” |
| Alex Davis-Lawrence | Filmmaker and Producer | “Creativity can be cultivated, but it’s not a skill that can be learned in the traditional sense. Creative thinking is more of an attitude toward life than anything else, and so educators must find ways to nurture this attitude through theory and practice alongside abundant opportunities for children to develop their skills.” |
| Carol Tang | Executive Director at Children’s Creativity Museum | “Creativity is more of a mindset than a skill; it encompasses skills like idea generation and problem-solving, but also behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs.” |
| Jaime Casap | Chief Education Evangelist at Google | “Creativity is an ability that can be learned and improved, but it should not be considered the most important one in school. Critical thinking, problem-solving abilities, and collaboration are more important than creativity when preparing children for success later in life.” |
| Tina Seelig | Stanford Technology Ventures Program Faculty Director | “The myth that creativity cannot be learned is a misconception. Creativity can be taught, and it’s something we can tap into at any time.” |
5 Facts About Learning Creativity
Now, let’s look at some facts that you need to know about learning creativity.
1. Taking a Shower Can Activate Your Creativity
Taking a shower can be a great way to get your child’s creative juices flowing. In fact, artists and writers have long used the process of showering as a way to help them think outside the box and come up with new ideas.
72% of respondents in the study by Scott Barry Kaufman reported that they were able to think of a new idea while taking a shower.
2. Being Alone Can Boost Creativity
The act of being alone can be a catalyst for creativity; in fact, many artists and writers will go into seclusion so they can focus on their work.
Experts say that people who spend time alone tend to be more creative because they’re not distracted by other people’s opinions or ideas. You may even find your children coming up with some great new ideas when you give them time to be alone.
Creativity and imagination flourish when we’re alone. That’s because it gives us the mental space to engage in “constructive internal reflection,”: an essential state for coming up with ideas.
When we block out the outside world and help our children focus on one thing, their brains can make connections between things better, form memories more easily, and process information.
3. Creativity Comes More Often When Trying Out New Things
We can’t always create new things. But we can try out new things—and that’s good for creativity too.
When we encourage our children to do something different, their brains are forced to process the information it receives in a different way than they usually would. This allows them to see things from a fresh perspective and come up with new ideas as a result.
A study has shown that the brain patterns of people who are open to new experiences match those of creative thinkers.
The neurotransmitter dopamine plays a role in both exploration and learning. It facilitates psychological plasticity, which means that it helps people become more open to new things.
4. Intuition Can Help Inspire Creativity
Intuition is a great tool for generating ideas and solutions. It’s the gut feeling that something just feels right, even though you can’t explain why.
This happens when we have an insight or epiphany. We get a flash of clarity that helps us see things from a different perspective.
Intuition comes from our subconscious mind, which can process information faster than our conscious mind.
The unconscious mind is a bigger deal than most even realized. One’s intuition and the sudden flashes of insight due to it still fascinate neuroscientists.
It only means that there is so much to learn about them.
5. Traumatic Events Are Sometimes Linked to Creative Properties
Traumatic events can be extremely jarring. They can disrupt your children’s lives, change the way we see the world, and leave us feeling alone and isolated.
However, they can also make them more creative. In the wake of a major loss, psychologists refer to this process as “post-traumatic growth.”
After experiencing a traumatic event, our brains seek to rebuild themselves. This often leads them to find new creative outlets or different ways of seeing the world.
So, Can Creativity Be Taught?
Learning to be creative is not just about learning new things but also about learning how to learn. This makes it more of a skill than a talent and one that can be taught and developed.
However, it’s not something you can just force on someone. Instead, the best way to get kids interested in creativity is to expose them to a variety of experiences.
It’s also important that parents encourage their kids’ creativity by showing them that they believe in them and their ability to succeed. The best way to do this? Give them space, time, and support.