Your children – of any age – will be happier and healthier if they spend time creating. According to Search Institute, they should be spending three or more hours per week engaged in the arts. This looks different for every child, and yours may have to try a few different things before discovering what floats their creative boats, but creativity is essential to a young person’s development and it’s important to provide them with opportunities. Here are a few ways you can do this for your children.
- Do you knit, sew, carve, sing, paint, cook, act, build, or have some other creative skill? Hand it down to the next generation. Let them see you creating, and teach them what you know.
- Show your kids how rewarding it can be to try new things. If you’ve always wanted to paint, or dance, or build a greenhouse, why not get started now? Share your excitement with the whole family.
- Encourage your kids to channel their interests in creative ways. Do they love video games? Maybe they could try game design. Do they love listening to music? Maybe they could take up an instrument. Do they love movies? Maybe they can make their own.
- Phoenix offers lots of opportunities for creative engagement. Consider signing your elementary school kids up for Fine Arts classes in the Creation Studio. For your teens, take a look at our Teen Program Guide and investigate our Option classes. We offer courses in photography, cooking, creative writing, and more – they change every year. Phoenix also offers one-on-one music lessons (piano, voice, guitar, mandolin, ukulele, violin, and percussion) for all ages, including adults, so you can take up an instrument yourself and model practice, discipline, and creativity to your kids.
RECOMMENDED READING: The Best of Building Assets Together: Favorite Group Activities That Help Youth Succeed by Jolen Roehlkepartain
Search Institute has identified 40 building blocks of healthy development, known as Developmental Assets, that help adolescents to grow up healthy, caring, and responsible. Visit us here every Wednesday to read about different ways that you, your family, and your community can take action to help equip our young people develop resilience and achieve success in life.
Phoenix Education Foundation 