Instilling Creative Confidence

“Confidence doesn’t just appear in children. It has to be encouraged. One way to help your child develop confidence is though creativity.” – Jean Van’t Hul

What is creative confidence?

First, what exactly is creativity? It is a little hard to define. Doctor and author, John G. Young MD reminds us that, “The word “creativity” derives from the Latin creare: to make and the Greek Krainein: to fulfill. We can approach creativity from one of these two senses.” Author Mary Lou Cook thinks, “Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.”

How about we combine the two – creativity is fulfilling a need to make something inventive, risky, and / or experimental and having fun while doing it!

Now for confidence. According to author and founder of Growing Happy Kids, Maureen Healy – “Confidence actually can be derived from its Latin roots to be explained as “with trust” or “with faith” or “with belief” which appears correct. A confident child displays a belief in his or her own abilities. Such a belief is developed over time but hinges upon the ability to experience self-trust.”

Having creative confidence is trusting and valuing each and every one of your ideas and taking creative risks.

In the Art Studio this is goal #1 – to instill creative confidence in every visitor that walks through the door – no matter what the project is, what medium we are exploring, or what collaborative project we are constructing.

Stayed Tuned!

Each month there will be a new idea posted about how to instill creative confidence in children at home and in the classroom posted by myself and other museum educators.

Our idea for December 2012: Really look, ask questions, and listen to what they are saying.

Edythe Wright - Move! workshop #1 Regularly talk to your child about their artwork. Ask them questions like – how did you make that? What was your inspiration/idea? What colors did you use? Praise the process. Instead of telling your child a painting is beautiful, tell him/her what you liked about their process of making it. For example, “Wow! You really paid attention to details on that one!”, or “You have so many different shades of blue in this one!”