Creative thinking is an essential skill for children. It helps your kids develop social skills and learn to manage their emotions. Your kids learn new concepts and become more confident. Your kids also get strong in body and mind. Their memory and their motor skills improve. With Creative Thinking Skills, your kids learn how to express themselves. This gives them much pleasure and joy. It improves their mood and makes them happier. Creative thinking helps boost your kids’ problem-solving skills. Due to Creative Thinking, your kids also develop critical thinking skills. It helps them develop in an all-around manner. 

But, many times, due to school and homework, creative thinking lessons get pushed to the back. It’s up to you, as a parent, to teach creative thinking skills to your children. And it doesn’t have to be formal and boring. You can teach creative thinking skills to your kids in a fun way. Here are some of the ways to teach creative thinking skills to your children. 

Creative Thinking Activities for Kids

Here are some of the creative thinking tasks and games you can teach your kids. 

1. Creating a Story from the Scratch

This game develops your kids’ language and creative thinking skills. Gather your children and start with the premise of a story. This should be simple like, “There was a young lion in the jungle”. Then ask your kids to add to it one by one. You will find that your kids will put their own twists on it. You may get a wacky, fun, or simple story. And it also improves creative thinking and language processing skills in your kids. 

2. Rhyming Words

This game has a similar theme to the above but is more complex. Start with a simple word that is easy to rhyme, e.g., “hat”. E.g., ” I have a hat”. Then ask your children to rhyme to it. Like, ” I want to chat”. Or “I jump on a mat”. And carry on till you run out of words. Choose a new base word, when you have run out of rhyming words related to the first word. Along with creative thinking skills, it also develops the sense of sound in your kids. 

3. Game of Slots

It is another simple game where your kids have to classify words as per their themes or slots. If the theme is fruits, then ask your children to name different fruits within a minute. If the theme is colours, ask your children to name different colors within a minute. You can also combine the themes. Ask your children to name different green-colored fruits within a minute. Next, ask them to name yellow or red fruits. Ask your kids to beat their total in the next round. It improves the recall function, memory and creative thinking skills in your children. 

4. Open-ended Questions

Ask your kids open-ended questions that require more than yes or no answers. This helps your children form their ideas and boosts their creative thinking skills. E.g., what if you could keep a tiger as a pet? Or, what if cars could fly? Prepare yourself to be amazed as you will get many colorful and creative answers. 

5. Drawing Game with a Twist

This is a creative game that is full of colors and imagery. Get some drawing papers and crayons. Then draw any random image on the paper. Next, it’s your kids’ turn and then yours back again. It’s a fun game that forces your kids to think on their feet. It improves creative thinking skills in your children. This game also brings you closer to your children.  

6. Cloud Stories

This is one of the creative thinking activities for kids that every child enjoys. Go to your garden or rooftop on a day, lie next to each other and look at the clouds in the sky. Do it in the early morning or evening or on a cloudy day when bright sunlight does not hurt your eyes. Look for different shapes and figures among the clouds. Ask your kids to create stories about the shapes they discover. 

7. Clay Modeling

Clay or play dough is a popular children’s item. This is not only fun but also gives your kids’ imagination a boost. Your kids make different shapes, then again remake them and the fun continues. Playing with clay boosts your kids’ mental skills and makes them more creative. 

8. Matchstick Figures

This game boosts your kids’ creative thinking skills and builds fine motor skills too. The game is simple. Your kids have to build figures or structures out of matchsticks, glue, tape, or play dough. This simple game builds problem-solving and planning skills in your children. Your children learn to imagine the structures and plan in advance. They also learn how to join parts together and balance the structure. Their hands and eyes work together and this develops fine motor skills in your kids. 

9. Role-playing

Let your kids role play with toys and stuffed animals. Have them interact and talk with each other. Let them create situations or a new fantasy world. Your kids imagine new and unique things. They learn to talk and connect in different ways through role-playing. This also boosts social skills in your children. 

10. Lego Games

Lego games are very popular with children. Ask your children to imagine and build different figures and shapes out of Lego blocks. They can create planes, animals, and cars, among others. To focus on your kids’ creative thinking skills, ask them to create a specific theme. E.g., your kids can create a farm theme or an army theme. The farm theme requires them to build farms, cows, and tilling machines. For an army theme, they can build tanks, and jeeps, among other things. This helps your children focus more on specific problems and get solutions for them.  

11. Dress Them Up

Collect some spare clothes and put them in a pile. Ask your kids to imagine what they want to be and select from the heap to create a new outfit. Next, ask them what they dressed up as and how the way they dress reflects that. They may be dressed as a cop, queen, king, spaceman, or whatnot. Your kids learn to express themselves. They also develop a step-by-step approach to arrive at solutions. And, who knows, maybe your kid will be the next big thing in the fashion world a few years from now. 

12. New endings

Children love stories. Why not involve them in creating a new ending out of a classic story. Take any story that your kids have heard or read before. Ask them to imagine a new ending to the story and create their version of it. Be surprised when they come up with new creative endings to the story. You can also give this task another twist. Ask your kids to imagine new roles and parts in the story. Ask your kids to create a new story within the story with these new characters. Next, they have to connect this story to the main story before the end. And your kids can imagine a new ending to this story once again. This task gives an immense boost to the creative thinking skills of your children. This also teaches your kids that with effort they can change and move things. It teaches them not to be limited but to explore their creative skills and imagination. 

So, these are some of the creative thinking tasks and games for your children. Have a look at some other fun tasks that help develop creating thinking skills for kids here.  

Final Thoughts

We hope you will use the creative thinking activities for kids listed here. These tasks will help improve creative thinking skills in your children. You can also create your own games that suit you and your kids. The mind is fertile and the sky’s the limit to creating these games and tasks for the benefit of your kids. 

Creative thinking is an essential skill for children. It helps your kids develop social skills and learn to manage their emotions. Your kids learn new concepts and become more confident. Your kids also get strong in body and mind. Their memory and their motor skills improve. With creative thinking skills, your kids learn how to express themselves. This gives them much pleasure and joy. It improves their mood and makes them happier. Creative thinking helps boost your kids’ problem-solving skills. Due to Creative Thinking, your kids also develop critical thinking skills. It helps them develop in an all-around manner. 

But, many times, due to school and homework, creative thinking lessons get pushed to the back. It’s up to you, as a parent, to teach creative thinking skills to your children. And it doesn’t have to be formal and boring. You can teach creative thinking skills to your kids in a fun way. Here are some of the ways to teach creative thinking skills to your children. 

Creative Thinking Activities for Kids

Here are some of the creative thinking tasks and games you can teach your kids. 

1. Creating a Story from the Scratch

This game develops your kids’ language and creative thinking skills. Gather your children and start with the premise of a story. This should be simple like, “There was a young lion in the jungle”. Then ask your kids to add to it one by one. You will find that your kids will put their own twists on it. You may get a wacky, fun, or simple story. And it also improves creative thinking and language processing skills in your kids. 

2. Rhyming Words

This game has a similar theme to the above but is more complex. Start with a simple word that is easy to rhyme, e.g., “hat”. E.g., ” I have a hat”. Then ask your children to rhyme to it. Like, ” I want to chat”. Or “I jump on a mat”. And carry on till you run out of words. Choose a new base word, when you have run out of rhyming words related to the first word. Along with creative thinking skills, it also develops the sense of sound in your kids. 

3. Game of Slots

It is another simple game where your kids have to classify words as per their themes or slots. If the theme is fruits, then ask your children to name different fruits within a minute. If the theme is colours, ask your children to name different colors within a minute. You can also combine the themes. Ask your children to name different green-colored fruits within a minute. Next, ask them to name yellow or red fruits. Ask your kids to beat their total in the next round. It improves the recall function, memory and creative thinking skills in your children. 

4. Open-ended Questions

Ask your kids open-ended questions that require more than yes or no answers. This helps your children form their ideas and boosts their creative thinking skills. E.g., what if you could keep a tiger as a pet? Or, what if cars could fly? Prepare yourself to be amazed as you will get many colorful and creative answers. 

5. Drawing Game with a Twist

This is a creative game that is full of colors and imagery. Get some drawing papers and crayons. Then draw any random image on the paper. Next, it’s your kids’ turn and then yours back again. It’s a fun game that forces your kids to think on their feet. It improves creative thinking skills in your children. This game also brings you closer to your children.  

6. Cloud Stories

This is one of the creative thinking activities for kids that every child enjoys. Go to your garden or rooftop on a day, lie next to each other and look at the clouds in the sky. Do it in the early morning or evening or on a cloudy day when bright sunlight does not hurt your eyes. Look for different shapes and figures among the clouds. Ask your kids to create stories about the shapes they discover. 

7. Clay Modeling

Clay or play dough is a popular children’s item. This is not only fun but also gives your kids’ imagination a boost. Your kids make different shapes, then again remake them and the fun continues. Playing with clay boosts your kids’ mental skills and makes them more creative. 

8. Matchstick Figures

This game boosts your kids’ creative thinking skills and builds fine motor skills too. The game is simple. Your kids have to build figures or structures out of matchsticks, glue, tape, or play dough. This simple game builds problem-solving and planning skills in your children. Your children learn to imagine the structures and plan in advance. They also learn how to join parts together and balance the structure. Their hands and eyes work together and this develops fine motor skills in your kids. 

9. Role-playing

Let your kids role play with toys and stuffed animals. Have them interact and talk with each other. Let them create situations or a new fantasy world. Your kids imagine new and unique things. They learn to talk and connect in different ways through role-playing. This also boosts social skills in your children. 

10. Lego Games

Lego games are very popular with children. Ask your children to imagine and build different figures and shapes out of Lego blocks. They can create planes, animals, and cars, among others. To focus on your kids’ creative thinking skills, ask them to create a specific theme. E.g., your kids can create a farm theme or an army theme. The farm theme requires them to build farms, cows, and tilling machines. For an army theme, they can build tanks, and jeeps, among other things. This helps your children focus more on specific problems and get solutions for them.  

11. Dress Them Up

Collect some spare clothes and put them in a pile. Ask your kids to imagine what they want to be and select from the heap to create a new outfit. Next, ask them what they dressed up as and how the way they dress reflects that. They may be dressed as a cop, queen, king, spaceman, or whatnot. Your kids learn to express themselves. They also develop a step-by-step approach to arrive at solutions. And, who knows, maybe your kid will be the next big thing in the fashion world a few years from now. 

12. New endings

Children love stories. Why not involve them in creating a new ending out of a classic story. Take any story that your kids have heard or read before. Ask them to imagine a new ending to the story and create their version of it. Be surprised when they come up with new creative endings to the story. You can also give this task another twist. Ask your kids to imagine new roles and parts in the story. Ask your kids to create a new story within the story with these new characters. Next, they have to connect this story to the main story before the end. And your kids can imagine a new ending to this story once again. This task gives an immense boost to the creative thinking skills of your children. This also teaches your kids that with effort they can change and move things. It teaches them not to be limited but to explore their creative skills and imagination. 

So, these are some of the creative thinking tasks and games for your children. Have a look at some other fun tasks that help develop creating thinking skills for kids here.  

Final Thoughts

We hope you will use the creative thinking activities for kids listed here. These tasks will help improve creative thinking skills in your children. You can also create your own games that suit you and your kids. The mind is fertile and the sky’s the limit to creating these games and tasks for the benefit of your kids.