Harnessing the Power of Pinterest to Grow Creativity in our Children

It has been one full week.  You know the kind of week where when you get the kids down each evening, you look at your husband and can’t put two coherant thoughts together…  Each time I’ve sat down to write, there is simply nothing there.  And so I head for bed because I know this whole new ’embracing mornings’ thing is going to come beeping into my slumber before I know it.

This has been a week of embracing routine again.  As I wrestle with the challenge of encouraging boys back into the swing of things, I’ve found myself pondering why, oh why I ever let the routine slip.  There is something to be said about habit.  It makes life run smoother.   I can feel us all starting to relax as routine becomes familiar again.

As a reward the other day, I introduced the kids to the wonder of Pinterest.  They were quite taken with this idea to make an airplane which I slyly directed them towards.  They squealed in delight to discover that I just so happened to have bananas and cottage cheese (a rare treat).  They puzzled over what do use for airplane windows and there may or may not have been a few tears as they attempted to cut their bananas into workable shapes…  But all in all, they were thrilled with their creation and clamboring for more food creation inspiration.   I showed them how my friend Becky’s son made this creation with yogurt instead of cottage cheese and we had fun brainstorming variations on this theme.  It’s fun to stoke the fire of creativity and see what they can come up with once that creativity is stoked!

I think I might let them pick out some inspiration for next week and take them shopping for ingredients or see what they can rustle up at home to aid in their edible creations.  It’ll be fun to see where their creativity will take them.

All this got me thinking…

How can we utilize pinterest to promote creativity?

Don’t Expect Pinterest Perfect ~ There is nothing wrong with beautiful pinterest pictures.  They are inspiring.  But when it comes to our kids creating we need to value process over product.  The point is that THEY are the one’s doing the project, not you…

Encourage Improvisation ~ Don’t provide all of the ingredients.  It is good to let them learn to make-do or come up with the solution themselves to create what it is they want to create.

Don’t provide directions. ~The picture might just be enough to get creative juices flowing.  There is a certain triumph experienced when you’ve struggled to figure something out.  I simply gave the boys one banana and left them to figure out how they could utilize that ONE banana to make their creation.

Brainstorm ~ Have a brainstorm session where they are free to throw out all kinds of ideas to create their pinterest-inspired design!  This could very well lead to some totally new creations.

I’m thinking we’ll have to add these fun food creation ideas to our list of tips for helping picky eaters too!