Be Creative
The call to be creative sounds free but gives no direction, and without direction a child does not know where to begin or what is actually meant. The steps below make the open task graspable.
♀Ideas
A girl holds a large pencil with a thought bubble full of creative ideas.
♀Paint
A girl with a palette and brush thinks about rainbows, shapes and flowers.
♀Paint a rainbow
A girl paints a rainbow with a brush and has a thought bubble with ideas.
♀Imagination
A girl smiles and imagines various colorful shapes and a light bulb.
About this visual support
Be creative is one of the kindest-meant instructions there is, and at the same time one of the hardest to obey. It points at nothing concrete, it sets no limits and it offers no way in. For a child who needs to know what is expected, the open freedom becomes a block rather than an invitation, and the result is often that nothing happens at all.
The creative rarely seizes up from a lack of imagination, but from the first step being invisible. A visual support swaps the vague instruction for a few concrete choices: which material, which colour, which kind of thing. When the options are shown, the task becomes manageable, and the child can make one decision at a time instead of facing a gaping nothing.
Give a few clear starting choices instead of unlimited possibilities, for example three materials to pick from, since fewer paths make it easier to actually set off. The limit is what sets things free. In the Routined app you can build your own choice steps that give the child a way in without dictating what is made.