Being creative gives us an edge in life. It makes us more resilient in the face of problems, more able to dodge worries, more confident in ourselves, more tolerant of our mistakes. Being creative makes us unique because creativity helps us to develop an original thought, a unique point of view on things.

Creativity can be learned: if we do not feel creative, or we believe that our children are not yet creative enough, we can exercise it, like any other human talent.

Importance of creativity for children

• Creativity is not an end in itself. It is important to develop and enhance many talents in children, to make them better human beings.
• Creativity is the bearer of freedom. It teaches children to think and act freely, outside of manipulation and conditioning. It is important because it develops the child’s autonomy, not only from a manual point of view but also from an intellectual point of view.
• Creativity stimulates you to become original, to exercise divergent thinking, to stand out from the crowd. In this sense, it is a means for self-affirmation, but also for inner growth, the achievement of a higher awareness.
• Creativity also teaches us about failure, the dignity of error: it helps us to consider our mistakes in a proactive way, without canceling ourselves out, but allowing us to find a new solution, to adopt a more creative problem-solving method. It helps us to tolerate the uncertainty of life, where nothing is defined but is ever-changing, and we can practice a certain degree of resilience, to survive problems and be happy.
• Creativity teaches us the ability to change ideas, behavior, action . It gives us the strength not to remain immobile in the face of the uncertainties of life, but rather to design solutions that allow us to live well in the world, with ourselves and others. It helps us grow, changing us inside, and teaching us to evolve.
• Creativity is also knowing how to find order within disorder, find an idea within the chaos of our mind and our life . Catalog, direct, focus. Creativity improves our concentration.

Craft with paper

I love jobs with paper and colored cardboard because they are very easy to propose to children, immediate, easily replicable. The paper helps the child to take his first steps in creativity: to use his hands well, to coordinate movements, to make fine gestures with his fingers.

Creating with paper is an excellent exercise to improve the child’s concentration, his ability to focus on an activity, and carry it out.

With paper, children have the opportunity to tear, fold, roll up, cut, glue… Paper is extremely versatile and colorful, easy to find, easy to use at any age.

As far as I’m concerned, a perfect gift for children aged 2 to 12 is a creative box full of colored paper and cardboard, scissors and glue, to create imaginative and free projects.

You can propose to the children already coded jobs, in the form of tutorials, or leave them free to experiment on their own.

I usually buy both A4-size colored paper, of various weights and large cards (50 × 70), which I can use and cut at will. I also love double origami paper, solid color on one side and patterned on the other, because it is small in size and is perfect for decorating cards or other small objects.

I love bright colors, but I also always choose to have black and white cardboard, for basic jobs or as a base to work on. And I never miss the pastel-colored cards too, because they are delicious!

Are you looking for more gift ideas for your 12-years old? Check this out at medium – https://medium.com/@playtime/toys-gifts-for-12-year-old-girls-e5e68517ef65. You will surely have more ideas than one to consider.