4 Things A Foster Child Wants (And Needs) From A Foster Family
February 28, 2019
4 Tips For Fostering A Child As A Single Parent
March 15, 2019
While structured activities help create a safe space where foster children can thrive, it’s equally as important to give them time for imaginative play. Providing the resources and guiding your foster child is key to making creative time a success. Getting creative is a great outlet for the multitude of feelings a foster child may experience on a daily basis. Here are a few ways to help inspire creativity in your foster child.
#1. Create a creative space.
Find a place in the home where your foster child can get creative. Use plastic drawers or bins to store items like colorful construction paper, markers, paints, drawing paper, and a variety of pencils. Teach your foster child how to keep the space clean, such as by wearing a smock or laying down towels before working with paint, or putting materials away when finished. Once your foster child has a space to call their own, let them get to work being creative!
#2. Hit the craft store together.
Another way to help your foster child get creative is to invite them to be part of the shopping process. Wandering the aisles of your local craft store may ignite creative ambitions neither you nor your foster child ever dreamed of! You may also consider searching for materials online together. Having trouble coming up with a new activity? Consider Pinterest as a source to find materials based on your foster child’s age.
#3. Encourage your foster kids to express themselves.
Creative time is a time for self-exploration. Refrain from nit-picky or judgmental comments. While you want your praise to be specific, you do not want it to sound too generic, either. Instead of saying, “Wow, it’s beautiful,” consider finding a specific thing you like about their art. For example, point out how realistic their bird looks, or give compliments for the color scheme of the sky. Your foster child will appreciate you taking the time to notice such details.
#4. Display their masterpieces.
Another way to encourage creativity is to display their artwork for all to see. Frame a picture you particularly enjoy and hang it in a place where visitors can see. Consider other ways display their artwork, such as using sites like shutterfly.com to change a piece of artwork into a coffee mug, or even a pillow. Your foster child will love the fact that you put effort into making their art a part of your everyday life at home.
#5. Consider a class or club.
If you are looking for a way for your budding artist to get to know other artists, an art class or club is something to think about. Some art museums offer classes for kids at a reasonable price. Some schools have art clubs for kids to join. You may also consider joining a local parenting group and getting like-minded artists together on your own.
Giving your foster child the space to get creative can only benefit them in the long run. Whether they have issues with anger, depression, or anxiety, art is a healthy outlet to allow children to express themselves and their emotions freely.
Every child needs and deserves to grow up safe and protected from abuse and neglect, and caring foster parents offer children support and stability when they need it most. At Camelot Care Centers, we specialize in higher-level foster care for children and adolescents that need extra support. We partner with our foster parents/homes to provide trauma informed care and additional services, including in-home counseling, parent support and training, tele-psychiatry, and therapeutic mentoring, to maintain children at the least restrictive, yet most appropriate level of care. Camelot Care Centers (“Camelot”) is a Child Welfare Agency licensed by the State of Illinois, a member of the Illinois Collaboration on Youth (ICOY), and is accredited by the Council on Accreditation (COA).
