article: Natural variety

Nurturing kids' creativity by natural instinct, intuition, curiosity, play, real-world ideas and perspectives

One of the most inspiring things during my time at various art schools was the visiting artists and lecturers. They'd arrive from out of nowhere, bringing random themes from their ideas and practice, and often throwing in a quick video as an unexpected source of inspiration. These videos weren't at all "arty" – I remember everything from factories, crop circles, people crafting, and rich scenes of other cultures outside of our world. This was always a delight or eye-opener, but the overall variety of perspectives and visual inspirations was what mattered.

These were also stories that weren't always understandable, sometimes garbled and abstract, but that wasn't the point. It was about understanding that there’s inspiration everywhere and that there's depth in everything if you open your eyes.  Subconsciously, this all inspired motivation, empowered exploration and fuelled creativity.

But I sense this essence of unexpected delights is fading in the ‘on-demand’ age. Much contemporary material has either caught on to this or is pressured to churn out ‘content' in the battle for our attention. For kids, it feels that this has morphed into an endless stream of squeaky, hyper-stimulating content –  an infinite stream of dopamine candy.

This candy might seem harmless fun, but concerns about kids’ screen time and exposure to such content are mounting. Regular parents like myself have a nagging feeling that this mode of stimulation can’t be part of a healthy diet.  While I'm no expert, and the true impact will likely only be clear in retrospect, I'm willing to take a stand.

The mainstream fodder kids are bombarded with – fantastical themes, obscure narratives, talking animals, superpowers, and magic – isn't just warping their perception of reality.  Worse, it hijacks the imagination, simultaneously stifling their potential to develop their creative skills more naturally.

This is why Stories naturally follow real-world themes and phenomena that empower kids to build a realistic and creative understanding of the wider world around them. Themes that allow them to create, and connect the dots of how things work on their own terms, fuelled by natural instinct, intuition, curiosity, play, and a wealth of ideas and perspectives.  To me, providing access to the real variety of the world is just one easy step to nurturing our natural creativity.