Every child is born with a creative prospective, but this potential may be nipped in the bud if care is not taken to foster and inspire creativity. Creativity shows one's individuality. Creativity is the ability to see things in a fresh and extraordinary light, to see troubles that no one else may even realize exist, and then come up with new, unusual, and useful explanations to these problems. It's the attitude to "think out of the Box". There are many ways by which we can boost our children's creativity. Play is one of many ways to do that. Children gain much from creative indoor and outdoor plays. Creative play, where children can move around and are capable to use their imaginations, has many profits. Study has shown that play which is too structured or centered solely on hi-tech toys which could be harmful to youngsters. There is proof that children are forgetting how to play while they are being encouraged to take part in controlled activities rather than being permitted to use their imagination.
Children need to be given ample opportunities for creative play and creative thinking. The first step is to engage them in activities of their interest. Say for example, if a child likes to draw figures on a notebook or loves to play with colors, then the child should be given color pencils, glitters and white boards to display what is there in their mind. There's also photography, music, field trips, working with wire, clay, paper, wood, water or shadows. The possibilities are endless. It's vital to provide children with lots of time to discover the materials they require and pursue their ideas. This comprises of time required to think about how to plan, graph, build, research and modify their project ideas. Creative play is expressed when kids use recognizable resources in a new or unusual way, and when children engage in role-playing and inventive play. Play helps expand each child's exceptional viewpoint and individual style of creative expression. Creative play may include a variety of games like puzzles, riddles, building blocks, and other items that actually set the child to think and to explore.
A strange characteristic that we often notice in children is that they always find a play item in every other thing close to their reach. A few days ago I noticed my little nephew playing with a simple hanky. He folded the hanky and made out different items out of that. And he was literally enjoying the act. I stared at him for about an hour, and he enjoyed working at it. Manipulative play starts in infancy. Babies play with their parents; for example, they drop a toy, wait for the parent to pick it up, clean it, and revisit it, and then they drop it again. This communication gets the infant and parent together in a game. Children shift objects such as puzzle pieces and devices to better appreciate how they work. Play reinforces the child's growth and development. Children who are anxious may be helped by role playing games.
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/k-12-education-articles/creative-play-an-interactive-way-of-encouraging-a-childs-creativity-5216489.html
