How to Encourage Creativity

Thank you Moose Toys for sponsoring this post. Get crafty with your kiddo and make “ooniements” with Oonies by Moose Toys this holiday season!

During the cooler months of the year, we spend a lot of time indoors. To keep the kids engaged and entertained, I always try to encourage their creativity during play time. We recently checked out Oonies by Moose Toys and had a blast! I can’t wait to share with you all the fun & excitement we shared. Keep reading for some easy tips on encouraging creativity with your kids every day.

By the way, check out this fun video that highlights some of the fun we had with Oonies!

So here are my tips for encouraging kids to use their imaginations during play time:

Play with toys that easily promote creativity.

Some toys really inspire kids to use their imaginations. One such example is Oonies! We got the Starter Pack and the Mega Refill Pack. After playing with them for hours, I can say that Oonies are the most fun way to create! You can create anything: cats, creatures, fish, ornaments, … anything!

The Starter Pack comes with everything needed to create a big batch of Oonies:

• base
• inflator
• connectors
• deco bits
• eyes
• pellets

It was super simple to inflate the Oonies. The instruction manual outlines the simple process of transforming the tiny pellets into inflated Oonies! It’s actually quite magical to watch the inflator at work.

Here are some of the Oonies we made! Look at all the colors! By the way, they’re super sticky so they adhere to each other easily.

Once you have created several Oonies, it’s time to embellish them. The Starter Pack comes with plenty of deco-bits for creative fun (to make eyes, legs, ears, noses, etc.)

Encourage outside-the-box thinking!

When being creative with Oonies, don’t just make a dog or a cat. Let the kids create dragons and unicorns and all sorts of magical creatures. Oonies makes it easy for the imagination to soar! Sophia created this little dog at first. She was very proud of her creation! Also, keep in mind that since Oonies stick to each other, creating impressive designs is easy and mess-free! Bonus perk for mom, am I right?

They didn’t just stop at the dog. Take a look at all the different creations they made!

My older daughter had a blast decorating the Oonies.

My younger daughter really enjoyed inflating them.

Put your own spin on it.

Encourage the use of different media and embellishments to adorn your creations. My girls wanted to take out the glitter (they always do). We grabbed some fine glitters in various colors and sprinkled some on top of our magical creatures.

We made this cat (or other unique creature – use your imagination). The glitter definitely adds a magical touch, don’t you think?

We also took out the washi tape to give the doggy a striped blue scarf! Isn’t he cute?

Our collection of Oonies sat on this table in the playroom for a while. The girls loved to play with them and incorporate them into their imaginative play with other dolls & toys.

Look for unique ways to use your creations.

The Oonies made an adorable tabletop decoration for days but then we decided to use them in a different way. We decided to decorate our tabletop tree in the playroom with Oonies. By encouraging kids to look for new uses for everyday toys, they are really exercising their creativity muscles!

Since they’re naturally a bit sticky, I didn’t even need to bother with thread or string. The Oonies can be tucked right into the branches and will stay in place.

Our tree is so fun and festive. I love that our playroom tree showcases the girls’ imaginations & creativity.

Check out this funny creature with those unique ears! He’s a looker! 🙂

Oonies make a fabulous holiday gift for any kid on your shopping list. Check them out and let your kids get creative this year!

I’d love to hear from you. Have your kids ever played with Oonies? How do you encourage creativity every day?

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

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