STAEDTLER survey reveals: children have more creative minds
Children let their imagination run wild: they come up with exciting fairy tales, write songs and choreograph their own dances. They draw pictures that – to adults, at least –often just look like doodles, and then create their own stories to go with them: the misshapen circles become the body of an ogre, and the strange-looking lines become a dream castle. Children’s creativity is behind all of this. STAEDTLER's aims include age-appropriately supporting children in their development when drawing, writing or doing arts and crafts. This is why STAEDTLER wanted to find out more precisely how children become creative, what parents do to encourage their creativity, and what adults can learn from children. A survey of parents by the writing and creative goods manufacturer reveals some interesting perspectives.
Image rights:
STAEDTLER Mars GmbH & Co. KG
Inventiveness from an early age
Creativity manifests itself in various activities and areas of life. Anyone who finds unusual solutions is considered creative – as are virtuosos on instruments or artists who bring their ideas to life with pen and paper. The foundations are often set in childhood. A survey on children’s creativity commissioned by STAEDTLER confirms: most children are creative in their parents' opinion – in the survey, around 80% of kids were considered creative. In general, it can be said that girls are a little ahead of boys in terms of creativity, according to their parents.
Creativity is in the cradle
The survey confirms that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree when it comes to creativity: parents who consider themselves to be creative are more likely to consider their children similarly creative – over 90% of such parents considered their children to be creative. Around two thirds of the parents surveyed consider themselves (somewhat) creative, while 16% consider themselves (somewhat) uncreative. Parents can specifically encourage their children’s creativity by providing them with tools for arts and crafts or drawing, or by getting them to join a sports club or have music lessons. The survey shows that if parents think creativity is important, this is reflected in their children's creativity. For example, parents who consider themselves creative try to encourage targeted, wide-ranging creativity in their own children. Parents support their little one's creative development principally through sporting activities, books, drawing and exploring nature.
Image rights:
STAEDTLER Mars GmbH & Co. KG
A comparison of creativity among children and adults offers a clear picture: almost three out of four parents see their own children as being more creative than they are. Virtually all respondents think adults should follow their children’s example more often and give their own creativity more
space in their life. Above all, trying out new things, giving ideas more space and making better use of their own imagination are things that adults can still learn from their children.
Fantasy on paper
Drawing doesn't just play a role in the targeted stimulation of creativity: along with reading, sports and games, drawing is one of the types of activity mentioned most frequently in the survey. The majority of children draw at least several times a week as a way of living out their creativity on paper – girls more often than boys.
Image rights:
STAEDTLER Mars GmbH & Co. KG
With pen and paper, children create colourful worlds that provide insights into how they think. Stimulating children’s imagination is important for even the smallest children. That's why the writing and creative goods manufacturer has developed the Noris junior range so that children can live out their creativity in an age-appropriate manner even at a young age. Under the guiding principle “Play-Easy-Eco-Safe”, the range is specifically geared towards the needs of children aged two years and up, so that they can develop their creativity through play and have educationally valuable play experiences. Since small children are still developing their movement patterns and motor skills, the coloured pencils and crayons are extra thick and have a compact shape that fits well into small children’s hands. Soft modelling dough, opaque finger paints and safe accessories complete the range. STAEDTLER has obtained expert dermatological opinions on Noris junior products. All are CE-compliant. The Noris junior family has been tested by children, parents and educators: the result is a product range that accompanies and supports even the smallest children on their creative journey.
The survey was conducted among around 600 adults by the market research institute innofact on behalf of the Nuremberg-based writing and creative goods manufacturer STAEDTLER in spring 2022, with the aim of better assessing children’s creativity.
More information on the Noris junior range is available at:
Accompanying press images are available for download here:
Apply the following copyright when using these images in your publication: ©STAEDTLER Mars GmbH & Co. KG
For further information please contact us via our contact form for media requests.