Creativity is not a talent. It is a skill that can be developed

For many years, creativity was treated as something exceptional – a quality attributed to artists, inventors or people with “natural talent”. Someone was creative or they were not. Some people “had it”, others did not. Today we know that reality looks different.

Creativity is not a rare gift available only to a chosen few. It is a natural human ability to notice possibilities, connect seemingly unrelated information, ask questions and search for new solutions. Importantly – it can be developed in every child. And not only during art lessons or creative projects. Creativity develops above all when a child has space (and a little encouragement) to think, experiment, try different approaches and reach their own conclusions. It is important for them to know that mistakes and failures are a natural part of the process.

Why is creativity so important today?

The modern world is changing faster than ever before. Knowledge remains important, but the ability to simply remember information is no longer enough. Children are growing up in a reality where many professions will change, technologies will evolve, and some of the challenges they will face do not even exist yet.

That is why questions such as these are becoming increasingly important:

Can a child think independently?
Can they find different solutions to a problem?
Can they look at a situation from different perspectives?
Are they not afraid to try when there is no single correct answer?

This is where creativity begins.

Not as “creativity” understood only as drawing or inventing something new, but as a way of thinking — a meta-skill. Because creativity is also the ability to ask good questions, notice connections and search for solutions where there is no ready-made instruction. It can be said that it is becoming one of the key skills supporting problem-solving, cooperation and independent learning. And this is exactly why it is so important in education.

Creativity does not develop through ready-made answers

Paradoxically, creativity is the most difficult to develop where children spend most of their time simply reproducing the correct answers.

If a child constantly hears:

“Do it exactly like this.”
“This is the only correct answer.”
“Don’t overcomplicate it.”

they naturally begin to learn caution instead of independence.

Over time, they may stop asking questions, suggesting their own solutions or taking intellectual risks — out of fear of making a mistake. Meanwhile, developing creativity requires the opposite. It needs an environment where a child can:

• experiment,
• explore different possibilities,
• make mistakes without fear of judgement,
• discuss and justify their own ideas,
• return to a task and improve solutions.

Because creativity is not only about spontaneously “coming up with something”. It is a thinking process that develops through experience.

How can school support the development of creativity?

Since creativity does not develop by accident or through instructions. It is not enough to tell a child: “Be creative”. Children need specific approaches, a carefully designed learning environment and teachers who do not only provide ready-made answers, but help children reach them independently.

That is why at New Horizon International School we treat creativity as an important part of the everyday learning process. Not as an occasional “extra project”, but as a natural way of working with children and one of our developmental goals.

STEAM — what happens when creativity meets logical thinking

We often contrast logical and creative thinking. Meanwhile, researchers confirm that these are connected skills, and it is very important to show students the relationship between them.

One of the approaches that particularly supports this way of thinking is STEAM education.

It combines:

• Science (natural sciences),
• Technology (technology),
• Engineering (engineering),
• Arts (art and creativity),
• Mathematics (mathematics).

In STEAM education, children do not only learn theory. They design, investigate, observe, test and draw conclusions.

Imagine a group of children who have to answer the question:

How can we design a garden that supports pollinating insects?

At first glance, this may look like an interesting science project, but in reality much more is happening.

Children begin by asking questions:

What do bees and butterflies need?
Why do some plants attract insects more than others?
How can we make the garden functional and helpful for the environment?

Next, they plan, compare information, create initial ideas, analyse the space and test solutions. Not everything works straight away. Sometimes an idea turns out to be too difficult to implement. Something needs to be changed or improved, but this is exactly where the most important part of the learning process begins. A child does not simply follow instructions. They learn to analyse, test, draw conclusions and search for better solutions. This is a complex thinking process — scientifically speaking, divergent thinking (creating possibilities) and convergent thinking (choosing the best solution). It not only develops knowledge about nature, but also thinking, planning, cooperation and communication.

If children discover solutions themselves, what does the teacher do?

In STEAM education, a teacher does not only act as a person who transfers knowledge or provides ready-made answers. They are not a typical lecturer. They are primarily a careful observer, facilitator and guide of the learning process. They create conditions for thinking. They ask questions that help children look more broadly:

“Why do you think that?”
“What could happen if we tried a different approach?”
“How do we know this?”
“How can we check it?”

They observe children’s ways of working, notice their thinking strategies, support cooperation and help when frustration or difficulty appears. But they do not take away the most important part of the process — reaching a solution independently. Because in well-understood STEAM education, the goal is not to find the correct answer quickly. The goal is to develop thinking — both logical and creative together.

This is also an interesting role that a parent can take when dealing with challenges at home. Planning shopping, a shared weekend or a holiday plan provides many practical opportunities for learning, analysing, explaining ideas and searching for solutions.

Design Thinking — creativity that solves problems

In work with children, elements of Design Thinking are increasingly used — an approach that teaches how to design solutions through observation, empathy, testing and improving ideas.

Let’s assume that children are considering:

How can we make the school space more welcoming for rest and relaxation?

First, they observe and discuss. What works well? What causes difficulties? How do others feel? Then they suggest solutions, create initial prototypes, test ideas and consider what could be improved.

This is how they learn something very important:

A good idea does not have to be perfect straight away. It can be developed. Changed. Improved. This experience builds both creativity and a sense of agency.

Project Based Learning — when knowledge starts to make sense

Children learn most deeply when they see the purpose of what they are learning. That is why an important element of modern education is Project Based Learning (PBL) — learning through projects. In practice, this means that children do not only acquire knowledge. They work around questions, challenges and topics that require action, cooperation and independent thinking.

Instead of simply learning about water, they can carry out projects — such as how to save water in everyday life or how to encourage children to stay properly hydrated.

Projects help children connect knowledge from different areas and better understand the relationships between them. But something else is equally important. A child begins to experience that their ideas matter. That they can ask questions themselves. And influence the outcome of their work. This strongly supports both motivation and the development of creative thinking.Creativity needs curiosity and courage

It is worth remembering that creativity does not develop in an atmosphere of constant pressure for perfection. A child who is afraid of making mistakes is less likely to experiment and suggest their own solutions.

That is why, just as important as teaching methods is the environment — both at school and at home — where a child feels that they can try, change their mind, return to an idea and ask questions. And this is exactly when real creativity begins to develop.

It is important for schools and parents to create this kind of environment for children. One that encourages asking questions and searching for answers. That is why we encourage parents to ask children questions during a walk, a shared journey or everyday activities, such as:

“I was wondering what would happen if animals could talk / people could teleport / children were born already grown up / everyone looked the same / food only came in tubes / we were invisible, etc.”

It is worth not judging answers too quickly, even if they seem illogical. It is better to ask:

Why do you think that?
What would be good about such a world?
What could be difficult?
What would you do then?

Such conversations develop imagination, the ability to explain ideas, flexible thinking and the ability to see the world from different perspectives.

At New Horizon International School, we believe that school should not prepare children only for tests. It should prepare them to think. Because a child who can ask questions, look at problems from different perspectives and search for solutions is building something much more important than a single skill. They are building a way of thinking that will stay with them throughout life. And creativity? It is not a talent, but something that can be developed — step by step and every day.