Halloween Creativity: Good for Your Braaaaaiiiins…

Halloween is the perfect opportunity to be creative! With so many fun activities to take part in, it may be hard to decide what to do, so we’ve compiled a short list of our favorites!

Costumes

Costumes provide an abundance of opportunities to engage your brain creatively. There is the planning stage where you imagine what you want to be. The gathering/making stage where you put everything together: whether you make your own outfits with needle and thread or pair pre-made pieces doesn’t matter, it is still your vision! Once your costume is ready, it’s time to share it with your friends, family and community! Dressing up for Halloween is a great opportunity to engage your creativity in a social way – benefitting not only yourself, but everyone around you, too!

Painting

Pumpkins and seasonal gourds beware! Creativity is coming for you and it’s bringing brushes and paints! If carving a pumpkin is outside the realm of activities you can complete safely, don’t fret: painting your spooky ideas works just as well. Be sure to prepare your space with drop cloths or newspapers, clean your chosen “canvas”, and just have fun!

Home-made Decorations

Paper bats, toilet paper ghosts, and yarn mummies are all decorations that don’t take a lot of time, money, or skill to create, but are always a delight to see. There are so many different options when making your own decorations and plenty of websites that can give you step-by-step instructions. Add some whimsy to your life and try your hand at making something to celebrate the spookiest season of all!

Why Creativity Is So Beneficial

Imagination and memory both “live” in the same region of the brain. It is this direct correlation that makes creative pursuits so important as people go through life: by flexing your creative muscles, you also support the pathways that help with recall. When you repeatedly engage in play and creativity, you not only reinforce neural connections between imagination and memory, but also between different regions of your brain. Creativity is a whole brain process that requires multiple regions of the brain to work in concert with one another. Adding a creative element to different types of activities engages different parts of the brain, which can result in stronger neural networks and improved cognition. In other words, being playful and creative makes for a happier, healthier you!

Be joyful and live well!

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2.Beaty RE. The Creative Brain. Cerebrum. 2020 Jan 1;2020:cer-02-20. PMID: 32206175; PMCID: PMC7075500.