When Kids Learn Another Language, They Become More Flexible, Creative Thinkers
- Emma Tipping
- May 21
- 7 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
Learning Another Language is a Creativity POWER SURGE!
I spend a ton of time talking about how important ART is as a communication tool for kids. But there’s another powerful way children can expand their creative communication — one that’s both obvious and often overlooked:
Learning another language helps kids become more powerful creative thinkers.
I know this from experience. After being monolingual (meaning I only spoke 1 language) for 19 years, I decided to learn Spanish. It exploded my understanding of thought, ideas and culture, impacting my creative life in ways I never could have expected. Learning Spanish made me more flexible, curious, and compassionate.
Fun fact? Those are all the same traits that art and creativity pull from.
So let's talk about how learning a second language can make our kids more powerful creative communicators.
"If you really think about it, Language is one of humanity’s oldest creative projects."
How Learning New Languages Helps Kids Become more Powerful Creative Communicators (3 BIG Outcomes)
1. Language Teaches Flexible Thinking
When I started learning Spanish, the first thing I noticed was how many different ways you can say the same thing.
Of course, we already do this in English. You might call something “scary", but it can also be creepy, eerie, or terrifying. Each word basically means the same thing but brings with it a whole bunch of other meanings embedded in it. (As a writer, I take advantage of this all the time!)
When we learn new languages, this embedded meaning is taken even further. Sentence structures have a major impact on how we think. Phrases are different. To learn all these meanings and new structure, my brain had to stay loose and curious. When we learn new languages, rigidity is enemy #1!
How this applies to creativity and language in kids:
Language teaches children that there isn’t just one way to express an idea. That flexibility is the heart of creativity in art, storytelling, and even science and math.
"Bilingual children exhibit more creativity in problem-solving and flexibility than their monolingual peers. The same holds true for learners of a second language." -Cambridge University's World of Better Learning
2. Language Expands What Kids Believe Is Possible
As soon as I learned a new language, it felt like the size of my word doubled. Suddenly I could understand what people were saying in line at the grocery store. I had access to an entirely new world view in the Spanish newspapers. Most importantly, I could build meaningful relationships with more people than ever before.
Since picking up a second language, I feel at home in more places and at ease with more of my neighbors. I can dig into the ideas and history of other cultures without having to rely on the work of translators.
How this applies to creativity and language in kids:
When children see new languages as accessible, the world itself feels more open. Spanish connects kids to millions of people. Finnish or Swahili opens entirely different cultural universes. New languages expand a child’s sense of what’s possible. This is exactly the expansive mindset that gets kids excited about being creative and connecting with new people.
"One of the benefits of learning a new language is that you may start to see unfamiliar situations as exciting instead of scary." -The Middlebury Language Institute
3. Language Builds Empathy and Human Connection
About a year into learning Spanish, I knocked on a door for a community event. A woman cracked it open, peeked at me, then started to close it again.
“Espera,” I said. “Podemos hablar en español si prefieres.” (We can speak in Spanish if you prefer.)
I will never forget how that woman reacted to hearing me talk in her own language. Her eyes lit up. A smile spread across her face. Her whole body went from tense and tight to open and relaxed.
Most of all... she opened her door to me. Like, the-hinges-won't-let-me-open-this-any-wider open.
That moment taught me something huge. Language isn’t just about words- it’s about sharing our lives with each other.
How Empathy Helps Kids Become more Creative:
When children learn even a little bit of another language, they gain access to other people’s realities. This is exactly what we get from movies, books, TV shows, etc. Learning a new language is just another powerful, creative tool in empathy building!
Jasmine Won of Bridgewater State University puts it perfectly when she says:
"Multilingual children tend to have greater empathy due to their acquisition of multiple languages and thus also cultures." -Jasmine Won, Bridgewater State University
5 Easy Ways to Help your Child Learn Another Language
So how can we help our kids learn other languages when (at least in the U.S.) opportunities can feel few and far between? Of course, there are tutors, classes, and international travel. These things are all great and ultimately what will help your child become truly fluent.
But if these feel like huge lifts, there are still plenty of ways to help your kids develop their ear for another language, as well as build excitement and respect for other cultures.
5 Easy (& Creative) Ways to Bring Another Language Into Your Home:
Cultivate friendships with people who speak other languages and invite them over for dinner. When you invite someone into your home and feed them, you’re saying, “I respect you.” Your kids will absorb that respect and curiosity.
Play music in different languages at home. K-pop, Italian oldies, Malian drums, salsa hits- it all counts. Let your kids develop their ears and fall in love with the rhythms of other cultures' music and words.
Hang up artwork that features words in other languages. Seeing language as visual art softens children’s mental barriers to learning. For years they will look at it passively until one day they think, "I wonder what that means?"
Use language apps as creative screen time. My daughter loves Duolingo and does streaks with her friends. She now knows how to say "hello" in Korean, German and Greek!
Visit multilingual spaces in your town. Go to the Asian market. Eat at the taqueria. Buy spices at the international grocery. Let your kids see you at happy and at ease in language-rich spaces.
These may seem like small steps, but little steps lead to many miles.
The goal isn’t instant fluency. It’s helping your child absorb the sounds of other languages and see them as exciting, normal, and worth picking up. Then, when the moment comes to really go for it and pick up a second language, they will be ready!
Language Learning is Creativity Training
Languages aren’t just tools for talking. They’re systems of human invention. Every single word was made up by someone. Every sentence structure carries a way of thinking.
If you really think about it, languages are one of humanity’s oldest creative projects.
When kids learn another language, they’re not just learning vocabulary. They’re learning that ideas can be shaped in more than one way, that meaning is flexible and that perspective can shift. They see that communication itself is a creative act.
That’s not just language learning.
That’s creativity training.
Let’s teach our kids that other languages aren’t walls. They are doors. And we have the power to make keys. THAT is true creative communication.
Let’s teach our kids that other languages aren’t walls.They are doors. And we have the power to make keys.
Want More Ways to Help Your Child Communicate Creatively?
Learning another language is one of the most important ways that I recommend kids expand their creative communication skills.
Read about all the ways you can help your kiddo build this important skill here:
Language Learning for Kids: Common Questions
1. What is this article really about?
This post shares how learning Spanish reshaped the way I think, create, and connect—and what that taught me about how language learning can support kids’ creativity.
2. How does learning another language connect to creativity in kids?
In the article, I show how learning a new language builds flexible thinking, expands what feels possible, and helps kids see that ideas can be expressed in many different ways.
3. Are you claiming that learning another language automatically makes kids more creative?
All of my claims here are based on my lived experience, backed up by some wisdom about language and creativity from reputable sources. I'm not a trained social scientist but I do think from my own experience and the research I have explored that learning a second language can have a big positive impact on kids' creative communication skills.
4. Do kids need to become fluent to get these benefits?
Not at all! While deeply studying a second language is hugely beneficial for everyone, in this post I also explore how everyday exposure- songs, art, community spaces, play, and curiosity- can help kids develop their ear for other languages. Learning another language can also help kids build empathy and their sense of possiblity- 2 huge components of creativity.
5. What are some simple ways parents can support language learning at home?
I suggest inviting multilingual friends for dinner, playing music in other languages, displaying art with foreign words, using language apps as creative screen time, and visiting multilingual neighborhoods and shops.
6. What’s the main takeaway for parents and educators?
Languages aren’t just school subjects- they’re creative systems and powerful tools for connection. Even small, positive exposure can help kids grow as creative communicators.