Tonight with your 9 to 12 year old
The prompt
“What's something you like building or making just for the fun of it, with no real goal?”
What to listen for
An enthusiastic answer shows they know how to create just for the joy of it, without needing a prize, a grade, or an audience, that's a rare and valuable kind of freedom to protect.
If they describe getting so absorbed they lose track of time, that's real flow, worth making more space for regularly, since it's genuinely restorative for kids.
If they say they don't really make things, that's not a failure, just an invitation to leave some unstructured supplies around and see what happens without any pressure attached.
What this tells you
This shows you whether your child still has room in their life for creating purely for its own sake.