1

Upon completion of this Topic, you should be able to:

1. Explain what is creativity

2. Identify the creative child
3. Explain the creative process
4. Discuss the role of creative play in the creative arts

2.1 Introduction
2.2 What is Creativity?
2.3 Creativity in Children
2.4 Dimensions of Creativity
2.5 Creative Play in the Creative Arts

Words You Should Know

Summary
References
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2.1 Introduction

Jamil, an active 5-year-old, was working intently in the art

centre of his kindergarten classroom. He was focused on
cutting out tiny pieces of blue construction paper. After he
had cut a number of small pieces, he placed them in a pile
beside the heavy piece of cardboard he had selected for the
base.

Next, he began to carefully glue each piece of the coloured

construction paper into a design he was creating. He then
began rummaging through a scrap box of materials that was
displayed on the art table to find other items to include in his
design.

He carefully selected a shiny scrap of foil from the box to add

to the intricate design that was developing. Then, he stood up
to look at his growing design and think about where to place
more of the coloured pieces.

When his teacher began to sing the “clean-up” song, indicating

the end of centre-time, Jamil’s facial expression clearly
demonstrated that he was upset. His reaction indicated that
he did not want to stop. Jamil placed his hands on each side of
his head and said, “I can’t stop now. My head is too filled with
ideas.”
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Jamil’s teacher had noticed how involved he was in this art

work and his interest in completing this work. She also
recognised the importance of this creativity project and
valued his learning that was taking place. So, she allowed him
to continue working on the project while the group cleaned up
and made the transition to lunchtime.

She commented, “I can see you are working very hard.” After
a few minutes, Jamil happily exclaimed, “I’m done!” He stood
back from the table, admired his work, and proudly showed his
colourful design to his friends who were now circled around him
and watching him CREATE.

WHAT CAN YOU CONCLUDE FROM THE ABOVE STORY?

Jamil was a young child with a specific idea of what he wanted to create. His
teacher had developed a classroom environment that included an interesting
place to work on art, with a variety of materials to challenge Jamil’s thinking.
He was able to use his ideas to create an intricate mosaic from coloured paper,
foil, cardboard, glue, and scissors. He selected the materials he wanted and
determined how the design would be constructed. His persistence in creating
this design demonstrated that these choices helped make the activity personally
meaningful to Jamil. His teacher was knowledgeable of the creative process and
supported his efforts by providing the place, unique materials, and sufficient
time. At the end of the process, Jamil demonstrated that he was proud of his
design as he shared his creative work with his teacher and classmates.

2.2 What Creativity?

There are many different ways to define creativity, and the definitions
are as varied as the people who developed them.
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• Some say creativity is doing things in a unique way.

• Others believe that creativity requires the person to move out of a pattern of sameness.
Creativity has been described as “thinking outside the box”.

• Some believe that creativity is flexible thinking, whereas others see it as a special type
of problem solving.

• Still others believe that creativity must generate a useful or appropriate product.

• Creativity has been described as the production of novel thoughts, solutions, and/or
products based on previous experience and knowledge (Hendrick, 1986).

• Some authors describe creativity as the ability to find connections between things that
do not seem related (Fox & Schirrmacher, 2011).

• Another definition explains that creativity is combining two or more existing ideas in
different ways to form new ideas (Connors, 2010).

These definitions do not explain fully the intricate nature of the creative process. To
determine when creativity occurs; you must examine all the components of creativity to find a
clearer view. Although many definitions of creativity have been given, we will define it as
follows:

Creativity is the ability to think in unique ways,

produce unusual ideas, or combine things in
different ways.

2.3 Creativity in Children

In the massive amount of literature on creativity,

young children frequently are mentioned as
examples of creative thinkers because they play with
ideas and exhibit characteristics often found in
creative individuals. Albert Einstein, the renowned
scientist, said he was most creative as a young
child when he played with ideas.
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Paul Torrance (1964) said we are most creative at 4-years of age. If this is true, it might be
interesting to examine the characteristics of young children that demonstrate they are creative.
What special qualities do they possess that can help us understand their unique way of
experiencing the world? Many 4 and 5-year-old children are:

• independent;
• curious;
• uninhibited;
• interested in learning new things;
• active participants;
• playful; and
• adventurous

Many young children who have lived their first years in supportive environments naturally
exhibit the characteristics of creative individuals. However, by adulthood, many have
learned to hide these qualities and instead behave in ways that conform to the expectations
of the society in which they live. Their early creative abilities seem to have been lost in an
environment that does not value doing things differently.

Sir Ken Robinson

If young children are naturally creative why are they not creative. Sir Ken Robinson argues that
“Schools KILL creativity” and “we don’t grow into creativity but we grow out of it”. (See
above diagram). Do you agree with him? He further adds that “we are educating people out
of their creative capacities”.
,
So, what can schools do? How can the school environment be designed to support creativity?
How can creativity be nurtured so it is maintained throughout children’s lives? Perhaps a good
starting point is to develop an awareness of the complex process of creative thinking. Creativity
is very difficult to understand. It often is unobservable and may not have a finished product
 6

to evaluate. For these reasons, it is necessary to look at the components of creativity and
identify observable features.

a) What is creativity?
b) Why does a child give up being creative?
c) Do you agree with Sir Ken Robinson’s view?
d) What can schools do so as NOT to KILL creativity?

2.4 Dimensions of Creativity

In an attempt to understand creativity, FOUR specific dimensions are frequently studied

(see Figure 2.1):

3. The Environment that

1. The Creative Child Nurtures Creativity

DIMENSIONS OF CREATIVITY

4. The Product of the Creative

2. The Creative Process Act

Figure 2.1 Dimensions of Creativity

The study of each of these dimensions has contributed to our knowledge of creativity. It is
important to remember that most of these aspects have been investigated as they relate to adults.
This information, however, can be transferred into what is known about young children and
their creative activities. At the beginning of each chapter, you will find specific creative
episodes that include adults and young children, demonstrate children’s development, and help
establish a relationship with the creative process.
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1. The Creative Child

Many believe that creativity is a gift only a few people possess. If you were to ask people, what
percentage of children in your class are creative, most would reply about 5 to 10%. This is
not true. In reality all children are creative and the only difference being that many children
are not provided with the opportunity or the environment to demonstrate their creativity. Do
you agree?

What are the characteristics of the creative child? Do creative children behave differently?
The following is a list of the main attributes of creative children:

Creative children have the ability to make unusual associations or

connections between seemingly unrelated or remote ideas.

Creative children have the ability to rearrange elements of

thought to create new ideas or products (see Figure 2.2).

Figure 2.2 Ability to rearrange

elements in creative ways

Creative children have a large number of ideas or solutions to problems.

Creative children display intellectual playfulness, fantasize, imagine, and daydream.

Creative children are often concerned with adapting,

improving, or modifying existing ideas, thoughts or products
or the ideas or products of others.

Creative children have a keen or unusual sense of humour and

see humour others do not see (see Figure 2.3).
Figure 2.3 Sense of humour
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Creative children ask many questions at an early

age – this trend generally continues past early
childhood into adulthood (see Figure 2.4). These are
the kids that surprise others with their wonderings.

Figure 2.4 Ask many questions

Creative children frequently challenge teachers, textbook authors, and those in

authority or “experts” and sometimes come up with unexpected, futuristic, bizarre, even
“silly” answers or solutions.

Creative children may be disliked by peers because of crazy or unusual ideas and their
forcefulness and passion in presenting them or for pushing their ideas on others. In the
context of cooperative efforts or groupings, highly creative students may get along or
work better with younger or older students, or with adults.

Creative children can become obsessed with completing varied projects, or exhibit
unusual persistence in completing tasks. It is this obsessive need to complete a task
that is so important in differentiating folks with good ideas from those who are truly
creative

a) Do you agree that every child is creative?

b) What are the characteristics of the creative child?
c) Do you have children with these characteristics in your class?

2. The Creative Process

The second dimension is the creative process refers to a creative act and the methods or
procedures that are used during this activity. When the process is valued, a person can be
engaged in the creative act even when there is no final product. The emphasis is on the thinking
and doing during the creative experience. Often, when young children are exploring materials
and techniques, there is no finished product. The creative process mesmerizes them.
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Tasha, using white glue, is involved in the creative process. She

focuses on the properties of the glue and the changes that occur
when it is piled high. She explores the unique physical properties of
the glue, such as its smoothness and responsiveness. When she
finishes her adventure with the glue, it dries to a clear, invisible form
and no product exists.

WHAT CAN YOU CONCLUDE FROM OBSERVING TASHA?

Observing Tasha demonstrates that she has been creative in her experimentation with glue.
Researchers have described the creative process as developing in stages or steps. Insight into
these steps is another way to understand the complex workings that occur during creative
thinking (Wallas, 1926).

Figure 2.5 FOUR Stages of the Creative Process

Here’s what each stage looks like in the creative process:

1. PREPARATION

This is the stage where the child decides what project they are going to tackle such as drawing,
painting or making a craft. The child gathers the materials and supplied needed followed by
creation of a plan or outline and determine what are the outcomes of the project. For some
children, this stage is the most difficult because they do not know how to begin.
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2. INCUBATION

This is stage when the child pushes out mental blocks that may hinder creativity. The child
learns to use his or her five senses. Oftentimes, the child will take a break or step back and try
to see the problem from a new point of view. The child could display unusual behavior,
emotional outbursts and anxiety as find solutions or something he or she did not think of before.

3. ILLUMINATION

This is stage where all that incubating pays off. It is when the child finally
realises that he or she has got it. It is often described as the moment of
“Aha!” or “Eureka!” A new idea or combination appears that meets
the requirements of the problem. This step is also referred to as the “light
bulb” effect. It is when the child can take the pieces of an idea or what is
in their environment and puts them together effectively without the help
of a teacher or parent.

4. VERIFICATION

This is the final stage where all the work the has child put in results in the final product. The
child decides whether he or she like it. If it is a painting or craft, the work of the child is
displayed in the class to gather feedback from those who see it. When the child reaches this
level of creativity, the child will begin to develop greater self-confidence. It could also lead to
further creativity.

HOW DOES ONE MEASURE CREATIVITY?

Paul Torrance (1969), one of the most prolific writers on creativity in education, identified four
components which can be used to measure:

Originality - The idea produced by the child is truly unique.

It is not like any other product; it is a one-of-a-kind idea.
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Fluency - The child generates of many different ideas. The

emphasis here is on the number of ideas produced by the child.

Flexibility - The child’s ability to change direction or

think in another way.

Elaboration - The child takes an

idea and expands it to make it more intriguing and complex ideas.

a) Discuss the FOUR stages of the Creative Process.

b) How do you measure creativity?

3. The Environment that Nurtures Creativity

The third dimension is the environment. If you children to be creative, the environment should
‘nurture’ creativity. The teacher should set up the classroom, select materials and design
teaching-learning activities that encourages creativity. An environment that supports
creativity should be emotionally safe, a place where all children feel respected no matter what
their abilities, background, and challenges. A variety of possibilities must be provided so
children can make choices and select materials that match their interest and competences. The
environment should allow children to try new things, take chances, and do things in different
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ways, without fear of ridicule. Sternberg (2006) explains that creativity is encouraged when the
environment supports and rewards children who come with creative ideas. The following are
some TIPS on how teachers and the school can create an environment that encourages
creativity:

• Create a Physical & Psychological Space

for Creativity - Creativity demands space.
Firstly, it demands physical space (see Figure
2.6). If there is nowhere for children to draw,
play or be themselves, they will have nowhere
to be creative. Secondly, it demands
psychological space. What does it mean? If
children’s minds are trapped in a state of
stress and exhaustion, they will have little
Figure 2.6 Physical space for children
room to think about new ideas or creative
to express themselves
solutions. If the day is so packed with
planned activities, there will be no time for your children to try something new on their
own. For example, making a flower from a paper plate is a creative process. On the other
hand, watching and listening the demonstrate how to make a flower from a paper plate
is not.

• Use Questions to Explore the World - Creative people are constantly questioning the
world. Not because they are unhappy with it, but because they want to understand how
it works, how they fit into it and how to predict what might happen when they try
something that’s never been tried before. So, start with the children in your class.

o Encourage them to ask questions.

o Ask them what they think the answers
will be, don’t teach them that there is only
one model answer, because that may or may
not be true.
o Resist the urge to correct them and provide the “right” answers to their
questions.
o Counter their questions with more questions to help them to get to the heart
of the matter. And then, spend time with them searching for the answers.

• Reward Effort over Results - It is tempting to reward results and it is easy to reward
results. But a focus on results means that children will be unwilling to take risks and to
learn from mistakes. It also sends the wrong message, if immediate results are all that
matter, then persistence and a pursuit of a vision will not be. It took many other creative
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geniuses a long time before they achieved their break through discoveries. Rewarding
effort means the teacher recognises the importance of persistence, and persistence is
also a facet of creativity.

• See Failure as a Learning Opportunity - We learn more when we fail than when we
succeed. Confronting failure forces us to think about what we did right and what we
could have done better. Failure can also point the way towards a change in direction
which could lead to a better answer. So, view each failure as a learning opportunity for
children. Spend time with children to understand what they think they could have done
better and talk about how they want to approach the problem a second time.

Nature is on your side. You don’t have to teach

creativity, you just have to nurture the creativity that
every child has to begin with.

• Creative Arts Learning Centre – The art centre, the music centre, the rhythmic
movement centre and the drama centre are excellent places in allowing children to use
their imaginations (Discussed in detail in Topic 10). Give children the space to be
themselves and to experiment with creativity.

e) Explain how the physical and psychological space can be organised to

nurture or enhance creativity.
f) Ask yourself whether you have nurtured creativity in the children you
teach.

4. The Product of the Creative Act

The fourth dimension is the product. One way of examining creativity is to focus on what is
created, or the final product. The creative product could vary from a shaded watercolour
painting to a musical composition or dramatic performance. It is possible to evaluate the
creative product by determining its uniqueness or usefulness. For the product to be truly
creative, it must be different, original, or innovative.
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Emphasising the end product of creativity may limit, or even exclude, the work of young
children. During the early years, most young children show little interest in the final product;
they are focused on the process of creation. The young child is more interested in mixing colours
than in the final picture that appears on the paper. Children want to explore how glue works
instead of how the picture looks when they are finished attaching cut-outs to the panel.

Some children may become interested in the final product and want to represent their ideas
realistically. For example, they may want to make their clay models look like real horses. But
the transition from process orientation to product focus should follow the developmental
interest of the child and not be imposed by adults or teachers. Early emphasis on the product
can discourage the creative efforts of young children. Amabile (1989), in her book Growing Up
Creative, cautions that “children’s motivation and creativity can be destroyed if evaluation,
reward, and competition are misused”.

a) What should be the features of a creative product?

b) What is the danger of overemphasising the ‘product’?
c) Do you think teachers tend to emphasise the product?

2.5 Creativity Play in the Creative Arts

Creative play is an important activity that enhances or promotes creativity. What is creative
play? Creative play is expressed when children use familiar materials in a new or unusual
way, and when children engage in role-playing and imaginative play. When children engage in
creative play, they make up their own rules rather than adults. Not only are they free to use
their imaginations, create stories, act out scenes or invent a new game, but this unstructured,
self-directed play encourages mental development and allows a child to express his emotions.

Creative play encompasses a range of different activities

that just about all children love participating in, from
drawing and painting to building with block and dressing
up (for role-playing and drama). Creative play encourages
make-believe, fantasy, or symbolic play. Anything that
requires some creativity is creative play! Nothing
reinforces the creative spirit and nourishes a child's soul
more than providing large blocks of time to engage in
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spontaneous, self-directed play throughout the day. Play is the serious business of young
children. Play is often to as the “work” children do. Early childhood experts throughout the
world recognize the importance of play. One of the reasons play is so important is that it allows
children to develop their imagination and creativity (Bredekamp, 1993).

Even as early as infancy, play fosters physical the holistic development of the child by
promoting and exploration of various skills.

• Through play and the repetition of basic physical skills, children perfect their abilities
and become competent at increasingly difficult physical tasks.

• Play fosters mental development and new ways of thinking and problem solving. For
example, through block play, children are confronted with many mental challenges
having to do with measurement, equality, balance, shape, spatial relationships and
physical properties.

• One of the strongest benefits of play is the way it enhances social development. Playful
social interactions begin from the moment of birth. Dramatic play helps children
experiment with and understand social roles. It can also give them countless
opportunities for acquiring social skills as they play with others. Through dramatic play,
children gradually learn to take each other's needs into account, and appreciate different
values and perspectives.

• Through play, children are able to express and cope with their feelings. Play also helps
relieve stress and pressure for children. They can just be themselves. There's no need to
live up to adult standards during play.

• Play offers children an opportunity to achieve mastery of their environment. They

control the experience through their imaginations, and they exercise their powers of
choice and decision-making as the play progresses.
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• Play helps develop each child's unique perspective

and individual style of creative expression. Play
expresses the child's personal, unique responses to
the environment. Play is a self-expressive activity
that draws on the child's powers of imagination. Play
is open-ended, free-form and children have the
freedom to try out new ideas as well as build on and
experiment with the old (see Figure. 2.7).
Figure 2.7 Creative is open-
ended

• Play provides an excellent opportunity

for integrating and including children with
disabilities in the programme. The opportunities
play provides for control and independence are
important issues for any child but are especially
important for these youngsters.

Figure 2.8 Integrating children with disabilities

• Play allows children to invent many different ideas (divergent thinking) and ultimately
decide which to use in a specific situation (convergent thinking).

ENCOURAGING CREATIVE PLAY IN THE CLASSROOM

• Teacher and adults should avoid dominating the play themselves. Play should be the
result of the children's ideas and not directed by the adult. “Stimulate Play and Not to
Control It”
• Foster children's abilities to express themselves and play based on their own
inspirations.
• Encourage children to play with each other.
• Learn how to extend children's play through comments and questions.
• Stimulate creative ideas by encouraging children to come up with new and unusual
uses of equipment.
• Try to remain open to new and original ideas, and encourage children to come up
with more than one solution or answer.
• Be careful about over-restricting equipment and make sure to have play materials
quickly available when children want them.
• Buy and use equipment in ways that encourage the use of imagination.
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• Avoid toys and activities that spell everything out for the child and leave nothing to
the imagination

EXAMPLE OF CREATIVE PLAY IN THE CREATIVE ARTS

You don’t always need to give children new play materials. Using everyday objects, and
making it up as you go along, is a great way to encourage creative development.

Creative Play: Visual Art and Crafts

• Use an empty cardboard box to make a house, a robot, a truck, an animal – whatever
your child is keen on. You could cut up the box, glue things onto it or paint it.
• Glue ribbons and strips of material onto paper or cardboard.
• Old newspaper, glue and water are all you need for papier mâché, although your child
will need help with this.
• Use empty toilet rolls or small plastic juice bottles to make a family. Draw on faces,
stick on paper clothes, and use cotton wool for hair. Your child could use these new
toys to make up stories.
• Make use of found and natural material. For example, collect fallen leaves for
drawing, pasting onto paper or dipping into paint.
• Keep a ‘busy box’ with things like string and coloured paper, empty food containers
and plastic cups.

Creative Play: Drama

• Use dramatic play, song and movement to act out things from daily life. It could
be doctors, mothers, fathers, shopkeepers, police person – whatever children like.
You might be amazed by how children see the people and events in around them.

• At story time, encourage children to act out roles from a story with movements
or sounds. For example, children could pretend to be a monster from a story they
heard. Using movement and role play to respond to the story helps children develop
communication skills and understand things in the real world.

Creative Play Activities – Music, Movement and Dance

• Take a saucepan, a saucepan lid and a wooden spoon – children have a drum kit.
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• Nothing appeals to children like animals. Children enjoy moving like animals and
making animal sounds.
• Put on favourite CD of children. Start dancing together, and see how many moves
you can come up with. It’s not only fun – it’s good exercise too.
• Encourage children to march, stamp, hop, slide and twirl. Watching childrens’
progress with jumping and dancing can tell childrens’ body awareness and control.
• Help children child develop a sense of rhythm with songs, chants and rhymes like
‘Incy Wincy Spider’, ‘Heads and Shoulders’, and ‘Jack and Jill’.
• Include some fun or laughter to appeal to children’s sense of humour. Joke around,
and take turns coming up with new, funny dances.

a) What is creative play?

b) List the benefits of creative play.
c) Explain how you would use creative play the visual arts, drama, music,
movement and dance.

• Creativity • Sense of humour • Originality

• Outside the box • Preparation • Elaboration
• Novel ideas • Incubation • Reward effort
• Creative child • Illumination • Creative play
• Creative process • Verification • Dominate play
• Nurture creativity • Fluency • Integrate disable children
• Product of creativity • Flexibility • Imagination
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• Every child is born with a creative potential and it is the job of teacher, parents and other
to nurture that creativity.

• Some say creativity is doing things in a unique way.

• Others believe that creativity requires the person to move out of a pattern of sameness.
Creativity has been described as “thinking outside the box”.

• Some believe that creativity is flexible thinking, whereas others see it as a special type
of problem solving.

• Still others believe that creativity must generate a useful or appropriate product.

• Creativity is the ability to think in unique ways, produce unusual ideas, or combine
things in different ways.

• Albert Einstein, the renowned scientist, said he was most creative as a young child when
he played with ideas.

• If young children are naturally creative why are they not creative. Sir Ken Robinson
argues that “Schools KILL creativity” and “we don’t grow into creativity but we grow
out of it”.

• In an attempt to understand creativity, FOUR specific dimensions are frequently

studied: creative child, creative process, environment that nurtures creativity and the
product of creativity.

• Creative children have the ability to make unusual associations or connections between
seemingly unrelated or remote ideas.

• The creative process consists of four stages: preparation, incubation, illumination and
verification.

• If you children to be creative, the environment should ‘nurture’ creativity.

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• To measure creativity, Torrance suggests to focus on originality, fluency, flexibility and

elaboration.

• Creative play is expressed when children use familiar materials in a new or unusual
way, and when children engage in role-playing and imaginative play.

REFERENCES

• Armstrong, Thomas. 7 Kinds of Smart: Identifying and Developing Your Multiple

Intelligences. New York: Plume, 1999.

• Amabile, T. M. (1989). Growing up creative. New York: Crown.

• Bredekamp, S. (1993). Developmental appropriate practice in early childhood

programs serving children from birth through eight. Washington, DC: National

• Connors, A. F. (2010). Teaching creativity: Supporting, valuing, and inspiring

young children’s creative thinking. Pittsburgh, PA: Whitmore Publishing Co.

• Gardner, Howard. Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice. New York: Basic,
1993.

• Isenberg, J., & Jalongo, M. R. (1997). Creative expression and play in early
childhood. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.

• Perkins, D. (1981). The mind’s best work. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press.

• Sternberg, R. J. (2006). Creating a vision of creativity: The first 25 years.

Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, Special Volume 1, 2–12.

• Torrance, E. P. (1969a). Creativity. Belmont, CA: Fearon.

• Wallas, G. (1926). The art of thought. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.