GOOD TIMES BEING CREATIVE
WHAT IS CREATIVITY?
Creativity means having the power
or quality to express yourself in your own way. Children are naturally
creative. They see the world through fresh, new eyes and then
use what they see in original ways. One of the most rewarding
parts of working with children is the chance to watch them create.
They do it all the time, all by themselves. Caregivers need only
encourage the natural creativity that exists.
Children display creativity in
all parts of play, but especially in four main areas: art, language,
music, and fantasy.
* Art is a way of expressing ideas
and feelings in visual form. It includes children's use of crayons,
paint, scissors, glue, play dough, and other craft materials.
* Language is the expression of ideas and feelings through words,
either written or spoken. It includes the stories children tell
and their creative "plays" and "pretend" games.
* Music is the expression of ideas and feelings using bodily movements.
It includes dancing, singing, playing instruments, and using the
body to make movements such as leaping like a frog or exploring
how many ways to make a circle with the body.
* Fantasy is expressing ideas and feelings through pretend. It
can include playing "make-believe", day-dreaming, talking
with imaginary companions, and reading fantasy books.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO LEARN
ABOUT CREATIVITY?
The most important function of
creativity is self-expression. Self-expression allows children
to express ideas and feelings about themselves and the world around
them. Three-year-olds may not know how to say they are frustrated
and depressed, but they can paint a picture using dark colors
and bold, angry-looking strokes. Eight-year-olds may not feel
like talking about moving to a new city, but they may write stories
about other children who have moved. Self-expression is a way
for children to show their needs to those around them.
Children's abilities to imagine
and observe also are strengthened through self-expression. Asking
children "What if..." questions helps develop their
imaginations. "What if cats had ears like elephants?"
"What if there was no gravity?" "What if plants
could walk?" As children begin to ask "what if"
questions, they not only observe the way the world actually is
but also imagine how it might be. Often caregivers are tempted
to say "But plants do not walk and never will!" instead
of imagining with children what it would be like if they did.
If you do this, you discourage creativity rather than encourage
its growth. Allow yourself to wonder right along with the child.
"If plants could walk, they would probably follow us to school
just like dogs do!"
Creativity provides for intellectual
growth. Children who mix red and yellow paint to make orange are
growing intellectually. The scientists who trained astronauts
to deal with weightlessness in space may have been the same children
who asked, "What if there were no gravity?" when they
were young. Many people feel that, as our world continues to change
so quickly, we will need more and more creative people who can
come up with new answers to "what if...?"
Creativity also allows children
to explore the world. In fantasy, they can pretend to be police
officers or ballet dancers. Through language, they can test their
ideas about the world. In art, they can show the world as they
see it. As children grow, they increase their knowledge of themselves
and the world around them. Encouraging their creativity helps
them in this process.
Encouragement also helps provide
children with a sense of mastery and self-worth. The 2-year-olds
who hop and croak feel pride in their abilities to be frogs. Seven-year-olds
who think about weightlessness and come up with ideas gain respect
for their own ability to think. They learn, "I am good at
thinking. I know how to do it." This pride and respect for
themselves is important because it is a base for all their later
accomplishments.
Creative play often provides exercise
for children, which in turn stimulates physical growth. For example,
playing "Star Wars" or "Superman" requires
lots of running, jumping, and climbing. Even stringing beads on
a shoestring to make a necklace or weaving yarn to make a wall
hanging requires muscle coordination.
Creative play also can help children
grow socially. It gives them a chance to see the world from other
children's perspectives through their stories, pictures, fantasy
plays, or movements. The more understanding children gain of other
points of view, the more respect they will learn for other people's
rights, opinions, and feelings.
Creativity helps children feel
good about themselves. You can encourage this feeling by responding
positively to what they do. For example, you might say, "I
like the way you used blue in your picture," or "That's
a good way to pretend to be an elephant. I like the way you move
your trunk." Remember, there are hundreds of ways to be creative.
Each child will have an individual and unique style.
Another way you can encourage
children to be creative is to talk things over rather than to
give specific instructions or make a model when they ask for help.
If you show a child how to draw a flower or a person, they will
try to draw one just like yours. This can be frustrating because
no matter how hard children try, their pictures will not be as
"good" as yours because they do not have the muscle
control or skill that you have. Chances are that children will
compare the two pictures and not be happy with their own. They
may even decide not to try. Be creative yourself and think of
ways to encourage children's creativity.
Children's creativity reflects
their feelings, emotions, and imagination. Children are not often
as concerned with how things "really" are but with how
they "think" they are.
When working with young children,
it is important to remember that the process of creating is more
important than the product. This means that children are more
interested in painting, singing, or moving than they are in making
a perfect picture or singing the right words to the song. Caregivers
need to be sensitive to this. It is better to say "Tell me
about your picture" (or song or about what you are doing)
than it is to say "What is it?" Sometimes the child's
final product may not be anything more than an expression of feelings.
TELEVISION
Children spend an average of 30
hours a week watching television. Some people feel this is too
much since the time spent watching television cannot be spent
in other, more active ways. Children grow and learn through active
interaction with people and materials around them. Creativity
encourages active interaction, but television often discourages
it.
As a caregiver, there are several
things you can do to help control the use of television and encourage
creativity in children.
1. Talk to the parents about their
rules for television viewing and program selection. Always follow
these rules.
2. Do not use the television as
a substitute caregiver. You are the caregiver, and need to spend
time with the child. Children usually will not miss television
if they have other fun things to do. Use the ideas in this book
for alternatives. Remember, most children would rather play with
another child or an adult than watch television.
3. If children are watching television,
watch with them. Encourage them to think and talk with you by
asking questions or making comments on what is happening. Play
"What if..." and imagine different endings or happenings
during the show. Discuss the creative parts of the program; the
writing, acting, and making of the show. If you do not know a
lot about these, you can find information in the children's section
of your public library. Ask the children's librarian for help.
AGES AND STAGES
INFANTS
Infants (birth to 18 months) learn
to grasp, sit-up, crawl, and walk. Older babies learn to talk
and express themselves using one or two word sentences. Activities
for this stage of development should encourage creativity. You,
as a caregiver, can build on what infants do by offering them
a variety of safe materials to play with. For example, when infants
use a pan as a drum and hit it with their hands, offer them other
things to hit the pan with, like wooden spoons. Or offer them
other drums like plastic bowls or empty boxes. For more on safe
toys for infants, see *Good Times with Toys*.
How you can help
1. Hang a colorful mobile over
the crib, or place pictures where babies can focus on them.
2. Play sound games with infants.
Repeat the sounds babies make back to them. Make up nonsense words
or rhyming words when talking to infants.
3. Sing to babies. Play a variety
of music around them. By 7 or 8 months, even infants "dance"
to music. You can encourage this dancing by taking the infant's
hands and moving with the music.
For more ideas on music activities,
see *Good Times with Music and Rhythm*.
4. Encourage babies' safe and
creative use of household materials. For example, give them margarine
tubs, empty boxes, or large empty spools - any safe materials
that are handy around the house - and let them experiment. Show
excitement and interest in what they do.
TODDLERS
Toddlers (18 months to 4 years)
have growing hand control and coordination. They should be given
opportunities to draw with paint, crayons, and chalk. Toddlers
will need to be supervised in these activities to understand the
right place for drawing. Young toddlers, especially, often use
walls, sheets, floors, tables, and other surfaces for drawing,
if not given guidance.
For most toddlers, this is a scribbling
stage in art and a picture rarely looks like a recognizable object.
Using muscles and discovering how things feel is what counts.
Toddlers enjoy art experiences such as play dough, clay, shaving
cream painting, cornstarch and water, and finger painting. Recipes
and directions for these are in the Learn by Doing section.
Later, toddlers are ready for
experiences with scissors and glue. Toddlers need careful supervision
until they learn the rules for using these materials.
Toddlers have a growing vocabulary
and can tell short stories. They also can make-up simple stories
about pictures you show them. Encourage the toddler to talk to
you and tell you about their experiences.
Toddlers can do much with creative
movements. They are learning the names of their body parts and
enjoy activities that use these, such as touching toes, eyes,
or elbows. Toddlers can do simple creative movements like imitating
animals. They enjoy dancing and, like infants, should be exposed
to all kinds of music. Toddlers also enjoy making their own music
with simple instruments like bells and sticks.
The fantasy play of toddlers comes
naturally. They still are learning what is real and what is pretend.
Fantasy play, pretending to be the mother or doctor, is how young
children learn about the world. It also helps children feel powerful
and in control. In make-believe, children are the ones who get
to do the ordering instead of being ordered.
How you can help:
1. Check your local library for
books without words such as *Do You Want To Be My Friend?* by
Eric Carle. Your librarian can suggest others. Because they are
only pictures, let the child tell the story to you.
Read *Good Times with Stories and Poems* for more ideas on using
books creatively with young children.
2. Take pictures from magazines
and mount them on a piece of paper. Ask the child to tell you
about it, then write down what they say. Later you can read these
stories back to the child.
3. Play a variation of "Twister"
with toddlers. Make up such directions as "Put your elbow
on yellow." "Put your little finger on green."
"Put your ear on blue."
4. Provide art materials for the
child using suggestions and recipes from the Learn by Doing section.
Always check with the child's parent ahead of time to make sure
it is all right. Protect the work area during messy activities
by putting newspaper on table and floor. Protect the child's clothes
with a bib or smock. A used adult shirt with the sleeves cut off
works well. Remember toddlers need careful supervision during
art activities. Always clean-up afterwards.
5. A good place for a toddler
to do finger painting is in the bathtub. The toddler can paint
the bathtub (and themselves) as much as they want and then bathtub
and toddler can be washed off. Remember to check with parents
before trying this kind of activity.
6. Encourage creative movement
in toddlers by pretending you all are: kites blowing in the wind;
a kitten with a sore paw; a balloon blowing up and popping; a
jet airplane taking off; eating an ice cream cone. Make up ideas
of your own. Be creative.
7. Encourage toddlers in their
fantasy play. Read *Good Times with Toys* for ideas and guidelines
on how to do this.
PRESCHOOLERS
Preschoolers have greater muscle
control than toddlers. They enjoy the same creative materials
but are able to use them in more complex ways. Most preschoolers
know the correct place for drawing, but will sometimes give in
to the temptation to write on walls or floors, if left unsupervised
for long. By 4 or 5, some children start drawing recognizable
objects, although many details may be missing. By 6, most children
are interested in explaining the pictures they create.
Preschoolers also are good story
tellers. They enjoy making books of their stories, drawing pictures
to go along with their words. They also enjoy telling stories
in groups with each person telling a part.
The creative movement of preschoolers
shows much attention to detail. They enjoy dancing and generally
are aware of others dancing around them. They enjoy making up
songs and music with instruments.
The fantasy play of preschoolers
also is more complex than toddlers. Preschoolers often direct
each other on what to do as they play "Let's pretend."
"You be the Mom, and I'll be the Dad...." By 6, preschoolers
have developed a good idea about what is real and what is fantasy.
Usually around this age, they figure out that Santa Claus, the
tooth fairy, and the Easter bunny are more fantasy than reality.
Children may choose to go on pretending
anyway. Many children of preschool age have imaginary friends.
These usually vanish by school age when they get more involved
with real, live friends.
How you can help:
1. As children create pictures,
encourage feeling and talking by asking questions about size,
shape, and color, or by saying "Tell me about your picture."
2. Let the children help you mix
simple art materials. Follow the art guidelines suggested under
How You Can Help Toddlers.
3. Add textures to art materials.
* Add beans or rice to play dough
for texture.
* Put sawdust or cornmeal in paint for texture.
4. Make egg carton caterpillars
by cutting a cardboard egg carton bottom in four sections. Each
group of three humps makes one caterpillar. Use a pipe cleaner
for antenna and paint or color the caterpillar as desired. Caterpillars
also can be longer or shorter.
5. Take turns with the preschooler
in writing a story. For example, you might begin "Once upon
a time, a little boy wanted to go to the moon." Then let
the preschooler tell you the next part, and take turns. Write
the story down and read it to the parents when they get home.
6. Encourage more complex creative
movement in children by asking how they would move if they were:
happy, angry, scared, very heavy, cold, sneaky, very little, etc.
Use your imagination to come up with other ideas.
7. Expand the make-believe play
of preschoolers by giving them a prop box. Some ideas for these
are in *Good Times with Toys*.
EARLY SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN
Early school-age children (6 to
9 years) usually draw recognizable pictures. However, they may
exaggerate the parts of the picture that are most important to
them. They still leave out details. For example, people in their
pictures may have hands, but no arms, or furniture in their pictures
may not be on the floor, but rather floating in space. They enjoy
color, but do not always use it realistically. People may have
red feet and green faces. Animals might be orange. This is okay!
They are being creative!
How you can help:
School-age children are not only
able to tell stories, but also write them down and illustrate
the stories themselves. Early school-age children enjoy reading
these and other stories to you.
By this age, many children may
be taking classes in gymnastics. Early school-age children often
try to imitate the current dance craze in movement and may be
learning to play a real musical instrument.
The fantasy play of early school-age
children contains some make-believe. By this age, fantasy usually
includes action-oriented games like "superheroes" or
"horses." Much of the school-age child's time also deals
with daydreaming. Some daydreams become real as children start
to act out stories and plays.
1. Provide early school-age children
with art and craft materials based on their interests. It is still
important to allow children to be original and use materials as
they wish.
2. Early school-age children enjoy
simple needlework activities. They can draw a design on plastic
needlepoint canvas with permanent markers and then use yarn to
sew the design.
3. Be a receptive audience when
children want to read to you from either a story they have written
or a book.
4. Allow children to show you
the skills they have been learning in dance and gymnastics classes.
Teach them dances and movements you know.
5. Try some simple ball activities
using a 6- to 8- inch ball for each person. Ask the child, "How
would you:
* hold the ball without using
your hands?"
* hold the ball without using your hands in another way?"
* bounce the ball with your body?"
* balance the ball on three different body parts?"
* catch the ball without using your hands?"
Come up with other ideas of your
own.
6. Help the early school-age child
make a simple puppet (see the resources at the end of this section).
Use the puppet to act out a play.
7. Be a producer, and help early
school-age children put on a play. Organize props, and help at
rehearsal, but be careful not to stifle creativity and the children's
input and ideas.
RESOURCES
There is a lot of information
available on creative activities to do with children. Check the
public libraries, local book stores, and your local Cooperative
Extension office.
COOPERATIVE EXTENSION
Creative Play Helps Children Grow
(National Network for Child Care)
Child Development: Creativity
in Young Children (North Carolina Cooperative Extension)
Music and Movement Activities
(National Network for Child Care)
OTHER RESOURCES
*Resources for Creative Teaching
in Early Childhood Education by Bonnie Mack Flemming, Darlene
Softley Hamilton and JoAnne Deal Hicks (1990)
*Learning Through Play: Dramatic
Play edited by Nancy Jo Hereford and Jane Schall (1991)
*The Kids' Multicultural Art Book:
Art and Craft Experiences from Around the World by Alexandria
M. Terzian (1993)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
DOCUMENT USE/COPYRIGHT
National Network for Child Care - NNCC. Part of CYFERNET, the
National Extension Service Children Youth and Family Educational
Research Network. Permission is granted to reproduce these materials
in whole or in part for educational purposes only (not for profit
beyond the cost of reproduction) provided that the author and
Network receive acknowledgment and this notice is included:
Reprinted with permission from
the National Network for Child Care - NNCC. Lagoni, L. S., Martin,
D. H., Maslin-Cole, C., Cook, A., MacIsaac, K., Parrill, G., Bigner,
J., Coker, E., & Sheie, S. (1989). Good times being creative.
In *Good times with
child care* (pp. 239-253). Fort Collins, CO: Colorado State
University Cooperative Extension.
Make
your child
more creative for life.
Every child has creative
ability just waiting to be tapped. Even infants have budding creative
potential. The right educational toys can bring it out. and let
children enjoy the benefits of creative pursuits at many levels.
Infants,
toddlers,
preschoolers,
early
school age and older
school age children all delight in opportunities for creative
expression through colors, shapes and sounds.
At The Creativity Institute, we handpick each infant educational
toy, every creative plaything, each piece of furniture and every
toy musical instrument based on its potential for developing vital
creative resources in your child.
Toy
pianos, oversized
foam building blocks, puppet
theaters and puppet stages and people
and animal hand puppets, art
supplies and children's
easels, play
tents and more. The scale and durability of many of these
toys make them perfect for classrooms, homeschool,
day care centers and waiting rooms, too. The benefits of nurturing
creativity can be profound, offering children tools for success
in all endeavors athletic, artistic or academic. Let your baby
begin now.