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CHCFC301A: Support the development of children

Support the creative development of children

Contents

What is creativity? 3

Creativity, spirituality and aesthetics 5

Creativity and conformity 6

Provide experiences for children to utilise the range of their senses including vision, hearing and taste 8

Encourage children to express their imagination and creativity within their play and interactions and provide experiences which encourage children to explore a variety of methods of self expression 9

Supporting creative development in infants 9

Supporting creative development in toddlers 9

Supporting creative development in preschoolers 11

Supporting creative development in school-aged children 13

Make available appropriate resources, material and equipment for children to initiate their own creative activities 14

Certificate III in Children’s Services: CHCFC301A: Reader LO 9250 © NSW DET 2010

What is creativity?

What do you understand by the term creativity? Write down your ideas.

To me creativity is the individual way we express ourselves and communicate our ideas to others. Creativity is linked to originality in that it involves our own unique way of seeing, understanding and responding to the world around us.

If you have worked with children you will have learnt that they can be very creative in responding to their world. They often come up with ideas that we as adults have never considered. Too often adults leap in and stifle creativity by telling children how to respond or how to conform to given situations. If we encourage children to be creative we are empowering them to discover innovative solutions to problems. We are also providing possibilities for the joy of learning about and living in our world.

Think about the baby, putting every object within reach, the toddler emptying all the shampoos and conditioners into the shower recess, the preschoolers experimenting with all the different ways of moving with their body or the school-aged child constructing a model of their own fantasy house. All of these things involve creativity.

We need to constantly remind ourselves that children are naturally creative and usually willing and confident in their creative pursuits. It can be the adults with whom children are with that can stifle that creativity. How many times have you heard that expression: ‘I don’t have a creative bone in my body!’

You may think creativity is about being an artist of some kind. When we feel that we don’t have particular talents in those areas we tend to say we are not creative and so become quite overwhelmed when faced with the challenge of supporting children’s creativity. However, the good news is that we don’t have to be artistic to be creative or support creativity in children. We just need to let go of the view of always having the correct answer to problems and always having a predetermined goal or product. We need to provide environments for children where they are free to explore and investigate and are encouraged to find their own solutions, interpretations and ideas on how and why things are the way they are.

Creativity allows us to express our ideas, emotions and feelings in ways that perhaps are difficult to describe in words. Loris Malaguzzi (1920–1994), sometimes referred to as the father of the Reggio Emilia approach to the early

Certificate III in Children’s Services: CHCFC301A: Reader LO 9250© NSW DET 2010

childhood experience, introduced the concept of the 100 languages of children. He felt that for many situations words were a clumsy way for children to express their ideas and understanding. He felt that there were so many other ways—paint, pen, clay, music, modelling, shadow puppets and dress-ups were just a few media in which children could develop an understanding of their world. (The Reggio Emilia system of early childhood education was founded by Loris Malaguzzi in the northern region of Italy called Reggio Romagna.)

The hundred languages of children A poem by Loris Malaguzzi, translated by Lella Gandina

The child is made of one hundred.

The child has a hundred languages

a hundred hands

a hundred thoughts

a hundred ways of thinking

of playing, of speaking.

A hundred, always a hundred

ways of listening

of marvelling, of loving

a hundred joys for singing

and understanding

a hundred worlds to discover

a hundred worlds to invent

a hundred worlds to dream.

The child has a hundred languages

(and a hundred hundred hundred more)

but they steal ninety-nine.

The school and the culture

separate the head from the body.

They tell the child:

to think without hands

to do without head

to listen and not speak

to understand without joy

to love and marvel

only at Easter and Christmas.


They tell the child:

to discover the world already there

and of the hundred

they steal ninety-nine.

They tell the child that

work and play

reality and fantasy

science and imagination

sky and earth

reason and dream

are things

that do not belong together.

And thus they tell the child

that the hundred is not there.

The child says:

No way. The hundred is there!

Creativity, spirituality and aesthetics

What is spirituality?When children enter this world they come with a sense of awe, wonder and appreciation of the world around them. Just think about the toddler—yes they are busy, on the go the whole time to the point of exhausting their parents. However, for them all the world is new—everything is new. The rain falling on the window pane, the kite flying over the beach on a windy day, the butterfly flitting from flower to flower and, of course, the flowers themselves.

Children seem to have a real interest and appreciation of what is beautiful. If we want them to maintain that sense of wonder then we have a responsibility to nurture this appreciation of beauty and power in all its forms—nature, music, art or whatever.

So what do we call this desire and appreciation for beauty and awe?

Basically it is part of our developing spirituality and desire for a world that is aesthetically pleasing.


Spirituality is difficult to define, as it is most commonly associated with religion. However, in terms of understanding children’s development and working with them in a children’s service it relates more to the reverence for life and for beauty.

Aesthetics relates to our need to experience beauty. Why do we spend hours searching for that special outfit for that special occasion, why do we go to art galleries and spend ages looking at artworks centuries old or why do we enjoy that sunset after the bushfires have raged. There is a part of us that finds some joy and peace in beautiful experiences and/or things.

We have a great opportunity to encourage an appreciation of our world by providing an environment for children and staff that is aesthetically pleasing.

We are in a way honouring life and the wonder that the world holds. We are also creating an environment that supports creativity. In turn, as childcare workers when we value that creativity and acknowledge it as something unique and beautiful, we are providing children with a sense of satisfaction and peace, thus nourishing their spiritual and aesthetic self.

Creativity and conformityIn summary, it is important that we don’t emphasise conformity when children are being creative in their solutions to problems. When we make use of open-ended questions and suggest rather than tell, children are more likely to become innovative and develop original solutions to problems.

We have learnt through this topic that creativity will form the basis for useful life skills. We do not know what the world will be like when the children in our care are the adults in the future. How many times have you heard the story that many of the jobs that our children of today will engage in haven’t yet been thought of.

It is no longer the role of carers and educators to be the disseminators of knowledge and information. We have a role to support and empower children in finding ways of accessing information and finding creative solutions.


We also have a responsibility to foster within children their spirituality and need for aesthetics. This requires us to do such things as provide experiences which are beautiful, create beautiful spaces for children, use quality resources and demonstrate a genuine care and respect of their creations. For example, how disrespectful it is to dismiss children’s involvement in a block construction which has taken over two hours and has involved a lot of problem-solving through creative solutions by saying ‘It’s time to pack away now—it’s lunch time’. If we are really serious about caring and respecting children’s creativity, we ourselves need to look at creative alternatives within the structure of our own day.


Provide experiences for children to utilise the range of their senses including vision, hearing and taste

If we reflect upon our image of the child, and if we truly view children as capable and competent rather than needy, we will be able to provide them with great opportunities for creativity. We will be demonstrating our belief in them.

When we encourage children to think creatively we are fostering the development of lateral or divergent thinkers. This means that they are able to think about things in unusual and unique ways. When these children enter the work force as adults these skills will help them solve the problems of a modern and technological world.

Creativity is connected closely with play. When we think about play we can see that it is creative and original. When we watch children play there is often no predetermined outcome and if there is, the journey to the outcome has no set path. As childcare professionals we have a great opportunity to support that creativity by providing good spaces for children to engage in open-ended play.

Activity 1


Encourage children to express their imagination and creativity within their play and interactions and provide experiences which encourage children to explore a variety of methods of self expression

Supporting creative development in infants We can provide a range of sensory experiences in their natural environment. They need things to see, touch, hear, taste and smell. They need time to explore and experiment with objects in a number of ways. Just think of the ways an infant enjoys bath time. They kick, splash, ripple and move in the water. They push things under the water, move things around the bath with their hands and feet. Their response in bath time is unique to them and so they are demonstrating creativity.

Have you ever watched a 12-month-old in a space with shredded paper—they pick it up, let it go, throw it, stamp on it, crawl through it, pile it up, look at it in their fingers or on their toes. As infants use sensory exploration as they engage in this form of play, they respond in creative ways.

Activity 2

Supporting creative development in toddlersWhen you are around toddlers, notice that besides their constant activity, they are naturally curious about their world. They are into everything—finding out what things look like, feel like, smell like or sound like. During toddlerhood children begin to express themselves using a variety of symbols and media. They


begin to express their ideas and feelings through imaginary and dramatic play, paint, crayons, clay, blocks, music and movement.

They tend to be highly creative in the way they explore and manipulate objects. If encouraged, they will enjoy solving problems and be motivated to keep learning about things that are new to them. This too will foster the development of positive self-esteem. As they start to feel good about what they can do and find out, they will become more motivated to develop creative solutions to everyday problems.

We can encourage toddlers’ creativity by providing opportunities for exploration and aesthetics. We need to give toddlers the opportunity to use a range of art materials, including crayons, collage and finger paint.

Toddlers love finger painting

They also need space for creative play in a place near the bathroom or a low sink or outside tap, so that cleaning away and hand washing is close by.

To foster creativity we also need to provide opportunities for singing and dancing as well as playing simple musical instruments.

Remember: toddlers are more interested in the quality of the sound of the various instruments, not so much how those sounds are organised. It’s probably best if we ensure that the creative play space is away from quieter areas.

However, we need to remember that in addition to creating spaces for creative play we also need to ensure that the total physical environment is designed to foster children’s creative and aesthetic development.

Toddlers still need sensory experiences that will stimulate creative responses. They will enjoy experimenting with tactile materials such as water, sand, clay, play dough and ‘goop’. We need to encourage toddlers to discover and create different textures by adding and mixing different materials together.


Supporting creative development in preschoolers

… and playing with mud

We need to encourage children to become creative thinkers so that they can solve the future world problems in new and innovative ways.

As we know, preschoolers are intensely curious about their world and are forever finding new ways to solve problems and express themselves. By supporting children’s creativity we are empowering them to have some control over their lives and gain independence and we are supporting their feelings of self-worth. We also are giving them opportunities to extend their cognitive skills.

Creativity is closely linked to cognitive development as it involves exploration, observation, problem solving, discovery, concept development, analysis, prediction and the communication of ideas.

Creative work, then, is both expressive and receptive. Creativity in itself can be a form of two-way communication. Giving children creative materials with minimum direction can allow them to engage in a comforting activity and at the same time allow them to experience success. This of course will help them to develop good self-esteem.

So let’s now look at ways in which we can support preschoolers’ creativity.

Basically we need to provide a wide range of media and materials to foster children’s activities. Obviously a wide range of materials which will allow children to engage are those used in art and craft activities. So we can provide a variety of paints in a variety of colours, a variety of things for children to paint on using a wide variety of implements such as brushes, straws, sticks, cotton buds, etc. The list seems endless.


… and face painting

We can also provide a variety of materials for children to engage in collage: fabrics, paper of all colours and types, boxes of all shapes and sizes, and strong glue so their creations stay stuck together.

We can provide materials that are suitable for moulding. These can include such things as play dough, bakers’ dough, clay, plaster and paper-maché.

Recycled materials can also be available to preschool children—cardboard boxes, plastic tubing, foam rubber and materials similar to that used for wetsuits and surfboards. Rugs, blankets and sheets can be used to build cubby houses, to section areas off or perhaps even become magic carpets.

Dress ups allow children to explore a variety of roles—this is another way children can gain an understanding of others in their community.

Besides the provision of materials, it is also important that we as carers of preschoolers respond to their creative pursuits in ways that encourage further creativity. Questions such as ‘What’s that?’ can be highly insulting to preschoolers who have given quite some time to a creative pursuit. It is better to say things like ‘That looks interesting—would you like to tell me about it’ or ‘That’s an interesting way of solving that problem—I wonder what would happen if….’

If we want children to develop into creative thinkers we need to respect their creative pursuits. If the preschoolers you know are showing high levels of curiosity, are ever-willing to experiment and appear to enjoy solving problems in new and unusual ways, you can feel confident that they are developing into creative thinkers.

Activity 3


Supporting creative development in school-aged childrenWhen children are being creative they are using a wide range of high-level thinking skills. If we want children to become creative thinkers we need to encourage creativity from an early age.

School-aged children have now developed control over their bodies and they are able to remember much more than when they were younger. With encouragement they can extend their creative skills through a range of experiences.

If we value children’s creative efforts then they are more likely to extend their creativity and their creative solutions to complex problems. The following experiences give you some idea of how to keep the creativity going.

You can play with stories with school-aged children. If you provide the beginning and the end, they will have fun creating the middle or you can just provide the beginning and get them to take it from there.

When children are involved in some new experience or excursion you can provide them with a range of materials for them to represent or extend their understanding of that experience.

We can provide children with opportunities to explore and experiment with materials and substances and prompt with ‘I wonder what would happen if…..’

We can encourage them to explore music and dance and support them in their responses to these media.

We can provide a range of art materials for them to use and we can encourage them to respond to and solve problems in non-traditional ways.

As we have learnt earlier, creativity does not need to be limited to the arts area—it can be encouraged in all areas; we need only be limited by our imagination when supporting children’s creativity.

Activity 4


Make available appropriate resources, material and equipment for children to initiate their own creative activities

Here are a number of examples of resources, materials and equipment to help children initiate their own creative activities.

Settings

A hospital setting A hairdressing setting

A restaurant setting

A water experiment setting


Equipment and materials

A simple tyre

Construction blocks

Painting easelsA few pieces of wood make a cubby house

Silver foilColoured dough

Plastic tea set Dressup corner


The environment

Hanging streamers Hanging materials

Outdoor setting Indoor / outdoor setting

Displaying children’s work


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