"Imagination rules the world." - Napoleon "In order to have a real relationship with our creativity, we must take the time and care to cultivate it" - Julia Cameron Art had to be one of my favourite subjects alongside English at school and I'm fairly confident it was mainly because most of my teachers throughout the years of enjoying these subjects gave me the time, space and encouragement to express myself creatively. However, it did used to confuse and frustrate me at school when they called one style of writing ‘Creative Writing' in English lessons. It was my favourite kind of homework but whether you are writing a critical analysis on a poem, Shakespeare play or Jane Austin text, all writing is creative isn't it? You create something from nothing when you put pen to paper or tap letters on a keyboard, transforming a once blank screen, into something of substance. "Another word for creativity is courage" - George Prince The now statutory Early Years Foundation Stage goes a long way in helping to clarify what creative development is and how essential a part it must play in each and every child's education. Therefore, before I look at what some children, a selection of practitioners and I think it means, let's flesh out and answer the important question: What does the Early Years Foundation Stage say about Creative Development? The requirements state that "Children's creativity must be extended by the provision of support for their curiosity, exploration and play. They must be provided with opportunities to explore and share their thoughts, ideas and feelings, for example, through a variety of art, music, movement, dance, imaginative and role-play activities, mathematics, and design and technology." Dance is a new addition and some may be surprised to see mathematics included in this inexhaustible list of examples, but it is right and a delight that these are included. When talking about what creative development means for all children, the EYFS states that "Creativity is about taking risks and making connections and is strongly linked to play" and that "creativity emerges as children become absorbed in action and explorations of their own ideas, expressing them through movement, making and transforming things using media and materials such as crayons, paints, scissors, words, sounds, movement, props and make-believe." Again, an inexhaustible list of examples but useful to make ‘concrete' and ‘tangible' what creative development can sometimes look like because we need to be able to facilitate it and recognise it whilst being open minded about the many other various forms it may take. Having asked a variety of family and friends what creative development meant to them, I can honestly say that some really thought it was just about painting, drawing, making things and what they knew as ‘Art' at school. So it is encouraging to see ‘movement, words, sounds, props and make-believe' included in the EYFS as it helps to broaden people's views and widen their horizons about what creative development is and potentially can be. The EYFS goes on to say "Creativity involves children in initiating their own learning and making choices and decisions" and "children's responses to what they see, hear and experience through their senses are individual and the way they represent their experiences is unique and valuable." I love the room for interpretation the words allow for here so that even if you see, hear or experience a child's creative development in a new way that's not within the confines of the EYFS, because it is their own self chosen way of expressing themselves, it is unique and to be valued thus building confidence and self esteem. And the final point supports this, "Being creative enables babies and children to explore many processes, media and materials and to make new things emerge as a result." When talking about how settings can effectively implement Creative Development, the guidance asks practitioners to pay particular attention to these themes: Positive Relationships Ensure children feel secure enough to ‘have a go', learn new things and be adventurous. ("The essential part of creativity is not being afraid to fail" - Edwin H. Land) Value what children can do and children's own ideas rather than expecting them to reproduce someone else's picture, dance or model, for example. ("Minds are like parachutes: they only function when open" - Thomas R. Dewar ) Give opportunities for children to work alongside artists and other creative adults so that they see at first hand different ways of expressing and communicating ideas and different responses to media and materials. Accommodate children's specific religious or cultural beliefs relating to particular forms of art or methods of representation. Enabling Environments Provide a stimulating environment in which creativity, originality and expressiveness are valued. Include resources from a variety of cultures to stimulate new ideas and different ways of thinking. Offer opportunities for children with visual impairment to access and have physical contact with artefacts, materials, spaces and movements. Provide opportunities for children with hearing impairment to experience sound through physical contact with instruments and other sources of sound. Encourage children who cannot communicate by voice to respond to music in different ways, such as gestures. Learning and Development Present a wide range of experiences and activities that children can respond to by using many of their senses. Allow sufficient time for children to explore and develop ideas and finish working through these ideas. Create opportunities for children to express their ideas through a wide range of types of representation. Creative Development are two words that excite me because they are loaded and ready to unpick, with limitless possibilities and an infinite number of potential interpretations which go far beyond the boundaries of things like the Early Years Foundation Stage guidance, topics such as ‘Colour' subject names such as ‘Art,' ‘Music' and ‘Dance' and even our own beliefs or prejudices about what these things are. If you look up ‘creative' in the English dictionary you will find a definition similar to ‘having the ability to create' and ‘imaginative or inventive' whilst ‘development' will be something along the lines of ‘the process of growing or developing'. Instinctively we know that it is so much more than this because as human beings it is in our nature to be creative in multifarious ways. It is my firm belief, supported by vast amounts of research in neuroscience and other fields, that all children are born creative. Creativity can be a survival skill in the way that it leads to flexibility of thinking and adaptability of response in an ever changing world. It is a process that must be at the heart of all children's experience in preschool (and hopefully well beyond or at least through out Key Stage 1). Developing empathy, valuing ideas, cultivating and nurturing natural curiosity and the ability to communicate thoughts, constitute the creative attitude we need to facilitate in our settings for children to flourish. I think that at this point it is important to make the distinction between ‘creative processes' and ‘acts of creation' because there can often be confusion between the two. The processes of creative development are: the gathering of thoughts, ideas, feelings and relationships and (usually subconsciously) simmering/mulling over the above which gradually, or sometimes suddenly (light bulb moment/eureka phenomenon) becomes clear and is finally hatched out as a creation. These processes involved in creation do not necessarily develop into the final making of a creation, but more often than not, the process itself is the most important thing and can be enough for some children. When the creative process does lead into a creation, this can take the form of a multitudinous array of possibilities such as an idea, theory, mathematical pattern, story, poem, dance, drawing, garden, painting, musical composition, play, model, construction and I could go on. A good point to remember in the EYFS here is when it highlights that "It is difficult for children to make creative connections in learning when colouring in a worksheet or making a Diwali card just like everyone else's." Have a look at these and think about how each photo makes you feel, what emotions are stirred and why: "In and out the dusty bluebells" "Bottoms Up!" "A Gift from God" "Too far" "Cloned" "Wish you were here" What emotions did you feel looking at the above photographs? Humour, frustration, joy, sadness, jealously, longing, sadness, love etc. Sally Thomas describes creativity being about transformations and a ‘shift in feelings' and that some of the earliest, most beautiful and essential transformations happen from birth. Sometimes we can be too wrapped up in trying to get ‘an end product' from a child to prove that they have learnt something in our ‘focused activities' and "Look here is the evidence thank you very much OfSTED!" However, if you look back at the first photo for a moment, this little 4 year old boy (with attention difficulties) would not have voluntarily produced such a beautiful interpretation of bluebells in crayons, pencil crayons, chalk, pastels and water colours had he not experienced the bluebells for himself in a local wood. He walked through with his friends, he touched, smelt and saw the bluebells declaring "They're purple bells they are not blue we're walking in the purple bell wood!" experiencing them, first hand, exploring them through all of his senses which inspired him to ask to reproduce them several times that week reinforcing and consolidating skills as he did. Had I asked him to paint them from a vase in a ‘here's some I picked earlier' way, neither the process nor the product would have been so impressive and meaningful. When children are given the space, time and freedom to breathe the world in for themselves, they maximise their potential for learning as their creativity is heightened. It's terrific that the new EYFS supports us in this stating that "Being creative involves the whole curriculum, not just the arts. It is not necessarily about making an end-product such as a picture, song or play. " Or as Albert Einstein once said "Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein Do you remember the ‘Love is .....' cards and phrases? I almost called this article ‘Creativity is.....' or ‘Creative Development is....' But because it is so many things it seems a shame to put it into words just in case it reduces or limits what we know it to really be in some way. You could easily write a never ending story about it, especially when you ask the children to tell you what they think it is! "It is God making Adam and Eve and all the animals in the garden to keep them company like with baby Jesus when He was cold in the stable and they warmed Him up with their breathing all over Him." Ayisha aged 5 years and 7 months "It's like a model I made of daddy's car in the garage with mummy's Weetabix box and cotton reels for the wheels and I painted it black like daddy's car because you can't see it when it's dark in the night you can't like Batman's." Carl aged 4years and 8 months "It's painting and gluing and sticking and making things you like and messy stuff." Louisa aged 4 years and 5 months When you ask practitioners what they think creative development is, their responses are equally interesting and humorous at times: "Having just been on EYFS training I know that it now incorporates dance unlike before when it was just art, craft, role-play and music." Reception Teacher "It's anything you want it to be." Nursery Manager "Artistic Learning." Room Leader in a Children's Centre "That's like asking me to define the meaning of life! I don't know but it's probably a lot more than you think it is when you are not just defining it in terms of education and the EYFS. It's one of those all encompassing terms, it's all semantics, but the first words that crop up in my mind are art, music, dance (mustn't forget dance!) and drama." EYP "Using your imagination to look at things and explore in a new way." A parent "Making connections and learning in an innovative and imaginative way." A colleague The last point resonates with two points the EYFS makes clear in the guidance, that "Children will more easily make connections between things they've learned if the environment encourages them to do so. For example, they need to be able to fetch materials easily and to be able to move them from one place to another." Also, "Effective practitioners value each child's culture and help them to make connections between experiences at home, the setting and the wider community." I love this point about making connections because we have all seen it in young children haven't we? Like the little boy in the bluebell wood wanting to recreate bluebells using a variety of media, he was not only reinforcing and consolidating his learning but making those all important connections by extending his own learning and ‘thinking outside the box'. Later that year, in the summer I found him painting bluebells outside on dry paving stones commenting on how his pictures kept drying up in the sun but that it was alright because he could just keep on filling up his cup with water from the tap and repainting them. He did have one little problem though "My brush is getting a bit scratchy. I might need a new one or a thicker one." This little bit of communication and problem solving is just as creative as his bluebell recreations were, because he makes connections from scientific thoughts about a sunny day, evapouration, sun, water, and hot paving stones to mathematical concepts like thin and thick for his paintbrush whilst expressing himself clearly and using appropriate vocabulary. Finally, Lev Vygotsky once said that the greatest achievements are possible in play and that ‘Play is the realm of spontaneity and freedom' whilst, more recently, Sue Palmer talks about ‘symbolic play' and the importance of play through the active use of the imagination to help children develop problem solving skills. We must also remember that creative development can be therapy for some children as they learn to test things out and work through problems trying to make sense of the world for themselves in a safe environment. For instance, creativity is just as much about children re-enacting horrors from war zones to help them cope (for they regain some control, are in charge and are strengthened as they play scenarios out) as it is about expressing oneself through art, drama, dance, movement, music and so on, gaining a deeper knowledge and understanding of the world in this way also. Creative development and learning through play, embodies the attributes, skills and qualities that are the vital precursors to the more sophisticated and academically rigorous learning all children will undertake later on in their education, therefore we have a responsibility to do everything we can (as creatively as we can!) to encourage it. You do it everyday when tackling all those ‘challenges and dilemmas' when you are creatively problem solving to meet the children's needs in every possible way so let's do it, enjoy it and reap the rewards. "If you can dream it, you can do it." Walt Disney. Martine Horvath works for East Sussex as a Quality, Inclusion and Learning Coordinator, delivering training and advice on a variety of topics such as behaviour management, implementing the EYFS, and SENCO roles. She supports individual settings to identify, understand and break down barriers to learning, participation and belonging for all children so that they can inclusively meet the diverse needs of each and every child in their care. Recommended resources "100 ideas for Teaching Creative Development" by Wendy Bowkett and Stephen Bowkett paperback published by continuum ISBN 978-0-8264-9929-5. "Art in the Early Years" a resource book and DVD to support creativity in early years settings produced by Suffolk County Council ISBN 978-0-9550304-1-3 (contact Endeavour House 8 Russell Road Ipswich IP1 2BX. "Creative Activities for the Early Years" by Stella Skinner paperback published by Paul Chapman Publishing ISBN 978-1-4129-3448-0. "Poems for the Foundation Stage" by Keri Finlayson spiral-bound paperback published by Featherstone Education ISBN 978-1-906029-60-9. "Outdoor Play" by Ros Bayley, Lynn Broadbent and Sally Featherstone spiral-bound paperback published by Featherstone Education ISBN 978-1-906029-48-7.
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