1. Nurturing the development of the creative self
Chapter 15

2. What is Creativity?
A way of thinking and processing the world rather than the production of art projects
Creativity plays a significant role in the cognitive development
Creative thinking involves imagination, the production of new ideas and testing them
Creativity focuses on the process of forming original ideas through exploration and discovery
The process what is most important, not the product
Children’s creative expressions can be seen in drawings, painting, singing, dancing, building with blocks, dramatic play, and so forth

3. Four Essential Components of the Creative Process (Paul Torrance)
Fluency – the ability to produce a number of different ideas
Flexibility – the ability to approach situations and develop solutions from a number of different perspectives
Originality – the ability to have a new or novel idea
Elaboration – the ability to extend ideas
The Torrance tests of creativity thinking (TTCT) are the most widely used tests to measure children’s creativity since 1960s

4. Creativity Support Emotional Development
Help children express their emotions
Helps develop multiple intelligences
How teachers can help – encourage children to express their feelings, “I hear that you are angry right now. Why don’t you paint a picture of what that feels like?”

5. Creativity Supports Social Development
Singing, painting, dancing, playing make-believe are all much more fun when done with friends. Children learn to pay attention to others as well as the rules of social give-and-take
How teachers can help – encouraging children to pair up or work in small groups and discuss their ideas with others. Displaying children work on the wall and let the children critique the work in a constructive way

6. Creativity Supports Physical Development
Creativity develops fine-motor skills (cutting, drawing, tearing and eye-hand coordination)
Creativity develops large-motor skills (movement, dance activities)
The bodily-kinesthetic intelligence – involves handling tools and objects skillfully

7. Creativity Support Language and Literacy Development
Combine verbal storytelling with artistic creation – taking dictation while the child is painting/drawing or creates out of clay/playdough, using puppets to retell the stories
Encourage Children to work together, and language will flow
Incorporate listening and music activities - offer musical instruments to experiment with and listen to. Ask them to talk about their favorite sounds that them make
Ask open-ended questions about the child’s creative work (“how do you make green?)
Offer tools and materials to develop eye-hand coordination – cutting, drawing/writing

8. Creativity Supports Cognitive Development
Creativity enhances mathematics learning – measuring with rulers in their woodworking, counting people they drew, grouping and classifying as they build with blocks/legos
Creativity enhances science learning – hypothesis forming and testing (making something from clay). Children discover physical properties of objects
How teachers can help – respecting children’s ideas and valuing their divergent thinking

9. The Stages of Development in Children’s Creativity
Exploration of materials – 2s and 3s explore paint and brushes using their senses before creating something
Nonrepresentational stage – paintings have more design and intention, but not recognizable by anyone but the painter
Representational stage – children plan what they are going to paint (ages 4-6) and their work can be recognizable

10. What Can Teachers Do to Nurture Children’s Creativity
Allow countless opportunities for creative experiences and exploration
Focus on process, not product
Use lots of self-expressive materials to foster the creative self
Remember to make self-expressive opportunities available for children with disabilities
Provide enough materials
Foster an appreciation of beauty – display children’s work around the classroom