Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/supporting-creativity/5019533/
People have always valued and appreciated creativity, and art is a medium for expressing one’s individuality and creativity. Creativity can be reflected in the products a person makes. For young children though, creativity is a road of trial and errors; it’s a process. Adults nurture or inhibit children’s creativity in their design of the physical environment, the materials they provide for children’s use, and their responses to children’s efforts.Let’s look in on two preschool programs to see what they are doing to nurture children’s creativity. Both provide children with opportunities for artistic expression, but their approaches are quite different, as are the results.
Vignette 1
Location: A parent participation preschool
Age group: Four year olds
Ratio: One teacher, one assistant teacher, and eight parent helpers for 24 children
The parents are waiting anxiously outside the school doors. Some are planning to work with the teacher that day, while others will be dropping off their children, then running errands until it’s time to return for pick-up. The doors open and the teacher greets everyone with a big smile. The children rush inside. “Hurray! It’s play time.” As they hover around the art table, the teacher claps for attention. She says, “Children, we are ...