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Creativity and young children: wondering, exploring, discovering, learning

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T1 - Creativity and young children

T2 - wondering, exploring, discovering, learning

AU - Niland, Amanda

N2 - Creativity and play have many things in common, and children show us their innate creativity regularly in their play. Like play, creativity has no single definition, as it is rich, complex and varied. Also like play, creativity is deeply satisfying to those who engage in it. This book explores creativity as an essential part of early childhood, with a focus on building early childhood educators’ understanding of the features and values of creative processes and their outcomes. It presents theories of creativity derived from research in early childhood and beyond, examples of children’s everyday creativity, and ways in which adults can support children’s creative development and learning. It provides strategies educators can use to nurture and develop children’s creativity to support their learning. The book aims to show how encouraging creativity can lead to rich play-based experiences that meet the outcomes of the Early Years Learning Framework (DEEWR, 2009). It encourages early childhood educators to tap into their own creativity as they plan creative opportunities for children.

AB - Creativity and play have many things in common, and children show us their innate creativity regularly in their play. Like play, creativity has no single definition, as it is rich, complex and varied. Also like play, creativity is deeply satisfying to those who engage in it. This book explores creativity as an essential part of early childhood, with a focus on building early childhood educators’ understanding of the features and values of creative processes and their outcomes. It presents theories of creativity derived from research in early childhood and beyond, examples of children’s everyday creativity, and ways in which adults can support children’s creative development and learning. It provides strategies educators can use to nurture and develop children’s creativity to support their learning. The book aims to show how encouraging creativity can lead to rich play-based experiences that meet the outcomes of the Early Years Learning Framework (DEEWR, 2009). It encourages early childhood educators to tap into their own creativity as they plan creative opportunities for children.

SN - 9781921162947

T3 - Research in practice series

BT - Creativity and young children

PB - Early Childhood Australia

CY - Deakin West, ACT

Creativity in early childhood: how educators from Australia and Italy are documenting the creative thought processes of young children

• Original Paper
• Open access
• Published: 12 March 2024
• Volume 4 , article number  74 , ( 2024 )

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• Nicole Leggett   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6026-4903 1  

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Creative and critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making have attracted increasing interest over the last decade as key twenty-first century skills for education. While the Australian Curriculum implies that creativity should be applied to all learning domains, the Early Years Learning Framework for birth to 5 years (EYLF) largely relegates creativity to children’s expression through the creative arts. The world-renowned Reggio Emilia approach places creativity at the centre of its curriculum not as a creative product, but as a cognitive process. This paper draws upon recent research with early childhood teachers from NSW, Australia and Northern Italy who formed sister-centre relationships to share their perspectives on children’s creative thinking. Through email exchange, educators from each country sent three examples of centre documentation they believed demonstrated children’s creative thinking, with an invitation for a response from the sister centre. Vygotsky’s creative imagination theory, Malaguzzi and Rodari’s philosophies of creativity, imagination and education, provide theoretical frameworks to explain the creative processes of children. Findings suggest that the Australian educators in this study demonstrated the practice of responsiveness to children in co-constructing factual knowledge, while the Italian educators focused more on the processes of children’s thinking, with a view of the child as an imaginative and creative being. This paper argues that if creative thinking is an essential skill for lifelong learning, then more attention for how educators in early childhood education contexts are incorporating this into practice is needed.

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Introduction

The 21st Century global skills framework includes learning and innovation skills such as critical thinking, problem solving and decision-making, creativity and innovation and learning to learn, and metacognition (Lamb et al. 2017 ). These skills are interwoven throughout the Australian curriculum, listed as general capabilities across all learning areas (ACARA 2013 ). In Australia, the Ministers for Education developed a new national declaration on education goals for all Australians, known as the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration ( 2019 ). This declaration was devised to create a national vision for education, acknowledging the importance of 21st Century skills for improved educational outcomes. Neurological evidence has found that there is a critical period in the first 10 years of a child’s life, where creativity flourishes (Goswami 2004 ; Doidge 2007 ). It is therefore essential that we look to early childhood education as the foundation for developing 21st Century skills.

As with many OECD countries, curricular goals have largely focused on ‘emergent’ literacy and numeracy skills. This research draws from the Australian early childhood curriculum as one example for how 21st Century skills are taking a back seat, often referred to as ‘soft’ skills, separating them from the ‘hard’ skills such as letter recognition that form part of academic school readiness (Sylva et al. 2020 ). In contrast, the world-renowned Reggio Emilia approach encourages children to express themselves at a high level by using many ways of symbolic expression, referred to as the hundred languages of children. From a historical perspective, the Reggio Emilia approach has long embraced creativity, making it a central tenet to children’s programs. Given the success and world-wide interest in the Reggio Emilia approach, this research provided an opportunity to highlight some of the differences between how educators from Australia and Italy are documenting the creative thought processes of young children in their centres.

Italian researchers believe that creativity surfaces in children aged 0–5 years (Pinto et al. 1977 ; Tallandini and Varsano 2003 ). According to the educators from Reggio Emilia, every act of learning is a creative act, not in relation to products but rather in terms of process. Within the Australian educational landscape, it is not evident in the documentation that there is a well-defined understanding of creativity for children’s learning (Leggett 2017 ). Rather than viewing creativity as a cognitive skill, the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) refers to creativity as a child’s ‘disposition’ stating that ‘play’ is a context for learning that ‘enhances dispositions such as curiosity and creativity’ (AGDE 2022 , p. 8). This research initiated dialogue around creative thinking to explore the following question: How are educators documenting the creative thinking of children? To commence, a review of the Australian and Italian context, together with core curriculum tenets and influential theorists, provides a background for understanding the main differences underpinning the pedagogical approaches of educators in this study.

The Australian context

The Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education declaration for young Australians (Education Council 2019 ) lists two goals: Goal 1 ‘The Australian education system promotes excellence and equity’ and Goal 2 as ‘all young Australians [are to] become confident and creative individuals (p. 4)’. In recognition of these goals, State, Territory and Commonwealth governments worked together to develop world-class education curriculums in Australia. In 2009, the Council of Australian Governments developed a curriculum framework to maximise young children’s potentials and to develop a foundation for successful learners.

The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) (AGDE 2022 ) for early childhood recognises these goals within its vision of the National Quality Framework stating that ‘all children engage in learning that promotes confident and creative individuals (p. 6)’. However, from a word search of the curriculum framework, ‘creative’ is mentioned only eight times with the majority of contexts in reference to children’s expression through the creative arts, rather than an important cognitive ability essential for all learning (Malaguzzi 1998 ; Prentice 2000 ; Weisberg 2006 ). There is only one reference to ‘creative thinking’ (AGDE 2022 ) which states that: ‘Active involvement and engagement in learning builds children’s understandings of concepts and the creative thinking and inquiry processes that are necessary for lifelong learning (p. 50)’. While this is reflective of Goal 2 of the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration (Education Council 2019 ), it is not expanded on throughout curriculum framework into practice or outcomes for children’s learning. As is with most educational curriculums, creativity, situated within the creative arts, sits on the fringe as an accessory to core academic subjects.

The EYLF (AGDE 2022 ) states that the ‘5 Learning Outcomes are designed to capture the integrated and complex learning and development of all children across birth to five age range (p. 29)’. Table 1 provides an overview of a word search for ‘creative’ within the five learning outcomes if the EYLF (AGDE 2022 ).

Within Outcome three of the EYLF (AGDE 2022 ) creative development is categorised as part of children’s holistic growth and well-being. This Outcome states that: ‘Educators attend to all children’s wellbeing by developing warm, trusting relationships, and providing predictable and child safe environments, affirmation and respect for all aspects of their physical, emotional, social, cognitive, linguistic, creative and spiritual being (p. 44)’. It is interesting to note that earlier in the document as part of educator’s holistic practices, the word ‘creative’ is omitted, stating: ‘When educators take a holistic approach, they pay attention to children’s physical, personal, social, emotional and spiritual wellbeing and cognitive aspects of learning (AGDE 2022 , p. 20)’. Whether this is a typo or not, the inconsistency does suggest a lack of importance for its inclusion. What is evident from the data presented in the table is that how creative development is understood as part of children’s overall cognitive growth, is not fully understood within the Australian curriculum framework. The majority of the text in the EYLF links creativity to the creative arts and self-expression. For inspiration, we often turn to global curriculums that are leading the field in creativity. The Reggio Emilia approach is one that positions creative thinking within cognitive and non-cognitive processes, and it is here that we find creativity central to teaching and learning.

The Italian context

Loris Malaguzzi ( 1998 ) founder of the Reggio Emilia approach believed that creativity expresses itself through cognitive, affective, and imaginative processes. Malaguzzi ( 1998 ), stated: ‘We know that children’s thinking is generated above all when it is dealing with problems, and that it develops when it is researching solutions to problems in the same way as adult thinking…children’s thinking is inextricably composed of cognitive elements and non-cognitive elements (Cagliari et al. 2016 , p. 311)’. Cognitive elements relate to the divergent and convergent thought processes that are necessary skills for problem solving or finding novel solutions.

For children to develop such cognitive skills, educators also need to consider dispositions such as curiosity, imagination, flexibility, experimentation, risk taking and openness to new perspectives (Prentice 2000 ). It is the combination of these cognitive and non-cognitive elements that promote creative abilities in children. Within early childhood contexts, the role of the educator becomes a significant factor for making visible the creative thinking of children. Malaguzzi ( 1998 ) explained that, ‘creativity becomes more visible when adults try to be more attentive to the cognitive processes of children than to the results they achieve in various fields of doing and understanding (p. 77)’.

Respect for the child as a curious being is central to the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education and care (ECEC). Malaguzzi ( 1998 , pp. 75–77) proposed that:

Creativity should not be considered a separate mental faculty but a characteristic of our way of thinking, knowing, and making choices.

Creativity seems to express itself through cognitive, affective, and imaginative processes that come together and support the skills for predicting and arriving at unexpected solutions.

Creativity requires an interpersonal exchange, with negotiation of conflicts, comparison of ideas and actions as the decisive elements.

Creativity finds its power when adults are less tied to prescriptive teaching methods; instead become observers and interpreters of problematic situations.

Creativity is favoured or disfavoured according to the expectations of teachers, schools, families, and communities according to the ways children perceive expectations.

Creativity becomes visible when adults try to be more attentive to the cognitive processes of children than to the results they achieve in various fields.

Creativity is enhanced when teachers are convinced that intellectual and expressive activities have multiplying and unifying possibilities, the more creativity favours friendly exchanges with imagination and fantasy.

Creativity requires that the school of knowing finds connections with the school of expressing , opening doors to the hundred languages of children (the slogan of the Reggio Emilia approach).

Creative expression through various representations or the ‘hundred languages’ of children is central to the Reggio Emilia approach. Malaguzzi ( 1998 ) suggested, ‘we should not consider creativity sacred or extraordinary, but rather as likely to emerge from daily experience’ (p. 75). To understand creativity, Malaguzzi drew largely from Vygotsky ( 1987 ), a socio-cultural theorist who also theorised on children’s creative and imaginative thought as part of their developing cognition.

Vygotsky: creative thinking and imagination

Vygotsky claimed that all human beings, even small children, are creative (Vygotsky 1987 ; Lindqvist 2010 ). He called this creative ability ‘imagination’, for imagination is the basis of every creative act. The power of the imagination is also valued as a way for children to explore their own thinking, combining what they know with what they want to know more about. It is the imagination that creates a bridge between the ‘known’ and ‘unknown’.

Vygotsky put forth a theory that creative imagination introduces ‘something new into the flow of our impressions, the transformation of these impressions such as something new, an image that did not previously exist, emerges (Vygotsky 1987 , p. 339)’. Vygotsky ( 1925/1971 ) supported the theory of catharsis, stating that ‘people are liberated through an explosion of emotions, which makes the imagination flourish (Lindqvist 2010 )’. For young children, their emotions are freed as they engage in imaginative play. Smolucha and Smolucha ( 1986 ) summarise Vygotsky’s theory of creativity presenting four key components:

Imagination is the internalisation of children’s play.

Imagination is a higher mental function and is a consciously directed thought process.

Creative thinking involves the collaboration of imagination and thinking in concepts, which occurs first in adolescence but matures in adulthood.

Both artistic and scientific creativity require the collaboration of imagination and thinking in concepts.

Smolucha ( 1992 ) stated that:

creativity exists not only where it creates great historical works, but also everywhere human imagination combines, changes, and creates anything new (p. 53).

The work of Vygotsky has assisted the Italian educators to understand that creativity is fundamental to all learning, is part of everyday experiences and that imagination plays an important role in the advancement of cognitive and creative thought processes. The power of the imagination in children’s learning was also embraced by a well-known Italian identity. The next section introduces the philosophies of Giovanni Rodari ( 1973 ) to the world stage.

Rodari (1920–1980)

Relatively unknown to Australia, Giovani (Gianni) Rodari is notorious in Italy for uniting a fantastical imagination with a deep interest in education. A frequent visitor to Reggio Emilia, Rodari actively participated in discussions about languages, imagination, education and creativity that inspired his book, La Grammatica della fantasia (the grammar of fantasy). This book was designed as a guide for educators interested in stimulating children to develop their own writing and to demonstrate to others how to invent stories for children. In the foreword of this book, Herbert Kohl asks: ‘What is the place of the imagination in education?’ The word imagination does not appear in the government’s lists of ‘Goals 2000’, nor does it turn up on lists of behavioural objectives or educational outcomes. There is no imagination curriculum or pedagogy of the imagination in our schools (Rodari 1973 , p. ix). Rodari explores how people can collaborate in imaginative play. For him, the role of the teacher is an ‘animator’, someone who brings to life creative play across all subjects in the curriculum. The educators of Reggio Emilia, adopting a Rodarian philosophy to their teaching, has meant that they are ready and open to the whimsical ideas of children across all domains of learning.

Many of Rodari’s ideas were developed in the schools of Reggio Emilia where he worked directly with children and educators. Educators learnt to delight in the ‘creative error’ whereby a story can arise from an interesting mistake. For example, Rodari explains how he once typed ‘Lampland’ instead of ‘Lapland’, and by doing so, he discovered a new country. Rather than erase mistakes, Rodari ( 1973 ) embraced them, stating: ‘It would be a sin to banish it from the map of possibilities with an eraser. It would be better to explore it like a tourist of the imagination (p. 23)’. Educators from Reggio Emilia who understand this philosophy do not correct children’s mistakes in thinking—rather, they embrace the imagination, possibility thinking and the potential of a ‘beautiful mistake’.

Vecchi ( 2010 ) explains how discussions with Rodari in the 1970’s impacted her role as one of the first atelieristas in Reggio Emilia. She states: ‘He made me better understand how suggestions from art can give us further occasions for inquiry and new journeys to make together with children, when we investigate them further and especially their processes (p. 116)’. Rodari continues to make an impact on the educators of Reggio Emilia who understand how fantasy and rationality, cognition and imagination draw strength from each other. Vecchi ( 2010 ) states: ‘We must make them interweave, make them dance together (p. 118)’. In the following study, this thinking was expressed by Italian educators who reflected a Rodarian philosophy in their everyday pedagogical practices. The Australian participants on the other hand, echoed the principles of the EYLF, responding to children’s interests and acknowledging children’s autonomy and play as central to children’s learning.

The aim of this pilot study was to explore the ways educators were documenting the creative thinking of children in early childhood contexts from early childhood centres in Northern Italy and from NSW, Australia. This qualitative, phenomenological study explored how early childhood educators in Italy and Australia were documenting children’s creative thinking. Bringing educators together in dialogic exchange, provides the researchers with a window for investigating the everyday experiences of humans, allowing a deeper insight into how they understand the phenomenon of ‘creative thinking’.

A research team including two researchers from a University in Northern Italy, one lead Pedagogista (lead teacher) from the local municipality of early childhood centres and three researchers from the University of Newcastle, joined together for the purposes of this pilot project. For selection of the centres, the municipality of a northern town in Italy who implement the Reggio Emilia approach, were invited to participate under the guidance of a lead Pedagogista (person who oversees five centres in the one region), while in Newcastle, Australia, centres within the local area of the University were invited to participate. This resulted in a mixture of community-based and private centres, as opposed to a municipality of Italian centres. A total of 16 educators from three centres in Italy and 25 educators from four centres in Australia volunteered to participate in this pilot project. Following ethics approval from the University of Newcastle ethics committee, these centres were paired together forming three sets of ‘sister centre’ partnerships.

All participants completed pre-and-post-research questionnaires relating to their experience, qualifications and thoughts on creativity, which were translated and shared between researchers in each country for analysis. From each centre, two teachers volunteered to attend three skype meetings with their sister centre to respond and discuss questions relating to their understanding of creativity, as proposed by the researchers. Following each skype meeting, a translated transcript from each skype meeting was provided by the researchers and emailed to each centre for dissemination at team meetings for further discussion.

With the onset of Covid-19 and many centres in this study having to close their doors to families, it was not possible to hold the third skype meeting from the centres. Rather than ending the research abruptly, the educators decided to email their sister centre examples of centre documentation to remain in the study. During the shutting down of services, these educators worked from their homes, continuing the project via email exchange.

Analysis of documentation from the Italian participants

Analysis of data was implemented using a two-cycle approach (Saldana 2015 ). Participant information was deidentified during the first cycle, with data sorted into tables and charts for each stage of the research. The second cycle involved interpreting key aspects of the data through a process of coding according to patterns, as well as the use of NVivo codes to organise data into categories (Saldana 2015 ). After the sharing of documentation and the collection of comments made by sister centres, the researchers from Italy and Australia met via skype to discuss their analysis together. This paper focuses on key examples from the documentation data educators exchanged via email.

The following two examples shared by the Italian centre, features visual representations of children’s creative and imaginative thinking regarding trees. These excerpts are from documentation featuring children’s responses to the question: ‘Do trees have a soul?’

After receiving the documentation, educators from the Australian sister centre were invited to respond. Two educators from the Australian sister centre wrote the following remarks:

The direct quotes of children show how educators are supporting creativity and imagination as the children have very unique ideas. I was so intrigued and amazed at the complexity of verbalised ideas the children had about the roots of the trees and if they had souls.

I am also intrigued to know if my children would come up with that sort of explanation and expression. I feel perhaps the importance of creativity is better nourished in the Italian preschool therefor this type of creative, free flowing, beautiful thinking is the norm and parents support this as well which leads to different thoughts from these children. It has made me think the even though our centre is so connected to the land and many of our beliefs and practices include nature, that we aren’t doing enough to bring this and creativity to life.

These remarks demonstrate how surprised the Australian educators were by the depth of children’s thinking and their capacity for profound scientific inquiry. The comments made by the second educator reveal what she feels is missing from their pedagogical approach in making visible the creative thoughts of children. This analysis is reflective of Malaguzzi’s ( 1998 ) theory, with an understanding that: ‘Creativity becomes visible when adults try to be more attentive to the cognitive processes of children….and that creativity is enhanced when teachers are convinced that intellectual and expressive activities have multiplying and unifying possibilities, the more creativity favours friendly exchanges with imagination and fantasy (pp. 75–77)’.

The curious nature of young children’s thinking is evident when trying to make sense of the world. Through observations of what is seen (the tree) as well as what is not (the roots), children demonstrated their prior knowledge by solving mysteries for new problems. In solving the dilemma of a fallen tree, child M attributes personification, suggesting that the roots can ‘help’ the tree to rise again. From Vygotsky ( 1995 ), it could also be noted that through empathy, the child is exhibiting her ‘ perezhivanie ’—lived emotional experience, whereby the child’s learning is driven from an emotional response to stimuli.

Child M’s thoughts delve deeper through personifying the tree acknowledging its ‘life and soul’. Her thinking is quite profound with the depths of thought of memory and souls remaining when new bark emerges. The Artelierista (art guide) has provided watercolour in response to the child’s thoughts of the spirit having ‘light colours’ to show it exists even though it is ‘invisible’. Supporting the child’s thinking by offering light colours to represent the transparency of the soul reveals children’s insightfulness of the spirituality of beings. The reference of ‘she’ may be metaphoric for mother nature—as ‘the tree’ ( l’albero ) is masculine in the Italian language. As Vecchi ( 2010 ) stated, drawing from Rodari ( 1973 ), we can weave together how cognition and imagination, and fantasy and rationality, can strengthen each other when interpreting the creative thoughts of children.

In the second example, the child demonstrates his/her knowledge of the tree’s roots serving as ‘feet’ to help it grow and become strong. Personifying the tree, likening it to a person, assists the child in making sense of the purpose of the root systems. Here the child is also expressing his/her curiosity for understanding how a tree ‘lives’. The hypothesis of the child insightfully suggests that there is a ‘connectedness’ or ‘communication’ needed between the sky, the tree and the roots to warm it and make it grow. Personification again is used to acknowledge the tree as a living entity that has feelings and the ability to communicate with other trees. Through creative thinking, children experiment with ways to represent new knowledge and to critique and analyse it in order to make sense of their world (Leggett 2017 , 2022 ).

From these examples it is evident that young children’s everyday thinking entails a considerable degree of creativity. The combinatory ability of drawing together reality and fantasy suggest that they are more open to creative forms of expression as they have fewer inhibitions and have not yet received formal instruction (Gelman and Gottfried 2006 ). Preschool aged children use metaphoric language and personification to piece together their world knowledge from incomplete clues. This refined ability to ‘see’ beyond reality and beyond what is obvious, becomes refined when children are engaged in artistic activities (Wolf 2006 ).

Through visual art experiences, children take what they see and feel and put it to paper. Serious ‘seeing’ is what Greene ( 1991 ) suggests is a plea for being ‘fully present’. Deep observation provides the mind with a window to not only see details, but to envision emotional connections, images, and metaphors. As Wolf ( 2006 ) explains, children’s perceptions are heightened as they make choices through colour, line and shape. Similarly, their emotions are also heightened in the choices they make, what they want to show through their work to the viewer and how they want others to feel. This type of engagement with material is not purely artistic expression, but a revelation of the deep scientific thinking and their theories of the word around them.

Gopnik and Wellman ( 2012 ) explain how young children construct intuitive theories of the world around them that, like scientific theories, help them to organise experiences, make predictions and causally interpret events. Theory building is driven by the inquisitive nature of the children themselves. In this sense, children’s theories are creative, and their creative thinking is the driving force for cognitive constructs. Educators from this Italian centre have not only demonstrated their ability to acknowledge, guide and support children’s imagination and creative thinking, but have allowed them the time and opportunity to be fully present in their learning and engage scientific thinking through keen observation. This integration of imaginative and creative thinking into educational experiences provides avenues for children to become ‘confident and creative individuals’ (Education Council 2019 ).

Analysis of documentation from the Australian participants

After receiving the documentation from the Australian centre, the Italian educators were invited to respond. One Italian educator made the following remark:

The verbal discussion that brings out the discovery of an egg highlights one of the many creative aspects of the children, their imagination, give rise to fantastic hypotheses. Nature offers many opportunities, in the experiences they live, in the encounters that children make. They give answers many times invented, they mix reality and fiction. Finding an egg urges children to make hypotheses to respond to their curiosity. Everyone expresses a different idea; they seek answers together.

Discussion: imaginations and fantastic hypotheses

This comment by the Italian educator has highlighted how hypotheses for learning arise from the natural world as children engage in it and in connection with others—it comes through encounters within the environment and the taking of time to be curious, to imagine, and to wonder. However, there appears to be a very different approach by the Australian educators to the children’s learning in the documentation compared with the Italian educator’s response. The Australian educators were listening to a discussion by the children who were reflecting on factual understandings of what might be in an egg and how it came to be empty, by drawing on their prior knowledge of the bush. The educator’s response was to keep the egg to do some further investigating, rather than engage in ‘possibility thinking’ or for the children to use their collective thoughts and imagination.

This response from the educator is reflective of the EYLF (AGDE 2022 ) where the educator is to demonstrate the practice of ‘responsiveness to children (p. 21)’. Educators are encouraged to respond to children’s curiosity and funds of knowledge. Suggested strategies for the educator are to extend children’s learning through ‘open-ended questioning, providing feedback, challenging their thinking and guiding their learning (p. 21)’. This approach to teaching and learning is also reflective of the theoretical underpinnings of the EYLF whereby the teacher mediates and co-constructs knowledge with the children (Vygotsky 1978 ). Global education systems tend to focus on knowledge that is assessable. However, due to the diverse nature of creativity, how to measure children’s creative thinking can be complicated.

What we can learn from the Reggio Emilia approach is that educators need to focus on the processes of children’s thinking, rather than an outcome to be measure. Malaguzzi ( 1998 ), saw young children as resourceful, questioning, competent, imaginative, creative and communicative beings (Smidt 2013 ). The best environments are those that allow children to set their own questions, develop their theories, talk, listen, share and participate (Smidt 2013 ). Providing opportunities for children to develop their ideas and thoughts is represented through what Malaguzzi ( 1998 ) refers to as the hundred languages of children.

One hundred languages to deepen knowledge

Other languages are necessary to deepen knowledge. The hundred languages of children identifies the many ways children are free to express their ideas, thoughts, feelings, questions and emotions (Malaguzzi 1998 ). In another email exchange from one of the Italian educators, she stated:

It is important to offer children different tools and languages in order to express their thoughts and creativity. Everyone must feel free to use the language that most belongs to them.

In this way, the Italian teacher is suggesting further investigation and that deepening of knowledge is acquired by allowing the children to learn through other mediums. Malaguzzi ( 1998 ) also stated that teachers need to redefine their roles. He stated that they are ‘creators and sustainers of relationships; they are researchers; they must learn to follow children’s time and interests; they must sometimes think ahead, be the chief protagonist, invent, prompt, design, create, be the audience and the listener, the arbiter and judge, the author and scribe, the listener and recorder (Smidt 2013 , p. 67)’. In this regard, the role of the teacher also has a hundred languages. One of the main roles is that of researcher. Teachers in Reggio Emilia see themselves as ‘theory-builders’. This description of the role of the teacher is a deep refection of a pedagogical approach that values and respects the process of children’s learning.

There is certainly room for the Australian EYLF (AGDE 2022 ) to expand on the definition of the intentional teacher that includes a ‘researcher’ whose role is to research what children say and do, collectively engage in questions, gather data, watch, listen, observe, document, interpret, hypothesize and build theories with children. How teachers in Reggio Emilia document children’s creative thinking is reflective of this role and emphasizes the importance and value of the process of documentation.

Pedagogical documentation

Pedagogical documentation is a powerful tool for dialogue, for exchange and for sharing, providing the possibility to discuss everything with everyone (Hoyuelos 2013 ). It is more than a tool; it is an attitude towards teaching and learning. Great importance is given to the images and thoughts that represent a deepening of understanding of an area of interest. Key elements for moving forward come from work with children and careful analysis by adults for what is happening along the way combined with the wishes and thought of the children. As Vecchi ( 2010 ) states: ‘Choices must not betray the thinking of the children or the nature of the theme they are working on (p. 120)’. The teacher in this instance acknowledges the difficulty in documenting children’s creative thinking and for her this involves allowing children the freedom to make choices and to provide rich, complex experiences, to ensure the pathways for documentation follow the child.

Eckhoff and Urback ( 2008 ) state that ‘Early educators have the important job of designing and implementing the educational environment in such a way that children are encouraged to think imaginatively and learn to have faith and confidence in their creative imaginations (p. 184)’. Inattention to the imaginative and creative thoughts of children by the educator is in fact not attending to the holistic growth and development of each child. This paper calls for the Australian Early Years Learning framework (AGDE 2022 ) to also adopt what has made the Reggio Emilia approach so successful—that the creative thinking of the child is central to all teaching and learning.

Lindström ( 2007 ) wrote on Vygotsky’s views, ‘…in order to be creative you need to have a rich experience of life and an ability to combine elements in your mind in ways that a child appropriates only step by step (p. 1197)’. To produce confident and creative individuals, educators must pay attention to the diverse thoughts of young children. Their sensitivities to the world around them, and their experiences within it, promotes intuitive thinking that is both insightful and full of wonderful ideas. These gifts freely given by the child must be responded to by the educator who listens closely and steps gently by the side of the child, so that all possibilities are not missed.

From the examples shared by educators in this research project it is clear that young children construct intuitive theories of the world around them that, like scientific theories, help them to organise experience, make predictions and interpret causality. It is evident that this intuitive theory building is driven by the inquisitive nature of the children themselves and through their lived emotional experiences or perezhivanie (Vygotsky 1995 ). It is also evident that young children’s ordinary thought entails a considerable degree of creativity.

While both the Australian and Italian early childhood contexts embrace creativity as part of a social-cultural curriculum framework, the Australian EYLF tends to view creativity as a disposition that manifests through the creative arts, enhancing children’s well-being (AGDE 2022 ). The Reggio Emilia approach employed by the educators from northern Italy, demonstrated a more robust understanding of the creative thought processes of children—perhaps responding to the sentiments and philosophies of Rodari ( 1973 ) and Malaguzzi ( 1998 ). What is remiss from many global education curriculums and policy documentation is acknowledgment for the important role of creative thinking in young children’s learning. It is here I’d like to return to the questions proposed by Herbert Kohl who asked: ‘What is the place of the imagination in education?’ Rodari ( 1973 , p. ix) confirms that there is no imagination curriculum or pedagogy of the imagination in our schools. Perhaps it is time it did.

Data availability

Original data available on request.

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Leggett, N. Creativity in early childhood: how educators from Australia and Italy are documenting the creative thought processes of young children. SN Soc Sci 4 , 74 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-024-00873-1

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Promoting creativity in early childhood education

Yakup yildirim.

1 Department of Preschool Education, Faculty of Education, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey

Yeşim Yilmaz

2 Preschool Teacher, Ministry of National Education, Alanya, Turkey

Associated Data

All "Promoting Creativity in Early Childhood" files are available from the openicpsr database (accession number(s) https://www.openicpsr.org/openicpsr/project/195022/version/V1/view , https://doi.org/10.3886/E195022V1 .).

This study aims to find out the opinions and experience of teachers and teacher candidates on promoting creativity and creative thinking in the early childhood stage within the scope of the current preschool educational program. The method of the study is the basic qualitative research design. The study group consists of 25 preschool teachers employed in the province of Alanya in the city of Antalya, and 25 preschool teacher candidates who were students in their 3 rd and 4 th year at Akdeniz University, Faculty of Education, Department of Preschool Education. Open-ended questionnaire form was used for getting the opinions of teachers and teacher candidates. The data was analyzed within the principles of content analysis. According to the results of the study, statements on the prominence of creative thinking mainly emphasized the child being able to express her/his emotions and thoughts effectively, developing the child’s problem-solving skills, forming cause- effect relationships, and being able to create a different point of view towards events and situations. As for developing creative thinking, the opinions that come to the forefront are going on trips with the children, conducting art activities, focusing on drama activities, conducting science and maths activities based on research, and motivating children to create authentic products with different materials. On the whole, teachers and teacher candidates expressed that the present preschool educational program has positive contributions to promoting creative thinking in children.

Introduction

What kind of atmospheres and situations in class and out of class should we create or what should we do to discover and promote the real potential of children? We have tried to seek answers to these questions from those closest to the child. Creativity may emerge when the child has the opportunity to combine different experiences in appropriate situations especially in the preschool period. This may sometimes display itself while creating a solution to a simple problem or when obtaining new knowledge by using higher skills. Creating an environment which enables the child to develop a new point of view is a leading element of creativity. Preschool is a stage during which the creativity of the child is at its peak as they have unlimited imagination.

The preschool stage, which is defined as the stage from birth to the time the child starts primary education, and a time when the child acquires the psychomotor, social- emotional, cognitive and linguistic development that will play an important role in children’s life, and a developmental and educational process during which the character of the child is shaped with the education provided by the parents and pre- school institutions [ 1 – 6 ] is the most critical period in life as it affects the future life of the child in terms of knowledge, skills, gaining habits and developing these traits. The preschoolperiod is a stage when mental development and synaptic connections are experienced the fastest and highest [ 7 ]. Mental development plays an important role during the preschool stage for the cognitive, linguistic, motor, social and emotional development of children.

Children grow rapidly in the preschool stage—the first six years of their life display rapid results in developmental areas [ 8 ]. This enables the child to realise herself/himself and become a productive member of society. The preschool period is the stage which is most affected by environmental factors. In this respect, the environment affects the preschool child and facilitates learning motivation for children who are in this stage. The child’s ability to discover and learn is closely related to how supportive the child’s environment is, and which opportunities are presented to the child [ 7 ].

The child, who matures and becomes competent rapidly, realises her/his own potential and starts to become a productive individual. Creativity has a prominent impact on how the child develops herself/ himself. Creativity and judgement skills enable individuals to consider problems using different views, to create new products as well as enabling them to reach a decision by forming cause- effect relationships [ 9 ]. It is necessary to create new ideas and consider events in a different way, and create new solutions to a problem. It is also important to respect different ideas [ 10 ]. It is going beyond the presented knowledge in order tocreate something authentic by using methods which are not traditional. It is defined as the skill to create innovative and authentic solutions to problematic situations by realizing problems and shortcomings within the light of experiences [ 11 ], and it may be said that it makes the child self- confident and independent and enables her/ him to develop herself/ himself and the environment, makes the child responsible towards her/his environment, makes them productive and sensitive individuals. Creativity can be enhanced by creating connections between similar or different areas [ 12 ]. Preschool children may activate their creative thinking skills when they use an object for a different purpose, when they find an extraordinary solution to a problem, while displaying motor skills, when day dreaming, while forming an emotional relationship with a peer or an adult, or in other situations which require a creative process [ 13 ].

Children who have suitable conditions for using and practicing their creative thinking actively may strengthen their cognitive skills. These conditions also contribute to the children’s social skills development such as discovering their emotions and values, understanding their own cultures and other cultures, thinking, and communicating with others [ 14 ]. Thus, different teaching approaches that will increase children’s motivation and cultural understanding could support creativity [ 15 ].

Creativity is a phenomenon needed and used in all stages of life, is a prominent factor in the development and advancement of society. In societies which have individuals who have high levels of creativity and who can use creative thinking effectively, the level of welfare increases and the opportunities for people depending on their interests and talents are equally higher. There is a positive relationship between the educational backgrounds of people and the increase in their creativity. In order to maintain progress, guarantee advancement and to have a good place in life, individuals need to get the opportunities to strengthen creativity both in the family and at home starting from the preschool stage. In an educational environment which is based on rote learning and which is teacher- centred, promoting creativity and creative thinking is more difficult compared to a child-centred environment [ 16 ].

Teachers who can create a child-centred environment and processes in which the children can develop their creativity contribute to the development of the children in all aspects as well as playing a prominent role in the progress and development of the society in which the children live. Thus, along with the development of creativity and creative thinking, some inventions result in increase in production and the economic situation of the society. Similarly, life standards increase in a society which has a developing economy. Consequently, promoting creativity in a society which lacks productive skills can be difficult [ 17 ]. The technological infrastructure, knowledge and skills of integrating technology into teaching and learning practices, and students’ creative skills of using technology is essential to promote higher thinking skills (i.e. creativity) [ 18 ].

Individuals who can think creatively become individuals who are open to change as they can adapt to the rapidly changing world. There is a positive correlation between the level of development in a country and the creativity and creative skills of the people in that society. In order to promote the development of a country, the development of creativity should be facilitated by focusing on production and innovation in different areas [ 19 ]. The adaptive skills may involve having cultural understanding of inclusive education, not only integrating children into the classroom, but also having a teaching program that will support children with special educational needs in creativity [ 20 ].

To promote creativity and creative thinking important skills for both the individual and the society, families and teachers have important roles. The family also has a prominence for developing creativity and creative thinking in children along with teachers. There are differences between the educational backgrounds of families, and this may hinder creativity in some situations. Families may be asked to help children concerning this topic by offering training to parents and educating them on creativity and creative thinking [ 21 ]. It is seen that children whose creativity is supported in the family environment offer different ways of solutions while expressing their emotions and thoughts, discover new games, are curious and are interested in travelling and observation [ 16 ].

Teachers and families may offer opportunities to children to promote their creativity and creative thinking by considering the traits that preschool children display. As the way each individual shows her/ his creative potential, and the way this potential is supported may display differences. The opinions of teachers and teacher candidates on how they discover and support the creativity of children is very important. Therefore the best way to understand these thoughts is to analyze the explanatory information they would express qualitatively. The aim of this study is to determine the prominence of creativity in preschool education, to determine the creative skills of children as well as making evaluations on what kind of studies should be conducted to develop creativity, and to determine methods and suggestions on developing creative thinking. For this purpose, answers were sought to the following questions:

• Why are creativity and creative thinking important in preschool education?
• What should we do to promote the creativity and creative thinking of children in the preschool stage?
• What are your in-class and out of class activities that you use to promote the creativity and creative thinking of preschool children?
• How did the 2013 Preschool Education Programme contribute to the development of creativity and creative thinking of children?

Materials and method

The research design.

This study, which has been conducted to determine strategies to promote creative thinking in the preschool stage, and to create suggestions for solutions, used the basic qualitative research design, which is a qualitative research pattern. Basic qualitative research aims to find out how participants comprehend their experiences within the scope of the topic studied, and which meanings they place on their experiences [ 22 ]. Thus, this method was preferred in this study in order to determine feelings, thoughts, perceptions and experiences of teachers and teacher candidates on the prominence of creativity and the promotion of creative thinking in the preschool stage, and to study their opinions in more detail. The open-ended questionnaire template which was developed to get written opinions was used for data collection. A comprehensive literature review was conducted for the study to reach its aims. In addition, the conceptual structure of the subject was stated within the framework of the aims and limitations of the study. Following that, open ended questionnaire forms were prepared for both teachers and teacher candidates as appropriate to the aims of the study. Thus, the purpose was to study in detail the awareness of the participants on the prominence of creativity in the preschool stage and developing creativity as well as the methods they used for this purpose.

The study group

The study group consists of preschool teachers who are employed at preschools in the province of Alanya in the city of Antalya, and preschool teacher candidates who were students in their 3rd and 4th year at Akdeniz University, Faculty of Education, Department of Preschool Teaching. The 25 preschool teachers and 25 teacher candidates who met this criteria and who participated in the study group were determined by using the purposive sampling method [ 23 ]. The main purpose for preferring this sampling method is that the participants are chosen according to certain criteria determined by the researchers beforehand [ 24 ]. When choosing the participants among the teacher candidates attending their third and fourth year at university, the main determining factor was that they had taken the classes which were ‘creativity, school experience and/ or teaching practice’. Another point which was given priority during the study was ensuring that preshool teachers and teacher candidates gave sincere answers to the questions which were included in the data collection tool, and which were directed towards the experiences and practices of the participants. For this reason, special care was taken to make sure that the preschool teachers participating in the study had spent a certain amount of time working with the children so that they were able to get to know the children better, and that they could express their experiences more clearly. In addition, special care was taken to ensure that the professional seniority of the teachers were different from each other and that met the desired criteria in terms of seniority (See. Table 1 ). The data on the professional seniority of the preschool teachers participating in the study are presented in the table below:

Data collection tools

When the data collection tool of the research was being prepared, the related regulations and the Ministry of Education Preschool Educational Program [ 7 ] was studied as well as the related literature review. As a result of the theoretical knowledge in the related literature and the interviews conducted with experts, ‘open-ended questions were prepared’ in order to determine the opinions of teachers and teacher candidates for the aims of the study. The steps to develop the data collection tool is listed in Table 2 . Due to the pandemic, the opinions of teachers and teacher candidates were obtained using online methods. After the subject and aims of the study were explained to teachers and teacher candidates, open-ended online questionaire forms were sent to volunteers, and they were asked to answer the questions in the data collection tool. The participants were told that it was prominent that they put emphasis on their personal experiences and pay attention to their practices or future practices while offering suggestions. The first part of the data collection tool includes the personal information of teachers and teacher candidates. The second part of the data collection tool focuses on the prominence of creativity and creative thinking in the preschool stage. The third part contains what should be done in order to promote creativity and creative thinking during the preschool stage while the fourth part focuses on in- class and out of class activities that affect creativity and creative thinking. The fifth part includes the suggestions of preschool teachers and teacher candidates on the contribution of Preschool Educational Program on the development of creativity and creative thinking in children.

The data collection stage and ethical procedure

During the data collection process, it was stated that teachers and teacher candidates were to pay attention to certain criteria while filling in the open-ended questionnaire forms.

• The open-ended questionnaires were sent to teachers via online methods as it was impossible to conduct face-to-face interviews with the participants because of the pandemic. These open-ended questionnaire were conducted between March 15 th 2021 and June 28 th 2021.
• Before filling in the open-ended questionnaire forms, written consent form was signed by adult participants to make sure that they are aware of the ethical issues.
• Each teacher and candidate teacher was told that that codings would be used instead of their names, and that their real names would not be used so as to ensure that the participants would answer the research questions sincerely.
• The data obtained in the pilot study was not included in the final findings of the study.
• - Teacher 1 (T1)   - Teacher Candidate 1 (TC1)
• - Teacher 2 (T2)   - Teacher Candidate 2 (TC2)

This study is approved by Social Sciences and Humanities Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Committee of Akdeniz University.

Data analysis

The content analysis method was used for analyzing the study data of the participants in the open-ended questionnaire form by applying a child-centred data analysis method (see Fig 1 ). The main purpose of content analysis is to reach concepts and connections that would assist in explaining the comprehensive data obtained in the study. Data, which is summarized descriptively and commented on broadly, is studied in detail using content analysis, and new concepts and connections are discovered. The basic process here is to gather related data within the framework of specific themes and concept and present the data in a meaningful and organized way [ 24 , 25 ]. The themes were created according to the results of the analysis obtained using content analysis. The codes that emerged during creating the themes were presented to the opinion of an expert for reliability (Reliability = consensus / consensus + disagreement) as suggested by Miles and Huberman [ 26 ]. The reliability of the experts and researchers for the relationship between the codes and the themes was calculated as 89%. The themes which were created were presented as items in findings, and the information on the preschool educational program and regulations were added to the end of each theme in order to compare the data obtained from participants for each theme. Statements were presented in the findings of the study in order to maintain the reliability of the study.

This part presents the findings obtained from the participants within the framework of the themes of the study. Themes and subthemes were analysed by presenting the tables for the subthemes of each theme. The findings of both preschool teachers and teacher candidates were presented after the tables.

Theme 1. Awareness on creativity

• The Opinions of Preschool Teachers on Theme 1

When Table 3 is studied, it is observed that preschool teachers participating in the study mentioned the following categories on the prominence of creativity and creative thinking in the preschool stage:

• a) The relationship between imagination and creativity enables the child to express her/ his thoughts
• b) It enables the child to gain communicative skills
• c) It develops the child’s problem-solving skills
• d) It enables the child to create cause- effect relationships
• e) It enhances the child’s curiosity and the wish to discover
• f) Contributes to scientific research
• g) Enables the child to develop a different point of view
• h) It provides hands-on learning to the child

It may be said that the categories least mentioned by the teachers are that it makes each child feel special, it enables self-realization, and it contributes to the social skills development of the child.

A general evaluation on subthemes of the first theme

When the opinions of preschool teachers on the theme ‘the prominence of creativity and creative thinking’, are studied it is observed that teachers believe that creativity and creative thinking develop the most when children use their imagination and the power of thought, and that the preschool stage was a very important stage for developing these skills as their imagination is at its peak during the preschool stage. When the teachers were stating their opinions on the prominence of creativity and creative thinking during the preschool stage, they focused on the fact that it would help children to express their emotions and thoughts, and help them in gaining communicative skills. They have also stated that the problem-solving skills of children would develop, and that they could understand cause- effect relationships between events in this way. Examples for the teachers’ opinions on the first theme and its subthemes are presented as follows:

• Creative thinking and using imagination. This stage, in which imagination is unlimited, is a stage that should not be missed to promote creativity and creative thinking skills. For most children, creativity is at its peak before the age of six (T1).
• The preschool stage is a world during which imagination and cognitive skills are unlimited. Developing this world starts with discovering the creative thinking of the child (T14).
• It is important because the children can learn to express themselves (T19).
• Children who have creative thinking skills also develop their communication skills (T23).
• It is important to promote creative thinking so that they can find authentic solutions to problems (T8).
• Helping students to form cause- effect relationships plays a very important role in children’s discovering their talents. Children who have creative thinking skills also develop their skills for communication, problem solving, practice, following instructions, and starting and maintaining projects (T23).
• The Opinions of Preschool Teacher Candidates on the First Theme

The opinions of teacher candidates’ preschool children on the prominence of creativity and creative thinking in preschool children are presented below:

When Table 4 is studied, it may be said that the preschool teacher candidates participating in the study mostly focused on the following categories on the prominence of creativity and creative thinking in preschool education:

• It helps the child to create a different point of view
• It develops the problem-solving skills of the child
• It affects the child’s life
• It develops the child’s imagination
• Creativity and creative thinking are very important in the preschool stage

The categories least mentioned by teacher candidates for the theme ‘the prominence of creativity and creative thinking’ were the following:

• It enables the child to discover and get to know herself/ himself
• It contributes to the developmental aspects of the child
• Creativity contributes to the child’s learning
• It helps us to understand the child
• It enables the child to express her/ his feelings and thoughts

A general evaluation of the subthemes of the first theme

In their opinions on the theme ‘awareness for creativity’ teacher candidates drew attention to the fact that creativity and creative thinking was an important factor in helping the child realize her/ his potential, and in strengthening the child’s self-realization. Teacher candidates, who focused on the fact that creativity and creative thinking developed the imagination and the potential of the child, also mentioned the contribution of creativity and creative thinking on the social and cultural life of the child. The fact that creative thinking makes life easier for the child and would provide proactive conditions to the child in social life and in problematic situations in the future is the opinion of teacher candidates that stands out in the subthemes of the first theme. Example statements of teacher candidates that express that developing creativity and creative thinking presents positive contributions to different developmental aspects of the child are as follows:

• If we can help them to discover their creativity and develop this potential in this stage, they may create more practical solutions to situations they may experience in the future and have different content (TC4).
• The schemes created by the child in this stage contributes to the child’s creativity in the future (TC1).
• The child discovers and gets to know herself/ himself with creative thinking (TC2).
• The child may discover herself / himself by thinking differently (TC9).
• It is important as they can find different and authentic solutions to problems they may encounter throughout their lives (TC17).
• The activities which are used during this stage affect the creative skills of the child in the coming years (TC12).
• It is effective for the cognitive, social, emotional, and psychomotor development of the child (TC11).

Theme 2. Promoting creativity

• The Opinions of Preschool Teachers on Second Theme

Table 5 presents the suggestions and the subthemes created by preschool teachers for the theme ‘promoting creativity’. Preschool teachers suggested creating environments in which the child can ask questions and express herself/ himself, providing them with creative environments, having structured activities, motivating children for creative thinking by asking them open-ended questions, creating environments that would arouse interest, designing activities and games, and enabling children to discover themselves and their environment for promoting creativity. When the sub themes for the second theme are studied, the topics least mentioned by teachers were that they need to discover the inner world of the child, conducting attention and coding activities, and giving children some responsibilities in the family.

A general evaluation of the subthemes of the second theme

The suggestion most emphasized by teachers for promoting creativity in the preschool stage is the need for creating an environment that keeps the curiosity of the child active and enables the child to express herself/ himself. It was stated that a process in which children are asked open-ended questions that would make them think would contribute to promoting creative thinking in children. Teachers stated that activities which are not structured and ones which the child could shape using her/ his interest are more functional, and that they are an important factor that supports creativity. It may be said that especially manipulative materials enable children to think in different ways. The prominence of games, the fact that games open the doors to the inner world of children, that children may face different challenges and create authentic solutions through games are among the suggestions of teachers. The following statements of teachers draw attention in their suggestions for promoting creativity and creative thinking in children:

• Creativity develops in environments in which the child can express herself/ himself with self- confidence and show her/ his curiosity (T1).
• Children should be supported to express themselves by asking open-ended questions (T15).
• Open-ended questions, art, music, movement, and dance activities enhance creative expression. They should be given opportunities to create their own stories by looking at illustrations in books. Children may create new objects using their imagination by using games such as puzzles and building blocks. Using play dough may be effective in gaining creative skills by creating the objects in their imagination (T1).
• We may give them different materials and ask them to create new things, or we may give the same materials at different times and expect them to create different things each time (T3).
• We may encourage them to think by asking open-ended questions (T22).
• In order for them to discover creative thinking, games and activities should be designed to increase their curiosity (T2).
• Children should be provided environments that can arouse their curiosity. We should trigger their curiosity by offering opportunities for play and give them a chance to experience their creativity (T10).
• We should open a door to their inner world by using games and determine their needs (T5).
• We should not stereotype them while they are making these discoveries (T16).
• The Opinions of Preschool Teachers Candidate on the Second Theme

The opinions of preschool teacher candidates on promoting creativity and creative thinking in preschool stage children are presented below:

When Table 6 , which presents the suggestions of teacher candidates for promoting creativity and creative thinking in children, is studied, the suggestion that is most emphasized is the need to offer an environment of freedom to the children. It is emphasized that creating a rich environment by presenting different materials to children is another important factor that promotes children’s creativity. Another major opinion of teacher candidates for the second theme is creating authentic activities for children and providing hands-on learning.

A general evaluation of subthemes for the second theme

Creating a suitable environment in which the child can think freely was greatly emphasized by teacher candidates as a suggestion for promoting creativity and creative thinking in children. Having different materials that motivate children to think in a different way may be stated as another suggestion that supports creative thinking. Example suggestions by teacher candidates for adding variety to materials, the quality of the questions to be asked, the children participating actively in the learning process, guiding children to create solutions to problematic situations are as follows:

• We may design and implement activities in which the children can use their imagination (TC4).
• We must give them opportunities to discover without intervention. We should help them with hands-on learning (TC11).
• We should motivate them to use hands-on learning (TC11).
• We may ask children divergent questions and motivate them to think and develop their creativity (TC7).
• Asking them questions directed at their creativity while conducting activities in class (TC19).
• We must present different stimulus to motivate the child (TC1).
• It may be necessary to conduct different activities with children using different materials. Learning centres at nursery schools are in direct proportion with this topic (TC8).
• We must respect children’s thoughts and ideas and pay attention to what they wish to do (TC13).

Theme 3. Strategies for promoting creativity

• The Thoughts of Preschool Teachers on the Third Theme

Table 7 presents the strategies of preschool teachers for promoting creativity and creative thinking. It is observed that for the third theme the teachers mainly drew attention to the following categories:

• a) Enabling the children to express themselves by asking open-ended questions
• b) Making use of art activities, and using activities different from standard ones
• c) Enabling the children to create authentic products by using different materials
• d) Enabling the students to express their emotions and thoughts individually during Turkish language classes
• e) Using structured and semi-structered activities
• f) Using different methods and techniques in activities
• g) Enabling children to express themselves through drama and game activities
• h) Using science and math activities
• i) Making use of out- of- class activities
• j) Observing children during play and while they are not playing
• k) Motivating children to carry out activities with their families in the home

A general evaluation of the subthemes for the third theme

Teachers have emphasized that acting according to standard practices for in-class and out-of- class activities for promoting creativity hinders creative thinking, and that it is necessary to conduct activities with which the children can reflect their individual performance to the maximum, either during in-class or out-of- class activities. Teachers mentioned the prominence of trips and observation in out-of- class activities and stated that it would be useful to talk to the children about the activities following practice. They stated that using techniques such as scamper, brainstorming, dramatization that attract the attention of children and enable them to think in a different way in in-class activities should be used. Examples for the teachers’ statements for the third theme and its subthemes are as follows:

• Asking children for their opinions, asking open-ended questions, creating a model, praising creative thinking. Organising out-of- school trips and observations, and later chatting to the students about what they have seen and learnt (T8).
• I would encourage them to express themselves by asking open-ended questions during in-class activities and out-of- school activities (T2).
• I would make them create products using their creativity by using natural materials such as fabric, pinecones and twigs during art activities (T15).
• During classes I use techniques such as games, drama, scamper, and brainstorming (T8).
• I introduced them to activities that would motivate them to do research and create what they think. (STEM activities, coding, algorithm, recycling, ecology and nature activities, the Young Inventor and his Inventions, drama and the Orff approach, audio stories, games, scamper activities etc.) (T16).
• We frequently make use of experiments and maths activities (T1).
• Patterns with buttons of different sizes, measuring the length of objects, finding pairs, ordering, making comparisons. Science and nature studies in the garden, creating appropriate environments for them to study and discover stones and leaves (T10).
• They should be allowed to act freely and flexibly in the classroom without being dependent on a model, with the guidance of the teacher (T7).
• Preparing comprehensive activity plans that enhance creativity instead of steoretype activities (T17).
• Families should accept that each child in the family is an individual, determine targets parallel to the interests and talents of their children. In addition, they may cooperate with teachers to conduct activities that reinforce the school program and that are related to real life. These activities should be conducted starting from simple to difficult ones, and from the known to the unknown (T23).
• The Opinions of Preschool Teacher Candidates on the Third Theme

The strategies of preschool teacher candidates on developing creativity and creative thinking in preschool children are presented below:

When Table 8 is studied, it is observed that the strategies most suggested by preschool teacher candidates for promoting creativity and creative thinking in the preschool stage are taking children on trips, conducting art activities, carrying out drama activities, making Turkish language activities, conducting maths and science activities, and focusing on activities children have at home with their families. The least mentioned suggestions are not interfering when children are conducting activities, carrying out comprehensive activities with divergent questions, and motivating students to different areas of interest.

Evaluation of the subthemes of the third theme

Giving prominence to activities children conduct with their families attracts a lot of attention among the strategies teacher candidates have suggested for developing creativity. Another major suggestion of teacher candidates is that supporting children with different activities may enable them to think in different ways. Teacher candidates have suggested that motivating children to ask questions, and using techniques that promote creativity such as completing stories may enable children to ask different questions and enhance their creativity. Examples for the statements of teacher candidates are presented below:

• Games to develop the creative sides of children may be designed by using kitchen tools in the home, or parents may make cookies of different shapes with the children (TC5).
• Activities that are mostly based on the choices of children should be conducted. Families should read story books at home with the children, and later ask child to narrate the rest of the story, or ask them to change the ending of the story. Parents may make drawings with the children or may build towers with toys (TC13).
• Drama activities enable children to use creative thinking. These activities develop their way of thinking by causing children to use improvisation (TC3).
• Drama activities may be conducted by planning improvised activities on a certain topic (TC7).

Theme 4. Creativity in the program

• The Opinions of Preschool Teachers on the Fourth Theme

When teachers were asked their opinion on the elements in the preschool educational program that supported the creativity of children, they stated that on the whole, the program enabled children to reflect their individual traits. They have also reported that the flexibility of the program enables them to restructure the program according to the individual differences of children, and that this offers them a chance to support their creativity. It may be said that teachers consider the preschool educational program as one that supports the children’s feeling of discovery and self-awareness. The teachers’ opinions on the fourth theme are presented below:

• It is child-centred. Children experience meaningful hands-on learning instead of rote learning. In this way, creativity is always active. The flexible program enables necessary changes in the educational process depending on daily and momentary changes that may arise. As individualism is the most prominent element, the program is created by taking individual differences into consideration as appropriate to the needs of the children. In this way, the differences, creativity, interests and needs of each child make each children unique (T2).
• The program basically has a structure that supports creativity and aims to strengthen it. However, the shortcomings in practice (physical shortcomings, the attitudes of teachers, the attitudes of school administration and families etc.) makes it difficult to reach goals or hinders it (T6).
• The program enabled the child to participate actively in the learning process, and encouraged the child to learn by asking questions, doing research, making discoveries, and playing games. It offered the children the necessary opportunities to express themselves authentically, and in different ways in environments which are appropriate for the learning needs and learning styles of each child (T16).
• The effect of the 2013 Preschool Program on the development of children’s creativity and creative thinking is great. As it is a flexible program, it enables teachers to plan according to the interests and talents of children, the cultural traits of the environment and the self-awareness of the children (T23).
• It develops the imagination, creative and critical thinking skills of children as well as their communication skills and their potential to express their feelings (T25).
• The Opinions of Preschool Teacher Candidates on the Fourth Theme

When preschool teachers candidate were talking on the advantages of the preschool educational program that supported the creativity of children, they focused on the fact that the program supported the development of children in all aspects. They stated that as the program is student- centred, it is a prominent factor in supporting the children’s creativity. The opinions of teacher candidates on the fourth theme are as follows:

• The 2023 preschool program is a program that considers children with all of their aspects and supports children’s development in all ways. Since this program is student-centred, it gives children the chance to express themselves, and to state their opinions freely. Consequently, this situation contributes positively to children’s creativity (TC5).
• In this program, activities are prepared as student- centred activities as appropriate to the program, and then put into practice. Chatting to the children about the activities prior to practice and asking open-ended questions to children following activities may give us clues on how their creativity is developing (TC7).
• This program contributes to the progress of children’s creativity by enabling the children to receive better education as it leads teachers and candidate to the right path (TC1).
• The 2013 preschool program was prepared by studying different programs that would contribute to different types of development. It includes various activities to facilitate children’s creative thinking, and different types of advice to teachers. Teachers who study the program may become more conscious (TC12).
• Following a certain program, acting within limits is a situation that affects creativity negatively. For this reason, the 2013 preschool program makes limitations to children’s creativity (TC8).

Conclusions and discussions

The themes derived from the findings of the study and the subthemes related to these themes were discussed by taking into consideration the opinions of teachers and teacher candidates within the light of the related literature. In the first theme, which focused on creativity and the prominence of creative thinking, teachers and teacher candidates mentioned aspects of creativity which emphasized the individual traits of children. The fact that creativity is an important factor in bringing up unique individuals draws attention as an important finding, which was also proved by the research that was conducted by Özkan [ 8 ] and which sought answers to the question ‘What is creativity?’. In his study, Özkan [ 8 ] reached the conclusion that a majority of teachers defined creativity as the child expressing himself individually, being able to grasp what is authentic, and producing authentic products. Opinions which state that creativity and creative thinking develops the problem-solving skills of children are the items most mentioned by both teachers and teacher candidates regarding the first theme. Opinions which support that children may develop different points of view towards events and situations are supported by thoughts which state that children are able to express their feelings and thoughts authentically. In teachers’ and teacher candidates’ opinions on the prominence of creativity and creative thinking, it is stated that this skill may also positively affect the social development of children. The opinions of the participants which state that training aimed at promoting creativity will lead to positive results both in terms of cognitive development and other areas of development, distinctly overlap with the study conducted by Karadayı [ 27 ], in which the researcher states that we should focus on creativity and creative thinking during the preschool stage. In his study, Karadayı [ 27 ], studied the effects of creavity education on cognitive processes and the skill to organise emotions, which was given to children aged 5 to 6. It is also stated that creativity education promoted creativity, and the skills to organise cognitive and emotional personality, and reached the conclusion that creativity in the preschool stage was related to both controlled and flexible cognitive skills [ 28 , 29 ]. Opinions within the first theme which stated that creativity enables children to express themselves individually also draw attention to the social aspect of creativity and creative thinking. In fact, there are other studies which present opinions that children in classes of extremely traditional teachers may experience problems expressing themselves, and that this situation may hinder creativity [ 10 ]. If teachers are flexible in their attitudes towards children, and if they pay attention to the individual traits of children, children will be able express themselves easily, and this will strengthen the social function of creativity in children.

Within the second theme, which includes opinions on supporting creativity and creative thinking in children, teachers and teacher candidates mentioned the prominence of techniques that would attract the attention and interest of children during activities conducted with them. Leaving children in the middle of a problematic situation, motivating them to use an object for different purposes or asking them to complete a story are among the practices that may be carried out to support creativity. The participants stated that there are technology-based techniques that can be used to promote creativity in addition to techniques based on communication. Akbaba and Kaya [ 30 ], who pointed out that such techniques may be used to enhance the creativity of children by maintaining their interest and curiosity, conducted research with teachers to promote the thinking skills of children. In this research, preschool teachers stated that they mainly used methods and techniques such as hands- on learning, demonstrations, projects, games, and the question and answer to enable students to achieve thinking skills.

There are the opinions of teachers and teacher candidates which state that using different methods (i.e. arts) to promote creativity and creative thinking in the preschool stage will provide positive contributions [ 31 ]. In their suggestions regarding in class activities and out of class activities to be conducted with children, teachers have concentrated on conducting activities that offer different options to children rather than standard and monotonous activities. Creativity and creative thinking may yield more development when people break the mold. Teachers developing attitudes that enable their students to express themselves comfortably is one of the most important factors that would eliminate the obstacles hindering creativity [ 32 ]. In the findings of the study conducted by Yenilmez and Yolcu [ 10 ] regarding the attitudes of teachers in classes on the promotion of creative thinking skills in children, it was stated that children should be given the opportunity to express their thoughts, and that their thoughts should be respected.

It has been emphasized that families should contribute as much as possible during in class and out of class activities. Supporting the child strongly both in the home and at school is a very important factor that accelerates the development of creativity. Chatting to the children about activities during out of class activities, and asking them open-ended questions about the process may enrich their thinking and their mind. Making suggestions to the family to have this point of view while communicating with the child may give the children an opportunity to enhance their creativity throughout the day. The teachers stated opinions which show that if families participate actively during this process, they may provide positive contributions to the child.

Mutlu and Aktan [ 33 ] stated that educational programs which are directed towards thinking, and with which the teacher, family and children support and complement each other during preschool education should be prepared. The preschool teachers participating in the study also stated that creativity and creative thinking play an important role in activities which the families do with their children.

It is important to include activities that address different senses for activities conducted in the class, and getting the attention of children. In a study conducted earlier [ 8 ] it was found out that a teacher needs to discover the different traits of children by observing them carefully, act as a role model for the child with her / his character, and include music, art, language and game activities in the daily plan that will develop and promote the child’s creativity.

It was stated by teachers and teacher candidates that the preschool educational has a structure that gives the chance to promote creative thinking. The preschool educational program is defined as a child-centred and flexible program which places prominence on research and discovery, and which offers children different activities for learning. The program is a developmental program which places emphasis on creativity as well as family education and family participation [ 7 ].

Teachers and teacher candidates expressed that the flexible structure of the preschool educational program enables them to plan according to the individual traits of children and offers the child more freedom. The fact that the program is student- centred may enable the child to display more creative outcomes.

In a research which was conducted to find out the achievements and the indicators in the program in relation to the skills of the 21 st century, it was emphasized that 5 achievements within a total of 21 in the cognitive delopment part were found to be in relation with the skills of the 21 st century. Similarly, 18 indicators among a total of 113 indicators were found to be in relation with skills of the 21 st century. It was stated that 7 of the achievements in the social- emotional development, 5 items in the cognitive development, and 4 of the items in the achievements in linguistic development were parallel to the skills of the 21 st century. It is stated that the highest achievements in relation with the skills of the 21 st century are the achievements in social- emotional development [ 34 ].

It is also aimed to find out the opinions of teachers and teacher candidates for developing creativity and creative thinking in children, tries to evaluate the opinions of participants using a holistic perspective within the context of the preschool educational program. The following suggestions are made based on the findings of the study:

• Problem solving situations that may enable students to display their creativity should be provided.
• Families should participate more in children’s educational process.
• Teachers should include more activities that strengthen the individual traits of children.
• Resources should be provided to teacher candidates to enhance awareness for promoting creativity in the preschool stage.
• Teachers should develop attitudes that are not traditional in the activities conducted with children, and when communicating with the children, as well as taking individual differences into consideration.

As the study was conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic, there was less interaction between the researchers and the participants. Thus, this situation is considered to be the greatest limitation of the study.

Acknowledgments

This article was written based on the master’s thesis titled ‘The Study of the Opinions of Preschool Teachers and Teacher candidates on the Promince and Promotion of Creativity in the Preschool Stage‘ which was prepared by Yeşim Yılmaz under the supervision of Assistant Professor Yakup Yıldırım in 2021, at Akdeniz University, Institute of Educational Sciences.

Funding Statement

The author(s) received no funding for this work.

Data Availability

Vygotsky on collective creativity

This post shares Vygotsky’s idea of collective creativity, a concept presented in his article ‘Imagination and Creativity in Childhood’ . I firstly talk about how he defines creativity and imagination. I then use these understandings to consider how children’s creativity emerges through play.

Toby K’s ‘Echo table’ on display at the Ipswich Art Gallery in Australia. This interactive artwork encouraged children to draw using their shadow.

Lev Vygotsky (1896 -1934) was a Soviet psychologist who researched children’s learning in social and cultural contexts. In particular, his theory of ‘social constructivism’ discussed the importance of social interactions in children’s cognitive development. Vygotsky was also very interested in creativity and imagination how these were understood in education.

What is creativity? 

Vygotsky believed that creativity arises from any human activity that produces something new. Creative acts could produce anything from physical objects to a music score to a new mental construct. Creativity is therefore present when major artistic, scientific and technical discoveries are made. It is also existent whenever an individual alters, combines, images or makes something new. Like Simon Nicholson’s  ‘theory of loose parts ‘, Vygotsky believed that creativity is something that exists in all people, including very young children. Imagination was also considered to be an integral part of creativity through its ability to support the production of new combinations of pre-constructed things.

How is creativity a collective process?

The creative process can be understood as a collective one that recombines and extends on pre-existing discoveries:

 “When we consider the phenomenon of collective creativity, which combines all these drops of individual creativity that frequently are insignificant in themselves, we readily understand what an enormous percentage of what has been created by humanity is a product of the anonymous collective creative work of unknown inventors” (Vygotsky, 1930:5).

For example, take Gordon Bennett’s ‘ Triptych: Requiem, Of grandeur, Empire ’  (1989). The artist draws on a rich history of ideas and techniques already in existence. These include the Renaissance tradition of triptych oil painting, the imagery of Tasmania’s last Aborigine, the vast Australian landscape and Catholic symbolism. Bennett recombines these with his personal experience of growing up as an Indigenous Australian with British ancestry. Whilst the painting may appear to have been made in creative isolation, it is building on previous artistic, scientific and technical discoveries. Triptych has been produced as part of a cumulative and creative process that has emerged over multiple events and time frames.

How is children’s play related to creativity?

Vygotsky believed that the origins of creative imagination are situated in children’s play. Play is understood as a creative act that reconstructs, appropriates and transforms human experience to produce new realities. Imaginative play is presented as an integral part of experiencing the world from new and multiple perspectives.

Like John Dewey, Vygotsky believed that the creative process is deeply interconnected to both lived and imagined experience. The richer an experience, the more likely the event is to fuel creative acts “ …the more a child sees, hears, and experiences, the more he knows and assimilates, the more elements of reality he will have in his experience, and the more productive will be the operation of his imagination” (Vygotsky, 1930:15). Allowing children access to rich and diverse sensory experiences is critical in supporting divergent learning.

Final words…

This understanding of creativity is useful in how it links imagination, lived experience and play to children’s learning. Human activity is emphasised as the core driver in the creative process. This is great in acknowledging the active role children play in facilitating their own learning. However, an emphasis on human activity is also limited in that it does not look at the role of non-human things, like materials and nature, and how these also influence the creativite process. Vygotsky also made a clear distinction between nature and culture through stating that the latter is the product of human-mediated creative activity. This creates a separation between human and non-human things. If we are to think of the world as a complex system of both people and matter, paying attention to the transformative interactions between nature, culture, materials, society and people is really important. Doing so may open up new modes of creative production.

Vygotsky, L (1930/1968).  ‘Imagination and Creativity in Childhood.’   Journal of Russian and East European Psychology.  42 (1).

Note: This post is an updated version of ‘Vygotsky, collectively creativity and the power of imagination,’ published on Art Play Children Learning in July 2015.

You may also like to check out:

Eamon o’kane’s fröbel-inspired installations, josef albers on the wonder of color …, the leap then look podcast, ivan illich on tools that support conviviality.

Who wrote this article? Wanting to reference it for an assignment

Hi Megha – if you are referencing the blog post itself, the citation is:

Penfold, L (2019). Vygotsky on collective creativity. Art Play Children learning. URL: http://www.louisapenfold.com/collective-creativity-vygotsky/

The blog post is referencing an article originally written by Vygotsky. This is hyperlinked in the blog so you can get the citation through that.

Thank you. simple yet compact

I love this post – you have taken words so complex and made them easy to understand. Thank you. May I reference your blog in a presentation I am preparing for?

Hi Kristy – yes that’s fine. I am glad you enjoyed the post

I am so lucky to have found this article. i am making a paper and i am trying to connect creativity to art education and the implemementation of special program for the arts. God bless you Author!

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Very helpful. God bless you

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