- Define creativity.
- Articulate the importance of creativity to staff and families.
- Model dispositions that ignite creativity in your program.
Learn
Know
When you hear the word “creative,” what comes to mind? Do you immediately think of something artistic such as painting or dancing? Do you think of medical breakthroughs or scientific discoveries? Do you think of world leaders or community activists? Do you think of specific individuals? Do you consider yourself a creative person? Creativity can mean different things to different people and the way one evaluates their own creativity is often influenced by the opportunities and experiences they had early in their lives. Some people are encouraged to try new things and others are criticized for doing so. Some people are exposed to a variety of interesting experiences and others are not. Some people think of themselves as creative and others do not.
As a Program Manager, it’s your responsibility to demonstrate that creativity is something everyone possesses regardless of age or ability. We are born curious, and with the right support, that curiosity leads to new ways of thinking and doing. As you have learned in previous courses, people take cues from you. You can ignite creativity by encouraging staff to develop learning experiences that foster creativity, acknowledging children and youth for their creative efforts, and providing opportunities for staff and families to participate in creative experiences. Creativity is promoted when you show people how to be creative, not when you tell them to do so.
What Is Creativity?
Creativity can be expressed intellectually, artistically, socially, and physically. According to school technology consultant Doug Johnson, creativity can be demonstrated in a number of different ways:
- As writers, presenters, and storytellers
- As numeric problem-solvers
- As graphic artists through drawing, painting, sculpting, photography, and designing
- As athletes and dancers kinesthetically
- As musicians creating new works, performing, and conducting
- As humorists in all media
- As team-builders and collaborators
- As problem-solvers
- As inventors and systems innovators
- As leaders who organize, motivate, and inspire
- As excuse-makers
Regardless of the creative endeavor, all share common attributes. Creativity must represent something different, new, innovative, useful, and relevant (Kaufman, 2009). Creativity can be expressed in a process, product, or both. In fact, all creative products are the result of engaging in a creative process. When there are peace talks between countries and a resolution is reached, a creative process is used. When a team of medical researchers develop a new drug for diabetes, the product is creative. When a group of junior high students create a website for their school, there is both a creative process and product.
Creativity is the result of having a curious mind which propels you to explore and experiment, a mind that is disciplined to think critically and divergently.
“Creativity is seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no one else has thought.” —Albert Einstein
Why Is Creativity Important?
Creativity is essential to society. Advances in governance, education, science, medicine and technology benefit us all. We have moved from an industrial society to a knowledge society, using knowledge to creatively solve today’s problems while potentially preventing the problems of tomorrow. Artifacts from our past and representations of the future are captured in the arts and their many forms. Our living culture is embedded into literature, architecture, dance, music, drama and art. Our society as a whole is richer, healthier, and safer as a result.
Creativity is the heartbeat of our communities. The Global Power City Index, developed by the Mori Memorial Foundation in Japan, ranks cities by their ability to attract creative people and companies. Creative communities are vibrant and offer opportunities to earn, engage, and experience. They are places where people want to live. Our local communities enhance our quality of life through the work of diverse people and ideas.
Creativity is the engine for achieving our individual hopes and dreams. Whether one’s goal is to be the first person in the family to go to college, to own a business, to run a marathon, or to get out of a negative relationship, the ability to think creatively helps us get where we want to be. Knowing what you want and figuring out what you have to do to get there is a creative pursuit. Our lives are more purposeful as a result of our ability to explore new possibilities.
What Does Creativity Look Like Across the Age Continuum?
You have the opportunity to nurture creativity in adults and children. To be most effective at your job, you should understand what creativity looks like from infancy through adulthood. Watch this video and then read on for more details.
What Does Creativity look Like?
Creativity in Infants and Toddlers
Infants and toddlers are natural explorers and problem-solvers. They use their senses, their bodies, and their minds in new and interesting ways every day. Infants and toddlers need extended periods of time to explore and play with interesting materials. Safety must be the first priority, as infants and toddlers tend to explore objects with their mouths. But getting messy—spreading paint around a large paper with their fingers, squeezing mud between their hands, spreading food around a plate or even a face—all are explorations in cause and effect.
Creativity in Preschoolers
Preschoolers should have daily opportunities for artistic expression and appreciation through art, music and movement. Children experiment and enjoy various forms of dramatic play, music, and dance. A variety of art media, such as markers, crayons, paints and clay should be available for creative expression and representation of ideas and feelings. Just like infants and toddlers, preschoolers benefit from extended periods of time to play and explore. Their curiosity can be sparked through authentic investigations or solving problems they encounter in daily life: figuring out how to fix a block structure on the playground, exploring how the closed-circuit video system in the program works, etc. can all be interesting ways children expand their creativity.
Creativity in School-Age Children
School-age children should be encouraged to express themselves physically and through sharing ideas and feelings. We must help them learn concepts and skills in the fine and performing arts through drawing, painting, sculpting, music, drama, and dance. School-age children enjoy creating and enacting plays; they use their creativity when they make alternative endings to familiar stories or songs, or come up with their own stories, songs, dances or games. They also enjoy figuring out how and why things work, so consider providing opportunities to conduct scientific investigations and experiments. They may also ask many questions of the adults around them and enjoy building or tinkering with tools or other objects that can be deconstructed.
Supervise & Support
Promoting Creativity among Program Staff
Creativity is a concept that is sometimes easier to identify than to describe. Creativity shows up in different ways, but the root of creativity is a willingness to explore, experiment, and exchange ideas. Creative adults are problem-solvers. They enjoy trying new things, expressing themselves in a variety of ways, and brainstorming solutions to challenges. Creativity in adults can look like pursuing hobbies or using skills and interests to pursue entrepreneurship. Some adults enjoy sharing hobbies with others by joining clubs or interest groups, while others may prefer to practice their creativity on their own. Regardless of how adults choose to practice creativity, having an outlet to express oneself can increase feelings of fulfillment and joy in day-to-day life. As a Program Manager, you can encourage creativity among staff members by providing safe opportunities to take risks and offer new ideas. The use of reflective supervision practices can create a nonjudgmental space for exchanging ideas, passions and solutions that make your program better for adults and children. You can find more information on reflective supervision knowledge and skills in the Apply section of Program Management: Lesson 4 of the Management Track.
As a Program Manager, you play a vital role in creating space and opportunity for adults and children to explore their creativity in a variety of ways. Watch and listen as these program leaders describe how they make creativity a priority in their work.
Think Outside the Stick
Completing this Course
For more information on what to expect in this course and a list of the accompanying Learn, Explore and Apply resources and activities offered throughout the lessons, visit the Management Creative Expression Course Guide.
To support the professional development of the direct care staff members or family child care providers you oversee, you can access their corresponding Course Guides:
Explore
Creativity shows up in many different ways. Exploring your own creative identity supports your work with staff and children by helping you make connections and practice reflective supervision. Complete the Adobe Creative Types Quiz. Once you have your results, reflect on how your creative type impacts your work as a supervisor using the Creativity Self Reflection.
Apply
As a Program Manager, there are many ways in which you can support staff members in developing skills and knowledge about creativity. It may be helpful to start by learning more about how your staff view themselves as creative individuals.
One way to use the Staff Creativity Survey would be to distribute copies to your staff at a meeting or training. Once you have collected the completed surveys, work with your Training & Curriculum Specialist to go over the completed surveys and use this data to inform your work. You may recognize patterns or areas where you might connect staff members with others who share their interests, or plan for professional development opportunities to increase confidence and gain new knowledge and skills related to creativity.
This activity is not intended to serve as a tool to evaluate staff, but to help you learn more about your staff so that you may better support them in their work with children.
Glossary
Demonstrate
Althouse, R., Johnson, M. H., & Mitchell, S. T. (2003). The Colors of Learning: Integrating the visual arts into the early childhood curriculum (Vol. 85). New York: Teachers College Press.
Beghetto, R. A., & Kaufman, J. C. (Eds.). (2010). Nurturing Creativity in the Classroom. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Bentley, D. F. (2013). Everyday Artists: Inquiry and Creativity in the Early Childhood Classroom. New York: Teachers College Press.
Cropley, A. J. (2001). Creativity in Education and Learning: A guide for teachers and educators. New York: Psychology Press.
Helm, J. H., & Katz, L. G. (2011). Young Investigators: The project approach in the early years. New York: Teachers College Press.
Kaufman, J. C. (Ed.). (2009). Creativity 101. New York: Springer Publishing Company.
Malaguzzi, L. (1987). The hundred languages of children (I cento linguaggi dei bambini. Exhibition catalogue) (16-21).
Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (2011). The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Experience in Transformation (3rd ed.). Praeger.
Robinson, K. (2001). Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Sellman, E. (Ed.). (2011). Creative Learning for Inclusion: Creating Learning To Meet Special Needs In The Classroom. London: Routledge.
Zevin, J. (2013). Creative Teaching for All: In the Box, Out of the Box, and Off the Walls. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.