- Help staff members offer experiences, activities, and interactions that promote creativity.
- Help staff distinguish between process and product.
- Brainstorm ways to meet the creative needs of all learners.
- Observe and provide feedback to staff members about creative experiences, activities, and interactions.
Learn
Teach
"Around here, however, we don't look backwards very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious … and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."- Walt Disney
Culturally Responsive Creative Experiences
Creativity can happen anywhere: quiet moments by yourself, surrounded by a group of enthusiastic people, on a walk, in a car, etc. The opportunities that staff members provide to children and the interactions among staff members and children are critical for promoting creativity.
Take a moment to think about the phrase “culturally responsive creative experiences.” Culturally responsive experiences are those that help children see themselves. This may mean opportunities for self-reflection and expression. It may also mean broad exposure to people, ideas, and experiences from around the world. Exposure to the world around them sparks curiosity and creative thinking. In terms of creativity, the term “culture” can be quite broad. Staff members should provide experiences that help children define a sense of self and a sense of the world around them. This may include racial or ethnic identity, but it can also include identities related to family home values, beliefs, and experiences. For example, children may explore the culture of living on a military installation, being an only child, or starting middle school.
Families can be your program’s resource for culturally responsive experiences. Invite families to share art, music, foods, and celebrations that are meaningful to them.
Helping Staff Promote Creativity Indoors and Outdoors
The experiences that staff members provide indoors and outdoors have an impact on creativity. Encourage staff members to think about creativity on two levels: experiences and interactions.
Experiences
What kinds of experiences do staff members plan for children? Are there open-ended opportunities for children to express themselves in a variety of ways? Remember, creativity is more than art. Consider these experiences as you review activity plans or observe in classrooms:
Creative Experiences
Use the menu at the left or the pager below to cycle through Creative Experiences.
Are there opportunities for children to take on a variety of roles and engage in pretend play? This is important from toddlerhood through the school-age years. Children should have the opportunity to use and create costumes, props, and materials in their play. Younger children may begin by acting out home themes in the dramatic play kitchen. Older children may put on skits, comedy shows, plays or dramas based on stories with which they are familiar. Staff should encourage children to imagine, pretend, and take on roles. Children should also be encouraged to brainstorm ways to create new worlds or scenarios for play. Encourage staff members to get involved when appropriate.
Are there opportunities for children to create physical representations of the world around them — or completely new worlds? Construction allows children to exercise their creativity in a variety of ways while also exploring concepts in physics, mathematics and statistics. The materials that children use are vitally important in construction, but equally important are the time, opportunity, and encouragement that staff members provide. Encourage staff members to think creatively about construction in their activity plans. They can go beyond simple unit blocks. Natural materials like slices of wood, stones or bark can add to construction experiences indoors and outdoors. Also encourage staff members to think about construction experiences that can spark excitement and curiosity for the children: Can they build a structure that people can go inside and that lasts for several days? Can they build a machine that works? Can they help design and build something that solves a problem for the program (like a ramp or drainage system on the playground)?
Creativity is the hallmark of science. Encourage staff members to think of ways to help children understand and capture the wonder of science. Encourage them to try true experiments (ones in which the adult does not know the outcome). Make sure staff members maintain safety as a top priority, but encourage them to let children’s questions guide discovery.
Every child is an artist. Art experiences allow children to express themselves. Make sure staff members understand the importance of open-ended art experiences (see process vs. product later in this lesson). There is a place for art experiences with a clear outcome: for example, performing a piano solo. But there must also be opportunities for open-ended experimentation across media (paint, sculpture, music, etc.). Help staff members know how to interact with children around art. Encourage them to make positive, descriptive comments about art (“You used three shades of blue in the sky”) rather than praise (“Good job painting that picture”). This supports motivation and removes evaluation from creative work.
New sensations spark curiosity and creativity. It can be liberating for children to get their hands dirty! Make sure staff members understand the importance of sensory experiences. Look for staff members to provide a variety of experiences that go beyond a simple sand or water table. Encourage staff members to engage all the senses: Talk about smell during cooking activities; talk about texture while children touch mulch, grass, or sand; provide opportunities to taste new foods; encourage children to lay on the ground with their eyes closed and listen to the sounds around them. When possible, encourage staff members to plan field trips that incorporate sensory experiences. Trips to parks or nature preserves expose children to new sights, smells, sounds, and sensations.
Encourage staff members to think creatively about writing experiences in school-age programs. Brainstorm with staff members about experiences that model a range of creative writing experiences: comic strips, cartoons, advertisements, blogs, songs, raps or brochures.
Help staff members make music a part of their programs. From infancy through the school-age years, music is an important part of many children’s lives. Encourage staff members to provide opportunities for children to make up songs, tunes or lyrics. Help staff members find interesting instruments or materials to share. Instruments from a variety of cultures can add to children’s experiences. Objects like record players might be novel to the children and spark interest and curiosity in music.
As the use of technology is becoming an important creative tool, ensure staff members are intentional in the way they introduce and use various forms of technology to guide children’s learning. Have staff consider first teaching children how to operate and care for devices. This will allow children and youth to easily extend their learning by creating their own ideas for its use. The goal of incorporating technology in learning should be for children to be users, not simply consumers (Fantozzi, 2022). Consider working with youth to express themselves through podcasts or other program-approved social media outlets. Encourage mixed media creations that integrate photography, sound, digital editing, and offline materials; and encourage youth to use technology to research ideas that spark their curiosity or to seek out creative solutions to common problems.
Your program may invite local storytellers, artists, musicians, writers, or scientists to share their creativity with children, families and staff.
Interactions
Staff members also promote creativity through the day-to-day interactions they have with children. Simple things like asking questions, providing ideas, and modeling problem-solving can help children maximize their creativity. Look for staff members to:
- Ask open-ended questions. At all age levels, you want to see staff members sitting on eye level with children and engaging in shared interactions. Encourage staff members to promote critical thinking by asking questions like “Why?” “How?” and “What will happen?” Remember to help staff members ask questions out of honest curiosity. They shouldn’t always know the answer to a question before they ask it. Children can tell the difference between an adult who is curious and an adult who is testing them.
- Offer ideas or suggestions. Adults should feel comfortable balancing curiosity and contributions. While many creative experiences should be child-directed, it is OK for an adult to occasionally offer support or scaffolding. A simple comment or question like, “I wonder what would happen if you started the ball a little higher on the ramp” can support a child’s thinking. Some children might need support using new or unfamiliar materials. Adults can also offer ideas and model innovative uses of materials: recycling a metal bin into a drum, using a piece of fabric as a tablecloth, etc.
- Model problem-solving. One aspect of creativity is the ability to solve problems. Adults can and should take a problem-solving approach to interactions in their programs. Again, open-ended questions can help model problem-solving: “What could you try first?” “How might you …?” and “What will you need?” are all good prompts.
Meeting the Needs of ALL Learners
Each child develops differently, and each child approaches creative experiences differently. Work with staff to focus on the many ways children can experience creativity. Rather than focusing on what a child cannot or will not do, engage your own creativity to find new ways to spark each child’s curiosity. Build on children’s strengths and interests, particularly for children with disabilities. For example, a child who avoids new textures or sensory experiences may dislike traditional art activities but love creating digital imagery in an app. Other children may gravitate towards physical movement and bodily expression. Adults in your programs must be prepared to meet children where they are and make appropriate creative experiences a priority for all children. Here are some guidelines to help staff members support all learners:
- Get to know children deeply. What sparks their interest? What consistently makes them happy, and how do they show that happiness? What activities or materials do they find irresistible?
- Art and creative experiences should always be a choice, and there should be no wrong answers. Each child encounters experiences in his or her own way and at his or her own pace.
- Do not let disabilities or differences be a barrier to participation. Help staff create adaptations that allow each child to participate fully. Design easels that are wheelchair accessible or that are placed on tabletops. Explore the ways music and musical instruments make vibrations and other sensory experiences that don’t rely on hearing. Adapt materials so they can be easily grasped or used by people with a wide range of hand strength or mobility. Design project-based experiences that let children and youth work in teams where each child’s strengths can be maximized.
- Scaffold creative experiences for children who need support. Although creative experiences are often open-ended, it is OK for adults to provide some help when needed. Adults could use a picture schedule to help an individual child begin an activity (i.e., put on smock, pick up brush, dip in paint, and create!). They may use a variety of supports such as peer support, adult support, or environmental modification to help children be successful (Sandall & Schwartz, 2008).
Process-oriented and Product-oriented Experiences
Your program should strive to strike a balance between process-oriented experiences and product-oriented experiences. Process-oriented experiences are those experiences that are open-ended, child-directed, and focused on the experience rather than the outcome. For example, children paint at easels, write their own scripts for a play, or experiment with constructing a doll house out of a variety of materials. Product-oriented experiences have a clearly defined goal or outcome. An adult often decides upon the goal. For example, a class of preschool children might all make identical jack-o’-lantern faces out of construction paper at Halloween. When adults dictate to children the size paper to use, colors to use, and product to make, creativity is discouraged (Althouse, Johnson, & Mitchell, 2002).
Not all examples of product-oriented experiences discourage creativity. Product-oriented experiences can be important when children are developing skills. For example, if a child is learning to play a musical instrument, knit, sew, or compose an essay, there are specific skills or strategies the child needs to learn. Creativity flourishes when the child has mastered the skills necessary to perform.
Children need a balance between skill-based, product-oriented experiences and more open-ended, process-oriented experiences. You must work with staff to help them understand when each type of experience is appropriate. The decision rests on the goal of the activity. If the goal is creative expression, it would be inappropriate to ask all children to create an identical flower out of modeling clay. If the goal is to replicate a specific technique that is needed for further skill building, then this activity might be appropriate.
Listen as this program director discusses the distinction between process- and product-oriented experiences in her program.
Creativity: Process Over Product
A Balanced Approach
When it comes to igniting creativity, staff members should take a balanced approach. Focusing more on the end result (product) minimizes the importance of the experience itself (process). In other words, the journey is just as important as the destination. Depending on children's ages and the activities they are engaged in, there may be more of a focus on one over the other but not to the exclusion of either. With infants it is all about the process; school-agers may be more interested in the end result. What's important is that children and youth feel empowered to represent their own ideas, not copying someone else's.
Model
Responding to Activity Plans
Aside from direct observation, weekly activity plans are one of your primary ways of discovering what happens in classrooms and programs. These plans help you gauge the extent to which staff members understand and promote creative experiences. You will likely see activity plans that vary in quality across staff members. How you respond helps model a creative, problem-solving approach. Consider this example:
Fern is a Training & Curriculum Specialist in a school-age program. Andy turned in his activity plans for next week, and Fern noticed that there were several closed-ended art activities listed. The staff were using Internet templates to create pre-printed coloring sheet cards for family members, and they were going to use store-bought kits to create identical flower pots. There were no open-ended activities available to the children.
Consider how Fern may respond:
| See | Say | Do |
| Fern notices that all activities are closed-ended on the activity plans | “I noticed that your plans for this week require a lot of prep on your part. How do you think the youth will use the materials?” “What are your goals for this week’s craft activity?” “It sounds like your goal is to create an attractive gift for families. What other opportunities do youth have this week to express themselves?” | Arrange to spend time with Andy working on activity plans together. Schedule time for Andy to observe a youth program with more youth-led creative experiences. Lead staff events that offer opportunity for creativity. |
| During the activity, Fern observes that youth are unengaged. Most don’t choose the craft activity, and those that do need a lot of support from the adults to “get it right.” | “What did you notice about the ways youth participated in the craft activity?” “What did you feel like your role was in the craft activity? Was that the role you wanted to play?” “What do you notice about what the youth like or gravitate towards, and what can we learn from that for activity planning?” | Model open-ended interactions with youth during visits. Provide sample materials or loose parts for open-ended creation. |
Reviewing Documentation and Evidence of Learning
Sometimes staff members struggle with documenting the learning that occurs in creative experiences. When you are in classrooms, notice instances when children are engaged in learning and creativity. Point these out to staff members and encourage staff members to record these experiences in anecdotal records, portfolios, or other record-keeping systems. You might need to model these behaviors. If a child builds an elaborate structure, take a picture and give it to the teacher with a note saying that it would be a great addition to the portfolio.
Observe
In contrast to some other lessons in this course in which we have examined a range of experiences, let’s take a look at one exemplary creative experience. Remember, this is a thought exercise based on an experience for young children, but it is relevant to other age groups as well. You will need to think about how the concepts might apply to infants, toddlers or school-age children. As you watch the video, see if you can recognize the features of this creative experience that enriched learning for the children and made it successful. Which of those features make sense in your program?
Creativity across the Curriculum: A Fairy Garden
Now that you have watched the video, take a few minutes to reflect and answer these questions.
What features of the activity promoted creativity?
This activity promoted creativity in several important ways:
- It was sparked by the children’s interests. In your own program, staff might not choose to do a project on fairies. In this particular classroom, this was something the children were very interested in and that offered an opportunity for deep engagement in different ways.
- There were many different outlets for creativity. The children got to draw, build, dig, dance, eat, and view art.
- Activities were open-ended. Activities had loose parameters and children were able to use their own imaginations to build fairy houses or traps.
- Adults asked open-ended questions. Throughout the project, staff members and volunteers gathered input from the children. They made sure children guided their own creations, and they asked questions that helped push children’s thinking and creating.
- It crossed curriculum areas. Children explored social studies while thinking about houses. They explored science while planting fruits and herbs. They explored literacy while labeling their creations and reading about fairies. They explored music and movement through dance. They explored math while exploring shapes and concepts of size.
- There were interesting and novel materials. Children got to experience and touch materials that are not always part of their classroom: dirt, moss, stones, plants, crystals, etc.
How did the classroom involve the community?
The classroom team invited in volunteers from the local art museum. The volunteers visited the classroom regularly over the course of a two- week period and met regularly with the teaching team. The volunteers felt very welcome. They learned children’s names and were leaders in the creative process.
The children also had the opportunity to visit the local art museum and to experience art in a personalized way.
How did children show what they had learned?
Children created individualized materials. They built fairy houses, they planted a garden, they created miniature fairy ornaments, they labeled materials, and they researched and planned parties.
Explore
Since you spend time in classrooms and programs on a regular basis, you have an opportunity to observe staff members as they promote creativity throughout the day. You can watch for formal and spontaneous opportunities to nurture creativity. Use the questions in the Observing Creativity form to guide your observations. Share your observations with staff and use your notes to identify strengths and goals.
Apply
How adults talk to children about their creativity can make a big difference in your programs. Use the Guide to Talking About Creativity to support staff members as they encourage and provide feedback on creative experiences.
Glossary
Demonstrate
Althouse, R., Johnson, M. H., & Mitchell, S. T. (2002). The colors of learning: Integrating the visual arts into the early childhood curriculum. New York: Teachers College Press.
Fantozzi, V. (2022). Technology guidelines support preschool creativity. National Association for the Education of Young Children. http://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/tyc/winter2022/tech-for-preschool
Head Start Effective Practice Guides: Creativity (2019). https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/school-readiness/effective-practice-guides/creativity-know
Beloglovsky, M. & Daly, L. (2018). Loose Parts 3: Inspiring culturally sustainable environments. Red Leaf Press.
Edwards, C. P., Gandini, L., & Foreman, G. (2011). The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia experience in transformation, 3rd Edition. Preager Press.
Helm, J. H., & Katz, L. G. (2016). Young investigators: The project approach in the early years. 3rd ed. New York: Teachers College Press.
Heroman, C. (2017). Making & tinkering with STEM: Solving design challenges with young children. The National Association for Education of Young Children.
Isbell, K., & Yoshizawa, S. A. (2016). Nurturing creativity: An essential mindset for young children's learning. The National Association for Education of Young Children.
Sandall, S., Schwartz, I., Joseph, G., & Gauvreau, A. (2019). Building blocks for teaching preschoolers with special needs, 3rd ed. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing.
Sellman, E. (Ed.). (2011). Creative learning for inclusion: Creating learning to meet special needs In the classroom. New York: Routledge.
Teaching Young Children (2015). Expressing creativity in preschool. The National Association for Education of Young Children.