CREATIVITY IN VERY YOUNG CHILDREN IS BEST DEVELOPED BY PROVIDING FLEXIBLE SPACE AND TIME FOR CREATIVE PURSUITS, AND PROVIDING THEM WITH MULTI-SENSORY AND OPEN-ENDED MATERIALS FOR THEM TO EXPLORE. PLAY IS AN IMPORTANT MEANS FOR FOSERTING CREATIVITY. IMITATION AND SYMBOLIC (IMAGINATIVE) PLAY, EXPOSURE TO CREATIVE ARTS AND STORYTELLING, OPPORTUNITIES TO COLLABORATE AND PLAY WITH OTHERS, AND OUTDOOR PLAY, HELP CHILDREN BECOME MORE CREATIVE.

A review of 210 studies on creative learning environments for children found that the factors which support creativity in children include: (i) the importance of flexible use of space and time, (ii) availability of appropriate materials, (iii) opportunities to be outdoors, (iii) play and autonomy during play and (iv) respectful relationships between adults (teachers) and children.

In children zero to three years old, the above factors that develop creativity are best supported through play and woven through their daily activities.

Play is emphasised in many discussions about creativity in young children. Some studies have revealed that children's tendency to play indicates a disposition towards creativity in later life.

To foster creativity and divergent thinking in children, children must experiment, feel, touch, get excited and be engaged. From birth to two years old, children are in the preoperational stage of development. At this stage, it is best to provide them with multi-sensory experiences that engage all their senses. Providing open-ended materials that engage the child's senses like play dough, water, and sand will allow the child to explore, engage with the activity, and be creative with what they produce with the materials.

Play starts "primitively" as sensorimotor play before the first and second years, with an exploration of properties and functions of objects and imitation. Towards the end of this stage, children may imitate actions they have observed in adults. Between the ages of one and two, symbolic or pretend play replaces sensorimotor play. True symbolic thought emerges around 18 months of age with children's ability to think in images and symbols.

This later results in children being able to carry out symbolic play.

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3. Piaget, J. (1962b). Play, dreams, and imitation in childhood. New York, NY: Norton

Symbolic play has sparked the interest of cognitive scientists because of its potential importance in children's cognitive development, for example, in the development of cognitive flexibility and creativity.

For younger children, providing various toys or everyday objects, such as small boxes, to use as props for imaginary play would help children extend their play. Adults' imitation of very young children also builds their imitation skills. Imitation develops into symbolic play skills as children grow older. Read more at CD-PLY-C01.

Research has shown that the amount and quality of imagination, storytelling skills, and emotion expression children show in pretend play are associated with creative thinking abilities. A study with first and second-grade children who were exposed to a five-minute puppet play task then asked what alternate uses certain objects had (creative thinking task) and which emotions were recalled.

The task showed that children who showed more imagination and emotion in their play were, in general, better divergent thinkers. Divergent thinking is associated with higher creative thinking abilities.

Researchers also found that when children show creativity in pretend play, they are likely creative in other ways.

A longitudinal study explored the quality of fantasy and imagination in play. It was found that children involved in more fantasy and imaginative play had better divergent thinking skills over time. When researchers studied the same children four years later, they found that those children had overall superior creative abilities. Play was found to facilitate insight ability and divergent thinking and lead to greater creativity. The studies above suggest that it is beneficial to allow younger children to engage in play when they are younger so that their creative skills are better honed during their later years.

Adults can help children improve their imaginative play skills to help foster their creative abilities.

Parents can initiate play with their children, for example, by starting a story and then letting them continue it as much as possible. When children get stuck or repetitive, parents can ask open-ended questions about the activity or suggest what else the child can do next. Reading and telling stories to children using puppets and other storytelling props also helps build their imaginative thinking and promotes creative thinking.

Play environments and unstructured time: Having safe spaces and pockets of unstructured free time for young children to potter around and play around the house also gives children more opportunities to engage in creative play.

Reducing screen time, so children have time to play and explore to build creativity is also helpful.10 Studies on screen time have shown that for every hour children under 2 years spend watching TV, they spend about 50 minutes less interacting with their parents and 20 minutes less in creative play.

Creative arts and creativity: The arts invite children to imagine, solve problems, express ideas, and make sense of their experiences.

Drama, music, dance and visual art foster creativity and imagination in toddlers. Creative arts also help children express their feelings. Young children might not always be able to say why they're feeling angry, happy or frightened. In an encouraging environment, they might be able to use activities and experiences to express these feelings using paint, colour, movement, mime, dramatic gestures, singing or dancing.

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13. Sharp, C. (2001). Developing Young Children's Creativity through the Arts: What Does Research have to Offer? (Paper presentation). National Federation for Educational Research, London, England, UK (pp. 1–36).

A study of 30 preschool children in a Waldorf early childhood education class in Taiwan found that after 20 weeks of exposure to parent-supported creative play, observations on children's play and their drawings revealed that they were more creative, for example, in their use of coloured images and storytelling themes.

Providing very young children with opportunities to play with sensory materials and getting messy with art materials like paper and nontoxic paints helps them develop self-regulation, motor skills, social interaction, and creativity.

Infants enjoy using their senses to learn and explore using their oral faculties. They often are messy in their use of the materials, for example, they may crawl through paint. Projects must use washable, nontoxic materials that do not contain small parts.

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15. Schwarz, T., & Luckenbill, J. (2012). Let's get messy! Exploring sensory and art activities with infants and toddlers. Young Children, 67(4), 26-30, 32–34.

Toddlers who explore art materials may not have the concept of conservation (i.e. accurate ability to assess space and volume). Hence, they may pour out too much paint or sand. Caregivers should allow some messiness but supervise the exploration. Allow ample time for play and cleanup.

Art activities should be open-ended so that children have the time and space to construct their understanding of the materials and their properties. Encouraging the exploration process rather than being too concerned about the product helps promote divergent and creative thinking. Talking to children about what they are creating, and allowing them to express what they think and feel, will help develop creativity.

Music enhances creativity: The pleasure of sharing music builds connections between parent and child as sounds and rhythms surround the child in a world of sensations and feelings. Music also offers a joyful and rewarding learning experience and nurtures children's imagination and creativity to move and express themselves with the music freely. Using symbolic thinking, such by using a box to represent a pretend "telephone", is a new stage in children's thinking skills. Caregivers can use music to build on toddlers' growing abilities to use symbols by providing props to go along with songs, such as stuffed spiders when singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" or fruit shapes cut out of felt to go along with the toddler favourite, "Fruit Salad."

Storytelling: A researcher conducted a four-week storytelling programme with preschoolers to study the usefulness of storytelling in early education.

He found that storytelling helped build community among students and teachers, enhanced memory recall, supported early literacy development, and promoted creative thinking. Reading and telling stories also builds the vocabulary for expressing imaginative thinking and creative ideas.

Cooperative play: Providing toddlers open-ended materials to work with other peers helps facilitate language, social skills and creativity. A study of Japanese children found that playful children become creative and artistic adults only when they have a chance to play as much as they want in a group.

In a cooperative activity, all the children are working towards a common goal and ideas are brainstormed and compounded so that more creative solutions are arrived at collaboratively. Torrance noted that creativity is highest when members of a group collaborate to achieve a given task.

Outdoor play and creativity: Research shows that outdoor play supports and nurtures children's creativity and imagination. A study conducted at a Nature Explore Classroom in Minnesota found that well-designed environments filled with natural materials support creative play. The implementation of guiding principles for designing outdoor classrooms supported the children's freedom to choose what, how, and where to play with materials. The study found four factors in natural outdoor classrooms that enhance children's creativity and imagination: (i) predictable spaces, (ii) ample and consistent time for children to play, (iii) open-ended materials, and (iv) caring, observant adults who support creative play and learning.

Adult facilitation: Although children benefit from free play and unstructured activities, children's play can become routine and repetitive when left entirely to their own devices. Adults can help children develop their creative skills by offering support and challenge, and building on and extending children's learning. Caregivers can ask open-ended questions, such as, "Can you tell me about what you have made?'' to appreciate their creative process, or, "How else do you think the bear can climb over the fence?" to help them think more creatively to solve problems.

Elaboration is the ability to extend ideas. Caregivers can also give children new ways of improving old ideas and activities by providing additional materials or modelling initial steps of extending the use of materials. For instance, providing pipe cleaners or toothpicks and other items to stick into play dough would allow children to elaborate in their play.

During play, active involvement in the activity is the key feature to helping children become more creative.

When playing with children, caregivers should follow the child's lead and scaffold the learning,such as by asking children questions or only stepping in to help when they are stuck.

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24. Bodrova, E., & Leong, D. J. (2003) The Importance of Being Playful. Educational Leadership, 60(7), 50–53.

Allowing children to solve their problems, and encouraging them when a novel solution is reached, rather than insisting on the caregiver's solution, will help promote creative problem-solving.