Concept of Creativity | Early Childhood Education and Care

Running head: EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE
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EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE2
In the early childhood setting, the concept of creativity is basically related to art like
drawing, painting etc. It is considered to be a very important part of developing the problem
solving and innovative thinking level among the children (Engelen et al., 2013). This paper
shall elaborate on presenting the importance of creativity for the early childhood development
and curriculum provision. It shall discuss the different perspectives on the role of creativity,
highlighting both the positive and negative sides of it.
Creativity can be defined as the action of transforming ideas and imagination into
reality. According to Hamre et al. (2014), creativity plays a significant role in the early
development of children in all domains such as language, cognitive skills, and emotions,
physical and social skills. All the activities that are involved are basically open-ended in
order to develop the analysing and thinking abilities of the children right from their early
childhood. Miendlarzewska and Trost (2014) in this context have claimed that “children have
an innate capability which assist them in channelling their curiosity that makes them think out
of the box”. It makes them feel positive about themselves and help them in experiencing the
happiness of being different while developing new skills.
Furthermore, a wide range of researches and studies have highlighted the vitality of
critical thinking and creativity in every fields of child’s learning. Fox and Schirrmacher
(2014) claims that creativity aids in the development of the children through play based
learning all across the curriculum. They too in this regard have further claimed that active
playing, drawing and paintings offer notable advantages for the emotional, social, cognitive
and physical development at the same time, is the key to creativity. However, Rosen et al.
(2014) have highlighted a significant negative impact of play on children. Indeed play
impacts the entire being of a child, it has a significant impact on their self-image. It is very
important to monitor how children play and what they play with. It would be of a great value
if they play with the toys that are good representation of that particular child.