Fostering children’s creativity
How can we foster children's creativity during play?
General topic of interest
Children's interests during the time to play;
How children's interests change according to the materials they are exposed to.
Participants
PK4 and Kindergarten students.
Data collecting approach
We took the children to the patio and playground to observe they reactions. There were no toys available and no instructions were given. After a week, we took them to the same places, now, giving instructions and providing some materials to play.
Data collecting example
Daily routines and materials from the classroom.
Emerging results
At first, when children went to the patio without any tools, they seemed they forgot how to play. It took a while for some of them to start to organize themselves and play. Some children did not play at all, they were walking around teachers asking to do, saying that they were bored. When children had a few materials or instructions, they reaction was the opposite. They seemed to remember how to play, they felt more comfortable, they did not want to live the patio and they could create, imagine and innovate.
Reflections
Children need to learn and be taught how to play, even when they don't have any tool. Even though play is natural, children needs to be estimulate to do it.
Next steps
We plan on observing them again, after they have the materials, how they will react, if they will remember the first time or they will improvise anything. After that, we are going to introduce new games, that they do not need materials and avoiding plastic toys.
