Creativity and creative potential in early childhood education.

Abstract

W e're gonna have a contest," the teacher announced as the kids filed into the classroom after playing outside. "The one who builds the tallest tower gets to pick the book for today's reading circle." Piles of blocks of various sizes, shapes, and colors were already set around the classroom waiting to be thoughtfully arranged into structures by a dozen excited 4-and 5-year-olds. "Ready, set, go!" The work of building proceeded quickly and efficiently, and, in only a few minutes, the foundations were laid and towers were built. There were thin towers and there were thick towers. Most were stable and a few were barely standing. But they all had one very visible characteristic in common: They were roughly the same height. This is not surprising, in hindsight. Wanting to be fair, the teacher gave everyone about the same number of blocks. Realizing what had happened, the teacher announced, "You all built amazing towers, but you really made it hard for me to see which is the tallest one! Let's make this easier. I give you permission to use something else in the room to create your tallest tower. But you can use only one thing," as he held up one finger in front of him to really emphasize one. "Go!" It took about a minute of wandering and looking around before one child took one of the boxes that was used to hold the blocks and brought it back to her tower, which she knocked down with great intent. She proceeded to rebuild her tower-on the box this time. Seeing the strategy's potential, the others followed until all of the remaining boxes were all claimed, leaving a

“Complete the Drawing!”: The Relationship between Imagination and Executive Functions in Children

“…They can be purposefully developed using training and self-education in adulthood but are less commonly addressed in school and preschool ages. Even though imagination formation prerequisites appear, all this requires special attention in preschool years [34].…”

“…Imagination is entwined into different types of children's activities, first including play. To develop imagination naturally, one needs to create conditions that would support and encourage this development in the earliest stages of personality formation and cognitive, emotional, and behavioral patterns [34]. The reason is that it is the joint input of emotional and intellectual spheres that can enrich the processes of creativity and cognition.…”

Democratizing Creative Early Educational Experiences: A Matter of Racial Justice

“…Although creativity has deep roots in early childhood education (Liebovich & Hinitz, 2016; Saracho, 2012; Tinio et al, 2020), intersectionally minoritized BICOC have been disproportionately denied access to classrooms and (pre)schools where creative experiences guide curriculum, teaching, and learning (Bryan, 2020; Pérez & Saavedra, 2017; Souto-Manning & Rabadi-Raol, 2018). This exclusion is related to their persistent dehumanization (Haslam & Loughnan, 2012), emanating from a history of Black people being considered property (Goff et al, 2008) and Indigenous peoples consistently constructed as savages residing in the past (Dunbar-Ortiz & Gilio-Whitaker, 2016).…”