Investigating the Creativity of Children in Early Childhood Education Institutions

Abstract

Early childhood education institutions are referred to preschool, nursery school and practicum schools that educate young children. Preschool curriculum was developed for children in the preschool education institutions to provide a rich learning experience and to help healthy growth. Creativity is fundamental for the preschool curriculum and can be defined as a procedure to create original things. Preschool teachers should provide children with materials to trigger their imagination, should provide opportunities to imagine and to explain their ideas, should appreciate children's individuality, and should encourage their different viewpoints. They also should encourage children to participate in creative games, should care about children's new products, and value them. Moreover, children's creativity should be appreciated, and children should be given confidence. In this study, it is aimed to investigate the creativity of children in the preschool. A simple causal design with pre-and post-test with a single group was used in the study. The participants consisted of 184 children (96 boys, 88 girls) enrolled in preschool and nursery schools belong to Ministry of Education located in Ankara during the 2014-2015 academic year. Figural Creativity Form A and B of Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking were used as pre- and post-tests. The results showed that preschool curriculum increased children's creativity in a positive way.