Overexcitabilities and creative potential in the kindergarten context: The mediating role of children's playfulness

Abstract

This study examined the direct and indirect relationships of children's overexcitabilities with their playfulness and creative potential in the kindergarten context. Participants were parents and teachers of 140 Hong Kong Chinese kindergarten children (47.9% girls, mean age = 52.2 months). Parents reported their children's overexcitabilities (imaginational, psychomotor, sensual, intellectual, and emotional), and teachers rated children's playfulness (physical spontaneity, social spontaneity, cognitive spontaneity, manifest joy, and sense of humor) and creative potential (creative personality traits) as demonstrated in the classrooms. Hierarchical regression revealed that controlling for child age, gender, and parental education, children's social and cognitive spontaneity were significant correlates of their creative potential as perceived by the teachers. Moreover, results from the path analytic model showed that the positive relationship between intellectual overexcitability and creative potential was fully mediated by cognitive spontaneity. In contrast, the indirect relationship through social spontaneity was non-significant. The findings suggest that children's daily imaginative and inventive peer play in kindergarten may be conducive to their creative potential. Practically, results underscore the utility of creating a preschool play environment that embraces children's choice, autonomy, and originality while promoting peer interaction and collaboration, as such an approach may cultivate their creative potential.