Play, creativity and creative thinking

Abstract

This chapter begins with view of young children's creativity that was based on them as 'beings', not 'becomings'. It focuses on play as children's self-initiated, self-directed activity, in contrast to activities instigated by adults. The chapter emphasises the mutually beneficial relationship between young children's self-initiated free play, of all kinds, and their creativity and creative thinking, in an effort to add to the evidence in support of halting, and hopefully reversing, such a decline. In looking at problem-solving as a context for creativity, the emphasis is on children's own self-initiated problems encountered as they play. Children's interactions with one another as they play may be particularly supportive of their creative thinking development. The evidence which attests to young children's creativity is clear and incontrovertible. This being so, an emphasis on supporting its development in early childhood, in the context in which it may be most likely to be apparent, namely, young children's self-initiated play, is both justified and necessary.