The phenomenon of child creativity

Abstract

Children's creativity is different from the creativity shown by adults. Discovery for others, which is what adults do, results in technological, scientific or artistic advances that then become part of the general culture. Discovery for oneself is more subjective, and results in a change in the person rather than in the culture. Although adults are capable of such subjective creativity, for the most part it is evident in children, and plays an important part in their development. In this article, the links between creativity and the features of cultural objects are explained. Cultural objects exist at two levels. The first level – the external level – consists of the objectively observable features of the cultural object. The second level – the internal level – consists of the hidden aspects of the object, the logic and thought that has gone into the object's creation. This internal level constitutes the cultural meaning of the object, and some cultural objects have multiple levels of meaning. Children (particularly preschool children) learn these cultural meanings through their contact with cultural objects, which has to be mediated by adults. This is where it is important that adults engage young children's creativity, because they need adult help to reconstruct the cultural meanings inherent in cultural objects. It is important that helping adults involve children in authentic communication around cultural objects, as this transformation of the self is an essential part of children's cultural development. Teaching children methods for problem solving runs the risk of depriving them of the opportunity for creative thinking. Examples of formal and informal education are provided that illustrate these principles.