Creativity is the energy or power within a person to think and then produce or create.
It exists within everyone, but it must be nourished in order to grow. In 1968, George Land conducted a very interesting study on creativity with 1,600 preschool children in a head start program. The study showed that 98% of children are creative at the age of 5. However, when the same individuals were tested at ages 10 and again at 15, the results showed only 30% were creative at age 10 and 12% at the age of 15! When the same test was administered to 280,000 adults only 2% tested positive for creativity!
These test results show us that the majority of children are creative, and as they grow their creativity is not encouraged and becomes stifled. Without the encouragement or opportunity to use and nourish the creative energy within an individual - it ceases to exist!
We need to create an environment where children are given opportunities and skills needed to be creative, an environment where they feel safe in trying new things. In our Montessori environments children should have opportunities to explore and create with varied materials in all areas of the classroom. We should encourage the child’s creative nature.
Maria Montessori stated, “Imagination can only have a sensory basis.” (Spontaneous Activity in Education, p. 48)
Therefore we must create opportunities for the child to not only educate his senses, but encourage him to use his imagination to create! We should allow the child to use his imagination with the experimentation of stacking the geometrical solids, to use the metal insets and create patterns and designs, and use the colorful knobless cylinders to create various patterns. In our environments, ART and MUSIC activities should be a choice just as other lessons in all areas of the classroom. We need to be intentional and create an art and music shelf where tools of creative expression are introduced and then create “works” where the child is allowed to practice with these art tools using his imagination!
This article is just an introduction to hopefully inspire you to create opportunities for the children to be creative. Creative/Artistic activities and works with children are truly endless! Simple things we can do to spark an interest in art is to hang copies of great art for the children to view at their eye level. Do not just leave the same art hung all year but change it with the seasons and play beautiful instrumental music from all over the world. Remember that what does not exist in the child’s world will not exist within the child. Give him/her an appreciation of art and music and then activities to foster their own imagination. Montessori believed in the beauty of nature, where the first art designs introduced to children were flowers, butterflies, trees and animals then landscapes. (The Montessori Method, p. 244)
Fall Leaf Rubbings
Painting with different brush types.
The next few weeks I will be writing blog articles of various works to introduce and use within your classroom environments to encourage creativity with the children in your life!