Being able to effectively promote creativity and creative learning in young children is a key skill which has now been re-appraised by the revised EYFS as a specific area of learning.
While the detailed study of this important topic is in an optional unit in the Level 3 Diploma, its significance is recognised with a value of five credits and graded at Level 4.
According to Gail Shenton, deputy to the partners at the Jancett Group and JACE Training, this unit is important because children need the freedom to explore different ways of expressing themselves and their feelings.
'Creativity is not just about art and painting and drawing pictures of mummy and daddy,' she says. 'Being creative means expressing yourself through a range of different mediums.
'Students can sometimes be a bit shy about engaging in creativity and feel they are no good at drawing, but that really doesn't matter. Just because you are not an arty person does not mean you cannot understand or appreciate how you can use different materials and techniques.
'The thing for practitioners is to release their inner child, get themselves down to ground level and sit on the floor with the children and see things from the child's perspective.'
EXPRESS YOURSELF
Natalie Ramkissoon, area training manager for Jace Training, believes that because this is graded as a Level 4 unit, it makes the learners step up a bit.
'It can be a boost for learners who are worried about taking a Level 4 and fear it is going to be really difficult,' she says.
'It is a key unit - children learn through play and being creative. I encourage students and staff in the nurseries to think about how creativity links in to every aspect of the EYFS. It is not just about paint and paper.
'For example, by just looking at something like the book The Gruffalo you can move things on. The children can make puppets and tell the story, they can play out Gruffalo in their role play, they can make music to tell the story, they can go out for a Gruffalo walk. The story can be extended in so many different ways.'
Gail Shenton adds, 'Being creative is about helping the child find different ways to express how he or she feels. This unit is about the students understanding that the children can make their own decisions about what they want to do. So if the chid is feeling cross, giving him something like playdough to manipulate can help him de-stress.'
Creativity also involves problem solving. Inexperienced practitioners need to learn how to support the child in this, such as finding how to stabilise the tower he is building, rather than taking charge and rectifying the difficulty themselves. They can also use the problem solving to bring in maths and science - working out how much water is needed to mix playdough, thinking about the size of the bowl they are making it in and how it gels, or counting the bits of pasta to string on a ribbon to make a necklace.
Ms Ramkissoon says the unit requires that learners not only reflect on their own practice but are able to support others to develop practice and develop a programme of change to the environment to enhance creativity and creative learning.
BE SPONTANEOUS
As it is an optional course of study, not all learners will take the unit, so those who do may find themselves mentoring their peers on best practice for creativity as well as developing projects in the setting to extend creative learning.
Ms Ramkissoon says they also need to learn not to be ruled by the planning sheet. 'Sometimes they will say "we thought about extending that but it wasn't on the planning sheet." This is about understanding that children learn best through creative play and it is about responding to the children there and what they are doing.'
Everything and anything that can be done indoors can be done outside too, according to Ms Shenton. Nature can also be brought indoors so the children can work with twigs and leaves and stones.
'If you start using materials like techno junk, you think about social responsibility and recycling and the different creative ways you can use things. A big cardboard box is not rubbish but has so much potential to be whatever the children want - a spaceship or car or whatever.
'Young children enjoy exploring different textures and colours. We use potato peelings, which have interesting textures and you can hide things in them and make them into dinosaur lairs. It is about giving them the opportunity to use things in different ways and see things from another perspective as they find ways to express themselves.'
Ms Shenton adds, 'I think this unit is really good at expanding the students, too, and getting them to consider how they express their own thoughts, and it encourages them to extend their own knowledge and understanding of their work.'
Laura Clark, who has just completed the Diploma while working at Pollyanna Day Nursery in Carshalton, says 'I am now working with the oneto two-year-olds and we do a lot of creative play and messy play. I might do sticking with them - I cut something out and they can choose what to stick - or they will make up a collage or make clay models or paint or draw, or have messy play with things like pasta and cornflour.'
She relates how children love feeling the different textures and seeing the different colours. 'Last year for Mothers' Day the children made clay handprints, which they enjoyed and the parents liked them too,' she says.
'The other day they did a big painting of the earth - they are only young, so they were blobbing the paint on, blue and green. They enjoyed all working together on it and it looked really good.
'They love doing handprints and foot prints in paint. They are just beginning to talk, so it is a good way to talk about colours. It can all be done outdoors too, which is fun.'
In Nursery World's 19 March issue we will look at the optional unit 'Promote young children's physical activity and movement skills'
KEY ELEMENTS OF THE UNIT 'PROMOTE CREATIVITY AND CREATIVE LEARNING in YOUNG CHILDREN'
The unit is designed to deepen the practitioner's knowledge and understanding of the importance of creativity and creative learning for young children and their competence in promoting this in early years settings. It also encourages the learner to support change and improvement in practice.
The main elements are:
- Understand the concepts of creativity and creative learning and how these affect all aspects of young children's learning, including being able to explain current theoretical approaches to these concepts and critically analyse how creativity and creative learning can support young children's emotional, social, intellectual, communication and physical development.
- Be able to provide opportunities for young children to develop their creativity and creative learning, including being able to demonstrate how to promote creativity and creative learning.
- Be able to develop the environment to support this, including being able to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of aspects of the supporting environment.
- Be able to support the development of practice in promoting young children's creativity and creative learning within the setting, including not only being able to reflect on one's own practice but also being able to support others to develop their practice and develop a programme of change to the environment to enhance creative learning, giving a justification and expected outcomes for each area of change.
