EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT

Lesson 24: Creative activities in ECE center

Importance of creativity

• The feelings of self esteem and self worth will be enhanced.
• Helps the child to express his emotions, ideas etc.
• It presents an opportunity for the children to express their unique ideas.

Stages in creativity

• The exploratory Stage: It means exploring the material, investigating its properties. Young children (2-3 years) spend most of their time in manipulation and exploration of paints and brushes. They also relish the mixing of play dough and various colors by employing all their senses.
• The non-representational stage: The child moves to this stage after the qualities of the materials have been explored and some skill in manipulation has been obtained. Child attains some skill in painting on the paper. The painting has a design but not recognizable content.
• Pictorial or representational stage: The child deliberately produces some creative design which has some recognizable content only. Some children attain this ability in nursery age whereas others in kindergarten.