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Acknowledgement Liz Hodgman

CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Creative Development is made up of the following aspects:

 

Being Creative – Responding to Experiences, Expressing and Communicating Ideas  – is about how children respond in a variety of ways to what they see, hear, smell, touch or feel and how, as a result of these encounters, they express and communicate their own ideas, thoughts and feelings.
 

Provide a variety of sensory experiences:

Treasure baskets

Follow this link for more information www.ecd.govt.nz/...

 

Feely bags-use a drawstring bag and fill with a variety of objects with different textures and shapes, encourage the children to put their hand inside and describe what they can feel.

 

Smelly bags-fill muslin bags with different herbs, such as basil, sage or parsley, or use lavender and give to the children to smell and feel.

Material box-fill a shoe box with scraps of different materials, satins, lace, netting, velvet etc. Give to the children and encourage them to feel the different textures and describe how they feel.

 

Visual stimulation- hang mobiles for babies and toddlers, include the outdoor space. Hang CD Roms in the trees, they are great for catching the light in the wind when they spin around.

 

Natural beauty- talk to the children about everything they see around them, within their immediate environment and in nature. Encourage them to express what they like and dislike and support their developing vocabulary by introducing language to describe what they see and experience.

 

DOWNLOAD Sample Observation: Describing a Picture

 

Exploring Media and Materials – is about children’s independent and guided exploration of and engagement with a widening range of media and materials, finding out about, thinking about and working with colour, texture, shape, space and form in two and three dimensions.

 

Mark Making - provide opportunities for very young babies to make marks. This could be in spilt food or liquid in their high chair tray, gloop (link to BCMA creativity page for gloop) Use a plastic sheet on the floor for painting or roll out wall paper.

 

Introducing different textures - provide a wide variety of different materials for children to use in their creations, different textured papers, string, wool, raffia, materials etc. Add different coloured paint to PVA glue to give a different finish. Encourage the children to explore the different materials, mix paints and media. Discuss their creations with them. Show that you value their products and share them with their parents, explaining the process that the child has gone through to achieve them.

 

Junk Modelling (although recently renamed Model making using recycled materials so as to give it more value and to note the environmental aspect!)

Collect clean materials from around your home, empty food packages, washed, kitchen roll tubes, bottle tops etc. Encourage the children to create 3d models. If possible leave out so that the children can return and add to their creation throughout the day. Discuss with them what they have created, introduce new language to describe what they can see and feel. For example, smooth and shiny, silky and soft etc.

 

Natural media - Introduce media found in nature for the children to use in their creations, sticks, stones, shells, wood, seaweed etc. Encourage the children to help you find these materials.

 

DOWNLOAD Sample Observation: Mixing Paint

 

Creating Music and Dance – is about children’s independent and guided explorations of sound, movement and music. Focusing on how sounds can be made and changed and how sounds can be recognised and repeated from a pattern, it includes ways of exploring movement, matching movements to music and singing simple songs from memory.

 

Puppets-provide a range of puppets that can be used to dance to music, use to show babies and little children and give to older children to move for themselves. Use puppets from different cultures to match the music.

 

Instruments- small percussion instruments are available at reasonable prices for high street stores, however more fun can be had from making your own instruments. Use empty plastic containers and fill with beans, lentils, rice, pasta etc to make different noises. Tissue boxes and elastic bands make great guitars etc.

Make a ‘music line’ in the garden...hang a line and attaché a variety of different objects from it and encourage the children to strike them with sticks to hear the different noises that they make.

Visit  the Tweenies website

www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/tweenies/songtime/

for a great range of songs and rhymes and links to other music from popular children’s shows.

 

Dance- provide opportunities for children to see a variety of different dances. This may be through using DVDs and TV Shows, taking them to see dance shows performed at school or other children’s dance shows or in books. Encourage children to listen to the beat of music and then move in time to it.

 

DOWNLOAD Sample Observation: Joining in with a song

 

Developing Imagination and Imaginative Play – is about how children are supported to develop and build their imaginations through stories, role-plays, imaginative play, dance, music, design, and art.

 

Role Play- provide a range of resources that reflect everday life for the children to use in their imaginary play, for example handbags, hats and shoes, telephones and magazines, scarves and bits of material.

 

Story Telling-use the children’s real life experiences to tell stories. For example if one of the children went to the beach at the weekend, tell a story to the children about a little girl who went to the beach with her family and found.....include favourite toys, friends and places the children will know. Where possible involve the children in the story telling.

 

Themes-pick up on the themes that interest the children or situations that they might have heard about or experienced recently and provide them with props to act them out. For example if a baby has been born, provide dolls and toy changing bag, nappies etc. If they have been to buy new shops set up a play shoe shop and act out the different roles with them if they need support. Provide language a vocabulary to support their play. Encourage the children to be inventive to make props for their imaginary play.

 

 

DOWNLOAD Sample Observation: Making a Pretend Sandwich

Creative Development

is made up of the following aspects:

 

Sensory Experiences

 

Media and Materials

 

Music and Dance

 

Imagination and Play

 

 

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Requirements

Children’s creativity must be extended by the provision of support for their curiosity, exploration and play. They must be provided with opportunities to explore and share their thoughts, ideas and feelings, for example, through a variety of art, music, movement, dance, imaginative and role-play activities, mathematics, and design and technology. (EYFS)                              

                                                                          

What Creative Development means for children

Creativity is about taking risks and making connections and is strongly linked to play.

• Creativity emerges as children become absorbed in action and explorations of their own ideas, expressing them through movement, making and transforming things using media and materials such as crayons, paints, scissors, words, sounds, movement, props and make-believe.
• Creativity involves children in initiating their own learning and making choices and decisions.
• Children’s responses to what they see, hear and experience through their senses are individual and the way they represent their experiences is unique and valuable.
• Being creative enables babies and children to explore many processes, media and materials and to make new things emerge as a result.

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