Creativity and Play Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Creativity and Play - Essay Example Creativity likewise has many denotations and connotations in the English language. Creativity is hallmarked by intrinsic motivation, intention, adaptiveness and originality. It is what the person does, either the creative act or something aesthetically brand new and purposeful to the individual child. Original means it is not habitual and shies from routine. Creative has the implication of unconventional and intrinsically motivated. Intentional actions are not governed by conventions or extrinsic rewards (Sternberg, 1999). This essay will reflect on the importance of play in developing creativity. It seeks to analyze the different theories that are posited to reference childhood play and offer an evaluation of creativity across the early childhood curriculum’s in the United Kingdom (UK) namely; the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and the National Curriculum (NC). Reference will be made to personal experience underpinned by relevant theory. It will begin with theoretical descriptions of creativity and play while exploring each construct separately and in relation to each other. The discussion will then follow early childhood education theories. Furthermore, the roles of teachers and parents in relation to creativity and play will be identified. Creativity is defined as a process involving the production of remote associations through thinking outside the box while possessing divergent or unusual, if not, original ideas. In creative play children develop their practical skills through imagining, designing and creating. Educational experts have developed standards defining what children should know and be able to do by certain grade levels. The content children learn in the creative curriculum is guided by these standards. The creative curriculum explains how to teach content in ways that respect the developmental stages of children. (James C. Kaufman, 2006) Teachers