Creativity is intelligence having fun – Albert Einstein
Creativity is becoming increasingly important as a competence in the future. It is one of the 21st century skills that schools and of course we also pay attention to in childcare. But why is that and especially what exactly is creativity?
It doesn't matter who I talk to about creativity. Without an introduction, everyone immediately thinks of tinkering, painting, cutting, pasting or doing something else "creative". Being creative in the form of crafts can be a part of creativity that many children enjoy. I say consciously can because tinkering is not necessarily creative. Sometimes this is all about crafting skills and no creativity involved. If creativity is so important, I think it is worth knowing more about this and how to “teach” it to children.
I borrow a definition from the internet. I google very uncreatively and choose the description on Wikipedia: Creativity is interpreted quite differently in the different sciences, but generally refers to an ability to create something new. An individual or a group shows creativity when a new concept or object is created, or when an original solution to a problem is found.
Well this definition clearly pushes all preconceived crafts aside when it comes to creativity. Creativity is the ability to create something new. All the same sheep? So no! It is also much broader than creativity in the field of art or crafts. Being creative can actually be anything. And maybe because it's so broad, it's hard to understand. Or actually it is also very easy. You only have to look at children to see creativity in all its forms. Children are constantly creative. They come up with all kinds of new concepts and original solutions to problems. Not hindered by any knowledge, they experience the world and find their own creative way in it.
“Jommens come and sit in the circle! Nina plays with her cuddly toys at home her kdv group. She is teacher Sanne in an Elsa dress and sings all the songs that they also sing in the group. She mentions to the yommens that Elsa dresses are always blue. After a minute and a half, her brother rushes crawling towards the circle and mows her stuffed animals a few meters across the room. Suddenly she is a princess in distress. “Watch out yommens for the monster! Ohhh!!' Mack is in the water. Mack swims up to you and then he bites your butt!! Get under the table soon!!!
Until at least their 8th year, children are naturally creative. After that, they have learned so many rules to follow from adults that they slowly unlearn creative thinking. Above all, they learn to do the right thing. Due to the speed at which knowledge and technologies and therefore the world are changing, we expect that today's children as adults need a higher degree of creativity to function and feel good in today's society. Creativity therefore seems to become more important compared to being able to stick to rules, learning automatisms, etc.
The challenge of stimulating children's creativity lies with educators. There is, of course, a paradox here, since the educators themselves have been brought up again to abide by the rules. Recognizing your own patterns and unconscious automatisms is a way to pay attention to this. However, it is much more fun to challenge yourself in creativity in all kinds of ways. Just do something different every day. Take a different route home, don't write a policy document but sign it, don't make a standard recipe but challenge yourself to make something with what you have in the fridge. Dare to see the world with different eyes.
Putting out what the mind thinks it knows and taking a fresh look at what the world throws at you to come up with new solutions can be a challenge. But it's also very fun. It takes the courage to let go of what you have learned and to realize that there is no such thing as doing it wrong. I think it's a wonderful feeling!
Greetings,
Shirley
