As Picasso once said… “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up”. Back in 1994 I was asked to write a self-evaluation of my art skills by my art teacher, which was to form a part of my end of year report. I remember writing that I felt that I was ‘average’ which my art teacher, a very bohemian teacher of the arts, looked at and asked if I was sure about this. He had a look on his face as if he was disappointed with this statement, but never verbalised this or elaborated on his comment, but just asked if I was sure. In hindsight I would like to think that he was disappointed because he saw more in my me and my creative abilities than I could, but back then I was focussed on the product and not on the process. All I saw was that visually to my eye I was not as good as my peers. However, I had missed a valuable message somewhere in my education, maybe at a very early age, that it was not about the product it was about the process I went through to create the product.
Funny enough when it came to choosing subjects for my exams art was not one of them, which was a shame as now I realise that it is, whatever level we are, through this medium that we give our creativity muscles a workout. If someone would have asked me prior to being an early years teacher who I thought had creative minds, I probably would have said Monet, Picasso, Rembrandt, musicians such as Miles Davies, Aretha Franklin, Michael Stipe (lead singer of R.E.M), actors and directors like Woody Allen and Francis Ford Coppola, or authors such as William Shakespeare to J.K. Rowling. If I were asked where you might see such art and creativity, I would have said art galleries, music halls and libraries. Although I would have been right in my answer I would have only spoken about the tip of the iceberg and would have been extremely negligent of the wider world, I would have missed architects, engineers, doctors and nurses, business people, teachers, the emergency services; the list is endless. And I would have certainly missed out our children and ourselves on this list. So, what is creativity and why is it so important to our children? The English Oxford dictionary defines creativity as “The use of imagination or original ideas to create something; inventiveness.” From this definition we can establish a link between imagination and creativity. Imagination is something that the children at Hiba have by the bucket load.
At this point I would like to take you back to the analogy used earlier in this piece that our creativity is like a muscle. Not a literal muscle like the bicep, but certainly something that just like the bicep needs a workout to become bigger, stronger and more natural in its movement. At the age our children are now it is therefore extremely important that we provide plenty opportunities for them to ‘workout’.
At Hiba we understand that allowing our children the opportunity to explore their imagination and creativity is vital as it allows strong development of their physical, emotional and overall cognitive abilities. How does engaging in the creative arts help develop our children’s physical development in our children? As adults we sometimes take for granted our ability to move and our coordination, but we should be mindful that we had to learn these skills and that we were not born with them. Motor skills, which are the skills we need to move with coordination, occur when the brain, nervous system and muscles all work together to make movements. There are two types of motor skills: fine and gross. Fine motor skills entail small movements and require hand-eye coordination. Examples of fine motor skills include picking things up with fingers, doing puzzles and using tools or instruments.
Gross motor skills involve using the whole body to make large movements, such as running, jumping, catching, throwing, kicking and hopping. Our young children need concentration and time to learn these skills, especially gross motor skills that require balance. Creative arts can help promote these skills, for example, when a child grips and uses a paintbrush, or glues buttons and yarn to paper, they are engaging and advancing their fine motor skills. However, when they dance, skip or clap or jump in time to music, they stimulate the parts of the brain that controls gross motor skills. Childhood utilisation of these areas is critical to later adulthood abilities.
The creative arts help our children explore their emotions, both in displaying and regulating them. Dramatic play and puppetry activities, for example, can help children explore their emotional range and, in play, develop emotional self-regulation and self-control. Developing emotional control in childhood is essential to emotional regulation as our children grow into adults.
Finally, the creative arts also foster the development of our children’s cognitive abilities. Exploring and participating in creative play triggers the use of our children’s imagination, and it is through this that our children learn about the world. During imaginative play, children manipulate materials, express themselves verbally and non-verbally, plan (intentionally or unintentionally), act, interact, react, and try different roles. Great opportunities for learning are possible when children participate in creative play with dolls, vehicles, blocks, rocks, cardboard, or boxes. Employing creative thinking while manipulating play dough, creating recipes by mixing dirt and water, working with art materials, splashing in puddles, or pretending to fly can further child development. Great ways to encourage imagination and creativity in your own homes.
