Portfolio Of Creative And Dramatic Play Experiences For Kids

Encouraging Children to Respect and Appreciate the Creative Work of Peers

One of the best ways to encourage the child to appreciate and respect the work of his/her classmates is appreciating him/her for his/her creative work. Being appreciated will help the child to realize the importance of appreciation. Secondly, polite gestures and words like “I appreciate your help” or “Wow, you worked hard” should be frequently used in front of the children (Malchiodi 2012). They should be made to understand that politeness is not only a gesture but also a highly appreciated way of communication. Besides that, children should be provided with the opportunity to discuss and explore art works with their peers as well as with the trainer. This will help the children to access and respect the creative work of their peers.

One of the chief ways to provide support to the children’s creative expression and encouragement for exploring artwork is by organizing the environment and material in a way that shall enable the children to initiate their own experience (Wright 2015). This will encourage them to apply various ideas that involves the usage of trial and error method in order to find solution of the problems encountered along the way. Apart from this, children should be encouraged to discuss about their experiences and issues while performing the artwork with their peers. Childcare professionals shall always appreciate and show delight to the enthusiasm of the children. This will make the children more motivated to explore things thoroughly since they will realize that their work is gaining importance to the adults (Rubin 2016).

Creative mediums can be considered as one of the best ways by which children can express themselves. Creative activities like finger painting, sketching, Coloring and writing have been proven to provide the children with a solid outlet for the various strong emotions the children deal with. According to therapists and psychologists, many information about the mental state of a child, which otherwise remains unknown, is often, obtained from the drawings and artworks of that child (Green and Drewes 2013). Kids should be allowed to enjoy the freedom while performing a creative act since it will open up their mind and enhance their psychological awareness.

A child’s creativity should always be appreciated in order to make the child feel valued. A major way to ensure that the child’s artwork has been valued is by appreciating him/her for his/her artwork (Isbell and Raines 2012). Along with the appreciation, he should be asked several questions about his/her experiences while performing the creative act. Encouraging words and with prolonged discussion will not only motivate the child but will also make him feel that he is important to the adults. Finally, his artwork should be preserved with utmost care and appreciation.

Engaging Children in Artwork Discussions and Explorations

The best way to encourage children to reflect on their experiences is by asking them questions about their experience while performing their artworks as well as the artworks of their peers. Questions like how did he came up with  the idea or what were the difficulties faced by him during the execution will enable the child to access his work and issues. In order to solve the problem faced by the children, free-play situation should be created as such methods create vivid opportunities for kids to identify and solve the issues (Coholic and Lougheed 2012). Secondly, the children should be encouraged to lead and once they find a solution, it should be reinforced.

As an adult, the educator shall create a childcare environment that includes:

A variety of play materials and inviting equipment shall be accessible to children.

The environment should be age appropriate and child centered.

Uncluttered and sufficient space should be available in the room for active play along with additional cozy places for quit playing.

A good number of colorful and attractive photographs along with the children’s own drawings, paintings or other artwork should be present in the room (Koster 2014).

Both small and sharp toys should not be kept in the room to avoid cuts or choking.

The room should have large windows so that a good amount of natural light can enter into it (Hui, He and Ye 2015).

Two examples of ways of role modeling creativity by improvising with equipment and materials

In order to encourage creativity of the children, two activities can be performed.

The educator can set a drama scene with children where a story already known by the children will be modified into a play. The children shall be encouraged to imagine the roles and the educator shall write their ideas down. Then simple props like hats and purses should be provided to the children to encourage then to enact the allotted role. In order to enhance their performance skills, the educator should also include dance and singing performances.

Another way of role modeling creativity is by teaching the children to play with play dough. This can be done by providing the children with play dough of five to seven basic colors and encouraging the children to construct objects or figures from the dough under the guidance of the trainer. The educator can himself construct a model out of the play dough that will serve as a guidance for the children.

Creative Self Expression for Children

One of the crucial ways to engage the children in creative experiences with their friends is by engaging them in social creative games like memory and matching, pass the pillow and storytelling games. Such games will not only encourage the children to socialize but they will also learn to make friends. The educator can organize a dance performance where all the children are encouraged to perform in a group.

At times, the age of the child become a major barrier to creativity. Children who are too young to understand certain things that are necessary for creativity are often unable to perform. Another problem experienced by educators are highly active children who often tends to destroy other children’s work of art. Finally, lack of fund may also be considered as a crucial barrier when it comes to creativity.

One of the most effective ways to encourage children to be more creative is by displaying their artwork in a unique and appreciating way. Displaying a child’s artworks has a lot of importance since it makes the child feel valued. This further motivates the child to give more importance to his creativity (Nilson et al. 2013). Besides that, it also helps the trainer to share the children’s work with their parents and the visitors of the classroom. Some of the unique ways of displaying children’s artwork includes Masterpiece wall, Bravo Board and Colorful Corner. In masterpiece wall, the walls of the classroom are decorated with the artwork of the children and appreciating quotes below it. In Bravo board, paintings, sketching, drawings or any other art forms are clipped in a huge board with the addition of appreciating quotes. The concept of colorful corner involves decorating the corner of the classrooms with colorful work of art of the students.

A basic yet crucial question that should be asked to every child while discussing about his/her creation is to ask the child to explain the work of art created by him. This will not only enhance the critical thinking of the children but will also enhance the children’s imaginative ability. The children should be encouraged to elaborate their answer by adding questions while he will be answering.

Evaluation of children’s learning from created experiences can be performed by following the below mentioned points:

1. The ideas of children in planning and documentation of the work should be documented regularly by the educator.
2. Different methods should be introduced to find out what is achievable, realistic and relevant for children along with setting and establishing benchmarks that are reviewed regularly.
3. The educator must review the progress of the children consistently in order to keep the track of the creative enhancement of the children.

Reference list

Coholic, D., Eys, M. and Lougheed, S., 2012. Investigating the effectiveness of an arts-based and mindfulness-based group program for the improvement of resilience in children in need. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 21(5), pp.833-844.

Green, E.J. and Drewes, A.A. eds., 2013. Integrating expressive arts and play therapy with children and adolescents. John Wiley & Sons.

Hui, A.N., He, M.W. and Ye, S.S., 2015. Arts education and creativity enhancement in young children in Hong Kong. Educational Psychology, 35(3), pp.315-327.

Isbell, R. and Raines, S.C., 2012. Creativity and the arts with young children. Cengage Learning.

Koster, J.B., 2014. Growing artists: teaching the arts to young children. Cengage Learning.

Malchiodi, C.A. ed., 2012. Art therapy and health care. Guilford Press.

McFarlane, P., 2012. Creative drama for emotional support: Activities and exercises for use in the classroom. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Nilson, C., Fetherston, C.M., McMurray, A. and Fetherston, T., 2013. Creative Arts: An Essential Element in the Teacher’s Toolkit When Developing Critical Thinking in Children. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 38(7), p.n7.

Robson, S. and Rowe, V., 2012. Observing young children’s creative thinking: engagement, involvement and persistence. International Journal of Early Years Education, 20(4), pp.349-364.

Rubin, J.A. ed., 2016. Approaches to art therapy: Theory and technique. Routledge.

Wright, S., 2015. Children, meaning-making and the arts. Pearson Higher Education AU.

Wrench, K. and Naylor, L., 2013. Life story work with children who are fostered or adopted: Creative ideas and activities. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Mayesky, M., 2014. Creative activities and curriculum for young children. Cengage Learning.