CHAPTER 2:

Facilitating Creativity and the

Arts
Creative Materials and Activities for the Early
Childhood Curriculum
Joan Packer Isenberg
Jennifer L. Durham
Developed by:
Nicole Reiber, Coastal Carolina Community College

© 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

 The Teacher’s Role in Facilitating
Creativity and the Arts
Teachers provide experiences that promote creativity and
inspire children to think.

Developmentally Appropriate Teaching Practices:

• Provide recommendations for teachers to foster children’s
creative growth
• Offer daily opportunities for children’s self expression
through the various art forms
• Integrate the arts across the curriculum
• Support children’s work with various media techniques
• Display children and others’ art
• Design experiences that celebrate diversity
• Embrace open-ended exploration of the arts

Isenberg/Durham. Creative Materials and Activities for Young Children. 2-2

© 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Supporting Creativity and the Arts

Early childhood teachers are facilitators of learning:

• Encourage possibility thinking
• Plan for possibilities

Guidelines for Facilitating Creativity and the Arts:

• Value originality
• Create a safe and caring classroom
• Provide time for possibility thinking
• Offer variety of open-ended materials
• Develop a culture of inquiry

Isenberg/Durham. Creative Materials and Activities for Young Children. 2-3

© 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Characteristics of Teachers Who
Facilitate Creativity
• Demonstrate creativity
• Imagine children’s behaviors
• Question children’s needs
• Plan with children’s interests and needs in mind
• Observe children’s creative behaviors
• Appreciate children’s ideas and actions
• Nurture creative processes
• Listen to what children say
• Talk with children about ideas and thinking
• Understand creativity
• Assess and document creative behaviors

Isenberg/Durham. Creative Materials and Activities for Young Children. 2-4

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 Play, Creativity, and the Arts

Early childhood educators recognize play and the arts and…

• Provide meaningful approaches to teaching and learning

• Nourish children’s creative process

• Promote whole child development

• Encourage exploration and expression

• Enhance understanding of subject matter

• Foster imagination

• Support communication with others

Isenberg/Durham. Creative Materials and Activities for Young Children. 2-5

© 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Play and Creative Development

Types of Play
1. functional play
2. early and later symbolic play
3. constructive play
4. games with rules

Social play focuses on participation and includes:

• onlooker behavior
• solitary play
• parallel play
• associative play
• cooperative play

Isenberg/Durham. Creative Materials and Activities for Young Children. 2-6

© 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Benefits of Play

Children benefit from play in the following ways:

• Use imagination, flexible thinking, and problem solving
• Act on original ideas
• Take risks with new ideas
• Try materials in creative ways
• Create images and use symbols
• Develop an appreciation for ideas of others
• Sharpen their observational skills
• Experiment with language and vocabulary
• Build strong science and mathematical concepts

Isenberg/Durham. Creative Materials and Activities for Young Children. 2-7

© 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Facilitating Children’s Play

Teachers can facilitate children’s play by:

• Providing a variety of experiences and materials
• Helping children feel good about themselves as learners
• Using dynamic grouping (small and large groups)
• Helping children become problem finders and solvers
• Offering opportunities that encourage observation and
investigation
• Encouraging “what if” questions
• Supporting children’s perseverance, negotiation, and
discussion
• Giving children opportunities to share what they learn

Isenberg/Durham. Creative Materials and Activities for Young Children. 2-8

© 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Strategies for Supporting
Creativity and the Arts
Activities should capitalize on children’s curiosity and be
intrinsically motivating.

• Five strategies well suited to young children:

 Open-ended questions

 Investigative play

 Inquiry learning

 Long term projects

 Learning from creative people

Isenberg/Durham. Creative Materials and Activities for Young Children. 2-9

© 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Creativity and the Arts for Diverse
Learners
• Effective teachers meet the needs of culturally,
economically, and academically diverse children.

• Activities should tap into children’s senses and learning

modalities.

• Learning experiences should begin with an idea or concept

common to all children in classroom.

• Supporting diverse learners includes:

 Adapting activities for diverse learners
 Adapting play for diverse learners
 Adapting materials for diverse learners

Isenberg/Durham. Creative Materials and Activities for Young Children. 2-10

© 2015 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved