Am I creative?
I asked myself
the answer was “ not much.”

I pondered over it
discovered a few things
the answer now has changed.

Am I creative?
Yes, like a fruit punch.
a mix of juices and some fruit to munch.

Creativity? Is creativity only related to arts and crafts? How important is it to develop creativity in children? How can we develop and enhance creativity?

What do we understand by the term Creativity? is the process of bringing something new into being. It involves imagining familiar things in a new light, digging below the surface to find previously undetected patterns, and finding connections among unrelated phenomena. Some of the words which come to mind when we think of creativity are Create – invent – discover – Predict – imagine if – suppose that. 

To foster creativity in children it is necessary to create an environment which allows them to think and express freely.Exposure and experiences also make the child's environment richer and may foster creative expression. If we just “let them be” then the chances are they will be able to think beyond.  The creativity bud is so tender that it can close up or be crushed by “creativity killers” (constant surveillance, evaluation, over control, pressure are some of them).

 “Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.”
Mary Lou Cook

”Its all there locked inside - all you have to do is to remove the excess stone from around it” Michelangelo on making a sculpture. 

“Construction is for a purpose, it expresses our wants; but creation is for itself, it expresses our very being.” Rabindranath Tagore

 According to Osho,CREATIVITY has nothing to do with any activity in particular—with painting, poetry, dancing, singing. It has nothing to do with anything in particular.

Anything can be creative—you bring that quality to the activity. Activity itself is neither creative nor uncreative. You can paint in an uncreative way. You can sing in an uncreative way. You can clean the floor in a creative way. You can cook in a creative way.

Osho says “Watch children and you will see: all children are creative.”
If given a chance, every child has some creative talent in him and if that talent is encouraged every child can become a great artist, a great actor or a great philosopher. Only the right environment is needed to become creative wonders. Creativity in children is reflected through their feelings, emotions, and imagination. Children are more concerned with how they “think” things are rather than being concerned with how they “really” are.
To encourage creativity in children, it is important to remember that the process of creating is more important than the final product. This means that the children are more interested in painting, clay-modeling, singing, or moving than they are in making a perfect picture, a perfect clay sculpture or singing the right words to a song.
 Sharing His insight, Osho says, “I say over and over again that if you want your children to know the truth you must give them the chance to think creatively. Stop conditioning them with beliefs; allow them to understand things for themselves. Creativity will become their capacity for life; creativity will become their wisdom. That capacity and that wisdom will lead them to the uncharted sea of truth.”

Highly creative individuals may:

1. Display a great deal of curiosity about many things; are constantly asking questions about anything and everything; may have broad interests in many unrelated areas. May devise collections based on unusual things and interests.

2. Generate a large number of ideas or solutions to problems and questions; often offer unusual (“way out”), unique, clever responses.

3. Are often uninhibited in expressions of opinion; are sometimes radical and spirited in disagreement; are unusually tenacious or persistent—fixating on an idea or project.

4. Are willing to take risks, are often people who are described as a “high risk taker, or adventurous, or speculative.”

5. Display a good deal of intellectual playfulness; may frequently be caught fantasizing, daydreaming or imagining. Often wonder out loud and might be heard saying, “I wonder what would happen if. . .”; or “What if we change . . ..” Can manipulate ideas by easily changing, elaborating, adapting, improving, or modifying the original idea or the ideas of others. Are often concerned improving the conceptual frameworks of institutions, objects, and systems.

6. Display keen senses of humor and see humor in situations that may not appear to be humorous to others. Sometimes their humor may appear bizarre, inappropriate, irreverent to others.

7. Are unusually aware of his or her impulses and are often more open to the irrational within him or herself. May freely display opposite gender characteristics (freer expression of feminine interests in boys, greater than usual amount of independence for girls).

8. Exhibit heightened emotional sensitivity. May be very sensitive to beauty, and visibly moved by aesthetic experiences.

9. Are frequently perceived as nonconforming; accept disordered of chaotic environments or situations; are frequently not interested in details, are described as individualistic; or do not fear being classified as “different.”

10. Criticize constructively, and are unwilling to accept authoritarian pronouncements without overly critical self-examination.

Adopted and adapted from the scale for Rating Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students by Renzulli and Hartman

It is perhaps ironic that within our culture we insist that we place such value on creativity and then blatantly try to steal it away from children in the contexts of their educational experiences and their upbringing. As a culture we need to finally decide what we really want for our children and then carefully design and monitor experiences which provide those things we value. Here Hennessy and Amabile (1992) identify common “creativity killers.” It is important to note that all of these “killers” are commonplace in our schools and homes.

1.     

Surveillance - Hovering over kids, making them feel that they’re constantly being watched while they are working, . . . under constant observation, the risk-taking, creative urge goes underground and hides . . .

2.     

Evaluation - When we constantly make kids worry about how they are doing, they ignore satisfaction with their accomplishments. . . .

3.     

Rewards - The excessive use of prizes . . . deprives a child of the intrinsic pleasure of creative activity.

4.     

Competition - Putting kids in a win-lose situation, where only one person can come out on top, . . . negates the process children progress at their own rates.

5.     

Over-control - Constantly telling kid how to do things, . . . often leaves children feeling like their originality is a mistake and any exploration a waste of time.

6.     

Restricting choice - Telling children which activities they should engage in instead of letting them follow where their curiosity and passion lead . . . again restricts active exploration and experimentation that might lead to creative discovery and production.

7.     

Pressure - Establishing grandiose expectations for a child’s performance . . . often ends up instilling aversion for a subject or activity. . . .Unreasonably high expectations often pressure children to perform and conform within strictly prescribed guidelines, and, again, deter experimentation, exploration, and innovation. Grandiose expectations are often beyond children’s developmental capabilities.

Summarized from: Goleman, Kaufman and Ray (1992) The creative spirit, 61-62

How Can Adults Encourage Creativity?

Provide an environment that allows the child to explore and play without undue restraints.

Adapt to children’s ideas rather than trying to structure the child’s ideas to fit the adult’s.

Accept unusual ideas from children by suspending judgement of children’s divergent problem-solving.

Use creative problem-solving in all parts of the curriculum. Use the problems that naturally occur in everyday life.

Allow time for the child to explore all possibilities, moving from popular to more original ideas.

Emphasize process rather than product.

Sources:
http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content2/Creativity_in_kids.html

http://www.innerself.com/Creating_Realities/creativity.htm

http://www.uwsp.edu/education/lwilson/creativ/CHARACTE.html