Fostering children to express creativity in visual arts

Fostering children to express creativity in visual arts

Introduction

Art and creativity are the most important elements that promote children's various developmental areas in the early years. Children express themselves creatively through engaging in visual art activities and communicating with the world. Teachers, in early childhood education settings, endeavor to promote creativity for children. However, there are various factors that keep restricting children from expressing their creativity due to limited resources, time and space, and educators' lack of knowledge and confidence in nurturing creativity (Breard, 2008). Further approaches could be developed and applied which are likely to promote children to express creativity in visual arts.

Discussion

Visual art and creativity

Art education is an important aspect for all children because art is the first media that children use to express themselves and communicate. According to Greene (2001), visual art is considered as a tool that breaks down the barriers for children and allows them to imagine the world outside of their own familiar culture. Eisner (2002) also asserts that children develop complex and subtle mind through learning and experiencing visual arts and it is further described as an agent of social cohesion where children learn about the social and culture components (Beatson & Beatson, 1994). In Aotearoa New Zealand, the visual arts are considered as a domain of knowledge and learning which is integrated into the entire program in early childhood settings (Fuemana-Foa'I, Pohio & Terrenin, 2009).

Kolbe (2005) explains that visual art is one of the primary modes which is expressed and communicated by children through making meaning of their world by extending the notion as an aesthetic researcher. Te Whariki (Ministry of Education [MoE], 1996) also guides that many of the learning strands in early childhood education are done through the provision of visual art. It is not a curriculum that needs to be taught by teachers but it requires supporting children and allowing them to explore in the holistic context the play based programmes through the use of graphic and symbolic languages. This helps in “externalizing their thinking” in the form of visual art (Milikan, 2003, p. 37).

According to Schirrmacher (2006), children begin to explore creative expressions in early years from the time when they are babies. They learn to manipulate toys, explore space, discover their body parts and even solve problems. Csikszentmihalyi (1996) describes creativity as any idea, act, or product that changes or transforms from an existing domain into another. According to Breard (2008), it is further asserted that creativity is a multi-faceted phenomenon which could affect all aspects of life. The word 'creativity' has come from the Latin word 'creare', which means 'to produce, make or to grow'. Creative thus means that we are growing and developing in us the knowledge and skills while being creative (Piirto, 2004). Schirrmacher (2006) asserts that experiencing creativity and creative expressions through art, music, thinking and play foster the overall development of a child including cognitive, social emotional, physical and creative ...