Creatively and play with in early year curriculm - Essay Example

Since children are naturally creative, there are also many ways to integrate creativity development in such key learning area. This paper will analyze how creativity can be harnessed in communication, language and literacy activities in the foundation stage. Defining Creativity According to the Reggio Emilia approach, Thornton (2005), states that creativity is essential to successful learning as it enables children to make connections between the different areas of learning which in turn extends their understanding (Rinaldi, 2006).

Hood (2008) states that Creativity is a state of mind in which all of our intelligences are working together, he goes on to predict that it involves the basic senses within a human whereby seeing, thinking and generating ideas can be incorporated into any subject at school or in any aspect of life (Hood 2008). Therefore it is essential that children are regularly asked questions and given the opportunity to ask questions in order to further stimulate their creative learning thus increasing their self – esteem and confidence (Hood, 2008).

Creativity is a quality which can have many advantages as it can be used within many aspects in the child’s later life (Cullingford, 2007). . This implies that children need to have a variety of experiences to draw from when they develop ideas or when they try to associate one thought with another to come up with a new viewpoint. Developing Creativity in the Key Learning Area of Communication, Language and Literacy Loris Malaguzzi (1998) believes that “Creativity should not be considered a separate mental faculty but a characteristic of our way of thinking, knowing and making choices” (Malaguzzi, 1998, p.75). Children naturally express such creativity in their natural communication.

Their communications may be expressed in various forms or “languages”– in words, drawing, artwork, three-dimensional constructions, music and movement. Young children do not express their ideas in just one form but move naturally and easily between “languages”. They may vacillate from drawing, speaking, singing and moving (Fawcett & Hay, 2004). This is consistent with the key learning area of Communication, Language and Literacy development in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Children’s stories are valuable because they present so many benefits to a child’s development.

Among the benefits is engaging them in creative imagination as they picture the story unfold in their minds. In practice, storytelling activities are made exciting for children that pupils look forward to story time. It is a time when they imagine wonderful things and then do something fun and creative after, to help them remember the story. Otto (2010) discusses that effective storybook reading techniques involve three parts namely pre-reading, reading and post-reading. These stages are equally important in the appreciation of a story. Before