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Creativity is the process of experimentation and investigation led by children themselves, not by the need to achieve an end product, as Jennie Lindon explains Creative development for young children is only partly about exploration with paint, glue, dough and other enjoyable hands-on materials. An accessible indoor and outdoor learning environment will help babies, toddlers and very young children to develop a more general creative flair for thinking and problem solving. So long as they have generous time and space for exploration, very young children will soon busy themselves finding out and wondering, 'What will happen if I...?' and 'How come that happened?'

Creative development for young children is only partly about exploration with paint, glue, dough and other enjoyable hands-on materials. An accessible indoor and outdoor learning environment will help babies, toddlers and very young children to develop a more general creative flair for thinking and problem solving. So long as they have generous time and space for exploration, very young children will soon busy themselves finding out and wondering, 'What will happen if I...?' and 'How come that happened?'

Several sequences from the Birth to Three Matters video are excellent examples of very young creativity in action.

* The sequence with the baby painting wide swirls may first attract your attention as a creative experience.

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