Time to explore

Creative development for children is only partly about exploration with arts and crafts. As enjoyable as those activities can be, we also want our under-threes to develop the flair of creativity in how they approach play resources and experiences. The sense of 'what will happen if...?', 'Will it happen again?' and 'How come that happened?' are building blocks for confident young children. We want them to be keen to find out for themselves, as much from when something does not go as planned as when it has gone smoothly.

Children can develop as creative thinkers when they are allowed to make decisions in their play. For young children to exercise choice, they need a learning environment with plenty of accessible materials on open shelves and containers. Mobile toddlers will often bring together unlikely play resources. I was recently told of one young child who had happily chosen a container of dinosaurs and one full of large cotton reels and carefully made an enclosure for the dinosaurs with the cotton reels.