Here I am!  A cartoon of me done by a friend, if only I could be so creative.  Appreciating somebody else’s creativity is invaluable, seeing how they respond to ideas and comparing whether or not you would have done something the same or very different. My friend was teasing me a bit with this cartoon, by emphasising things I feel insecure about, like the translucency of my skin in places and how it shows veins I do not like! But looking a fun cartoon like this made me realise they are not such big issues at all. Being able to see a real likeness between the cartoon and me makes me feel that my friend really understands me.

The picture below is again from a friend’s piece of work, they had to enter a piece under the brief of ‘money’ and using me as a subject (which I felt honoured to be) created a picture depicting ‘money on the mind’ It is brilliant to see other people’s skills and the diversity of creativity.

The text then led on to say: She might be in hot water…  but you don’t have to be.  New Daz liquitabs get out the dirty even at thirty!

I think all in all it is a very successful advert because clearly most children are frowned upon for being overly mucky or dirty. It is clever saying she might be in trouble ‘hot water’ but you don’t have to be, because the product is being marketed for working at 30degrees, saving energy and the environment.

However, seeing a picture of a sweet little girl (albeit with paint everywhere) and the words of apology for her creative behaviour next to her I wasn’t so fond of. It made me think about the hierachy and differencial values between the worth of certain subject areas versus others, or certain behaviours versus others. A child might apologise for making a mess, but they shouldn’t have to apologise for their creativity. Is the situation of a child apologising for running down the battery in a calculator because they have done so much maths imaginable? Or a child saying sorry because they have read all the books and can’t do any more reading homework imaginable?

It often seems that the more controlled and adult like behaviours with childrens’ learning are appreciated. Many children are nagged at to sit down and do their homework, they are nagged to do in these areas but they are likely to told off for overly artistic creative play that creates a potential mess, or for singing too loudly and too often or for practising a dance and getting in the way of everyone at home. I think the fact that creative play and learning involves letting go and potential mess means some children lose out because inevitably parents want to control the environment of their homes and not let things get too chaotic; I am not a parent but I can imagine finding the right balance here would be tricky.

I was unable to use the picture of the girl because it was a clickable advert, but like most my posts I wanted to include a picture. So here is my nephew demonstrating his true creative urges, whilst painting a picture he decided to paint elsewhere when his parents’ supervision ceased for a few minutes, had they left him longer who knows what else he may have painted!

“The most fertile region (in the mind’s landscape) seems to be the marshy shore, the borderline between sleep and full awakening – where the matrices of disciplined thought are already operating but have not yet sufficiently hardened to obstruct the dreamlike fluidity of imagination.”

This descprition is really very much how I feel when I believe I have come up with a very creative idea or thought; however, beacuse I am on the way to being in a dreamlike state at this point the brilliant idea is seldom remembered. This is how I feel when my mind is being most creative, when it is letting go. This is not how I feel when I am actively being constructive and creating something.

Browsing google for articles on children’s creativity and imagination i stumbled across this link: click here

I was fascinated to read about the benefits of a child engaging in creative and imaginative play that is self-structured. Too often today play is centered around toys rather than the activity itself, if children truly engage in playing toys are not needed. This adult-led and toy-centered play is fixed to rules and boundaries (health and safety) does not aid cognitive skill development of executive function.

The above linked article explains some research that shows how children lacking in executive function cannot easily co-operate, lack patience and are more likely to be rude. All in all, they are more likely to eventually drop out of school. Children with high levels of executive function can demonstrate self-confidence, solve problems, more capable of learning, concentrating and getting on with others.

Creative play is essential to help children reach their full potential in learning and socialisation.

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