Have you planned your Christmas 'craftivities' yet this year? Well don't!
Why mass produced Christmas crafts are killing creativity...
You and the team have worked hard to get to know your children and support them as they adjust to your routine. A few weeks in, your children are becoming more and more confident accessing your environment. You might already have noticed progress as they learn more about the tools and resources that you provide.
You don’t expect your planning to get in the way of this progress - but I wonder as we edge towards the end of the year and several festivals and celebrations, perhaps some of the activities we plan might do just that.
I think now is a good time to take a moment and pause before you plan for the next couple of months; does that planning include art or craft activities linked to celebrations?
If it does (and particularly if you identify these as supporting creativity) maybe it’s time to think again and reflect on how we help children to be engaged and creative learners.
The Cambridge Dictionary definition of creativity is:
“The ability to produce or use original and unusual ideas.”[📚1]
If you call every child over to make a card, decoration or calendar, either to match an example or using a limited number of resources, they don’t have the opportunity to implement their original ideas.
I would argue that this type of activity is not creative - and could impact negatively on children’s creativity as they notice the expectation that the product should be ‘correct’.
Creativity matters…
In their 2023 paper, The Creativity Premium, economists David Gill and Victoria Prowse argued that creativity is a key skill which contributes to success in life. They used data from the National Child Development Study, which followed children born in 1958 and found creativity in childhood was associated with greater educational attainment, higher earnings and employment rates in adulthood.[2]
As well as being associated with improved economic outcomes, creative activity has been linked with well-being.[3]
All this means that providing experiences and an environment that enables children to be creative is an important aspect of our practice.
How do we support creativity?
Where does this leave paper plate reindeer, toilet roll Santas and handprint festive cards? I would say in the past.
Supporting our children to be creative involves providing resources and experiences that allow them to think and do things in original ways.
According to Victoria Prowse, there are some simple ways to support children to be creative:
Time to develop practical skills - this might include watching you use tools or being shown how to use something new.
Comment when they do something differently - this will help them see that you value trying new ways of doing things.
Encourage their ideas and suggestions - think about the type of questions you ask and give them time to decide how to solve a problem before you step in to make a suggestion or help.
Give them a range of experiences – while you might put resources in an area, when possible allow children to move and combine them and change your plans in response to what they do. .
Listen to children’s ideas (which might be expressed in words or through actions) - this will support them to become confident to try them out.
But what about…?
Children need to learn techniques.
Children do need to learn practical skills and how to use tools. However, when this becomes 30 children making identical cards or pictures, we give children the message that there is one correct outcome.
You can teach techniques and ensure each child can still create an individual product.
They are learning to follow instructions.
Sequencing and following the steps to complete an activity is an important skill - but I would argue one that is developed through many of the routines and activities we plan for our children. As with learning techniques, children don’t need to do this in a way that suggests to them that other people’s ideas and creations are better than theirs!
Artists use other works as inspiration and models.
Again this is true, but if you think about an adult (or older child) they have the skills, understanding and (we hope) confidence in their creativity to take inspiration from an example and adapt it.. Our children are learning the practical skills they need and the characteristics of learning that support them to be resilient, confident and creative.
Families expect to get a card/calendar.
This might be true, and you might want to share with them what you will be doing, and why. Giving and receiving cards and presents is an important part of many celebrations, but these don’t need to all be identical.
It’s part of the celebration.
Again, giving and receiving cards and presents can be part of a celebration - but is not the only or most important aspect of festivities. You, your children, families and team could reflect on celebrations and agree how these will be marked in your setting, without every child having to make a specific card, decoration or present.
What you could do instead…
I think the starting point is going back to why we plan these activities. I don’t know about you but I think we all feel the pressure of expectation at certain times of year.
We want our families to feel happy and the children to feel the joy of giving a gift.
We want children to understand celebrations and feel part of a community.
Stopping to think about why we plan some of these activities can help us to think about what we could do with our children instead.
You could move away from activities where children make a picture, card or craft. The gift that children give to their families could be something else. They could learn about giving gifts as they chose from a selection of possibilities, for example, planting a plant, making a cake or printing a photograph.
Celebrate together in other ways, this could be sharing food, singing together or inviting families or members of the community to share how they celebrate with you.
Be confident about your knowledge of your children and the activities that will support them, resist the pressure to do something different because it’s a particular season.
Let me know in the comments what you do (or will do this year) in your setting …
Also find out more about how to be a creative space where ‘mistakes are magnificent’ in our online training here and practitioner guide here (both free to paid subscribers. Upgrade to paid here)
References:
[1] Cambridge dictionary (undated). Meaning of creativity in English. CREATIVITY | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
[2] Gill, D. & Prowse, V. L., (2023). The Creativity Premium: Exploring the Link Between Childhood Creativity and Life Outcomes. Journal of Political Economy Microeconomics, forthcoming, http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4467582
[3] Acar, S., Tadik, H., Myers, D., Sman, C. van der, & Uysal, R. (2020). Creativity and well-being: a meta-analysis. Journal Of Creative Behavior, 55(3), 738-751. doi:10.1002/jocb.485
[4] Prowse, V. (2021, 15 November). The long-lasting benefits of childhood creativity. Psychology Today. The Long-Lasting Benefits of Childhood Creativity | Psychology Today