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Creative Play Matters - continued
What Is Creative Play?
In its most natural, child-initiated form, play is miraculously creative: unstructured, open-ended, imaginative, carefree, and fun. And children come by it naturally - seeing the world with fresh, new eyes and then using what they see in original ways. Music, art, language, and fantasy form the foundation of the creative arts. As important as these activities are, they are not the sole means by which children express their creativity. All forms of play can provide outlets for a child's creativity - be it building a block tower as high as the sky or leapfrogging from puddle to puddle down a city sidewalk or a country lane. The more children play, the better they get at it and the more creative they become.
Child-Initiated vs. Adult-Led Play
In the rush to provide children with skills and content, adult-led play seems to have taken front seat. Jane Healy and other child educators worry that by short-changing child-initiated play, "we are short-circuiting (our children's) development."
Creative Play vs Imitative Play
Girls prancing around like pretty ponies, boys plunging toy knives into action figures, these may be fantasies but are these activities really creative? What children see on TV too often inspires play of this type. It's basically imitative and tends to stifle rather than promote creativity.
