The Truth About Creativity
What would life be like without creativity? Boring. Sad. Colourless. Empty.
Creativity has been proven to positively impact a child’s overall well-being. With the 21st Century demanding greater adaptability and innovation, our children need creativity more than ever. Here’s the big question—is creativity an inherent talent or a skill that can be mastered with practice?
Many believe that creativity is a gift that a select few are born with. The emergence of results-based education has pushed students to drop creative subjects in pursuit of academic achievements. Because of this, creative thinking is often neglected.
Fortunately, creativity is a skill! All it takes for us to get better at it is practice.
The World’s a Stage
Children enjoy creating imaginary worlds during play. Some dress up as characters—a police officer one moment, and Supergirl the next! Some re-enact variations of personal experiences. When children use their imagination or pretend, we call it dramatic play.
Dramatic play encourages children to express themselves creatively, represent experiences and relationships in their own way, and explore multiple outcomes to various circumstances.
Although children are well able to engage in dramatic play on their own, drama classes reinforce, expand, and enhance their use of creativity.
Drama classes involve tons of imagination. When a scenario is introduced, children are challenged and inspired to respond creatively. Children also participate in ad-libbing and improvisation, which encourages them to generate new and individual ideas spontaneously.
Nothing is too out-of-this-world in a drama class! Everybody’s thoughts and ideas are acknowledged and respected. This positive environment makes for a safe, conducive place for children to express ideas freely and confidently. When an idea doesn’t work as well as they expect, they aren’t afraid to devise other ideas.
Additional reading material:
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/doing_something_creative_can_boost_your_well_being
