How can we nourish creative potential in children?

Education has to develop creative potentialities of children and this requires proper understanding of Creativity, choosing the right kind of Curriculum and transacting the same in ways as foster creative thinking and creative ability.

We have various approaches and a lot of information: both Pedagogical and Research based available. Montessori Approach of Sensory Training is best suited at the lower levels. Frobel’s Gifts and Didactic Apparatus can also be used at this stage. It is necessary that teachers adopt a Multi-Sensory Approach. We need to know the Preferred Learning Style and the Brain Hemispheric preference of a child. We have to find the Super Link that will help us to present information and have it processed in the Child's Brain through the fastest pathways. Use of Colour, Music, Movement, Brain Gym and Donkey Bridging are all important.

As the child grows, we have to provide a variety of experiences; in order to allow his latent talents to be explored and then nourished. At this stage I would recommend the Gardener’s Multiple Intelligence Approach and even the SMARTS. The child will need to explore the world. The wider the experiences provided, the easier it will be for the teacher to identify the child's interest and talent. By the age of 16 the child reaches his Highest IQ and research studies reveal that Creativity keeps on growing. Hence there is an imperative need to include Thinking Skills; especially of the Higher Order. I mean activities that help the child to Analyse, Evaluate and Create. This requires Activities that challenge him to do so. He has to be a Discoverer, an Inquirer, a Judge, a Producer and capable of De-structuring Knowledge to understand relationships of the parts with one another and with the whole.

We all know that Creativity involves: Originality, Spontaneity, Fluency and Elaboration. It requires Divergent Thinking, Inductive and deductive Reasoning. Our Educational programme, therefore, needs to be flexible, Activity Based, Child- centred. We have to make provision for Hands on Learning, Demonstrations, Experimentation, Practical Work, Surveys, Projects, Assignments and these have to be such as provide a challenge to his particular creative ability. We have to follow an Integrated Approach; wherein the Bloom Taxonomy, Gardener’s Multiple Intelligence, SMARTS, Tony Ryan’s Thinkers Keys, SCAMPER Strategy and De Bono’s Lateral Thinking are all integrated into Educational Planning and Practices. We have to prepare a Grid- Matrix of Activities and engage the child in Activities that require Thinking, Thinking Out of the Box, being Original and going beyond the limits of what is known.

Please remember that Traditional School practices are routine, monotonous and hinder creativity. We have to find alternative strategies that are flexible and cater to an individual child. I have faith that this is possible.