Creative Thinking In Children

Remember engaging in fantasy play as a child?  Maybe you pretended to be a superhero saving the world or perhaps you acted out complex scenarios of make-believe by playing dress-up of someone you were not.  If so, you are probably a more creative person today because of the captivating realm of fantasy play.

A study led by Dr. Louise Bunce of Oxford Brookes University presented findings showing that children who reported higher levels of fantastical play scored higher on creativity in three different areas of creativity tasks which included: first, thinking of as many things as possible things that were red; second, demonstrate as many ways as possible of moving across the room from point A to B; and third, to draw a real and pretend person.

The researchers interviewed seventy children aged 4-8 years old to judge and assess how well their fantasy play involved three areas:

·        Pretending in a way that mirrored real-life such as having a tea party or pretending to be a teacher.

·        Pretending in a way that involved events that were improbable in reality such as fighting a lion and being unharmed or going to school in a helicopter.

·        Pretending in a way that involved impossible events such as going to wizard school or playing with an elf.

Results from the study showed children stating they engaged in fantasy play the most also had higher creativity scores across all three tasks, with the strongest finding coming from the first two tasks rather than on the drawing task.

It has been known that children who participate in play involving fantasy or make-believe requires an active imagination to conceive of a world different from their reality which is necessary to think creatively.

Parents and teachers can use this information to encourage and provide incentive to help their children to think more creatively and use their imagination to their advantage.  An active imagination should be lauded as a positive and when children are given the opportunity to stretch their play into a fantastical sphere, the possibilities are endless as to just what they will conceptualize for the future.