Creativity and Play

Article written by Lorrie Holmes of Lyrical Note, sharing what kids can accomplish when they’re given the freedom to develop creativity through play.

Can kids learn creative skills like music, songwriting, creative writing, drama and dance through play? Over the past four years, I’ve certainly learned that the answer is yes. The more creative freedom that’s given, the more focused these kids are on developing a skill or completing a project to the best of their ability. Provide these young artists with the right environment and support and their creativity will blossom. They will automatically:

1. Display the Ability to Make Choices

When children and youth come up with their own ideas about what they want to do, they begin to take ownership of whatever it is that they are doing or planning to do.

In my Creative Arts Program, this model is broken into three components:

Step No. 1 – Creating or adapting a story or song
Step No. 2 – Making props and backdrops to use in their storytelling
Step No. 3 – Deciding how they would like to perform these stories (acting, puppetry, dance and choreography, etc.)

2. Foresee Problems and Come Up With Solutions

Critical thinking begins when kids start to think about how they can realistically accomplish their creative goals. When planning a project such as building a prop for a show or working out a dance routine, these young performing artists begin to discover challenges. Even more importantly, they learn how to solve them. Sometimes they ask for help. Other times they naturally begin to delegate and problem solve with each other and bring me in afterwards. When called upon to help, I will make suggestions of ways they can go about solving problems by offering choices. I never give them just one solution. This way, they still take some ownership, even if it’s just choosing from different options that I’ve provided them.

3. Become Leaders and Team Players

Once the kids have chosen a project and have a plan of action, they magically start to assume their own roles and responsibilities. Don’t get me wrong, it’s certainly not all flow! This can be a super frustrating point in time for them and a somewhat stressful one for me as well. But if I’m to be completely honest, it’s also where most of their growth takes place. It’s a great opportunity for teaching social skills as the kids are each trying to fit into a role and work together. Older children often step up or are called upon to work with the younger ones. Their older peers make observations and suggestions and lend a hand when it’s agreed upon or requested. In the end, everyone is entitled to feel out whether they want to take suggestions, though more often than not, guidance from fellow peers is appreciated.

4. Become Inspired

While watching other kids try things and work through their own fears, children naturally begin to follow suit and step out of their own comfort zones. Through their camaraderie of friendship, they seem to find courage in each other to try new things. It’s very exciting when their hidden talents or interests are discovered in the most unexpected activities – from storytelling and creative writing, to prop making and stage decorating. From singing and songwriting, to dancing and acting, and from stage directing to choreography – when kids jump in and try things, they often discover that they enjoy doing things they never imagined themselves doing.

5. See Things Through

Through perseverance, and working through fears and frustrations, kids gain confidence as they build creativity. By taking on responsibilities even when it gets hard, these budding performers, directors, choreographers and singer-songwriters learn that hard work pays off and so does believing in yourself and your friends. During this process, I strongly encourage my kids to take baby steps often so they are constantly setting themselves up for success. And when things sometimes don’t go their way, they learn to try again and keep their chin up while doing it.

6. Feel Proud

My first two goals when working with children are for kids to have fun and build confidence. Pride comes once they recognize, within themselves, that they’ve really done a good job. The harder the job, the bigger the payoff in the long run. These kids gain the understanding that to be really good at something is hard work. You don’t just suddenly decide to play the piano and begin writing brilliant compositions (unless you’re Mozart maybe). Mastering any art form is a huge commitment and takes a lot of practice. Kids want to see instant results but they learn that this isn’t realistic in my program. By watching their peers work hard at their chosen crafts, these kids all learn together the value and PROCESS in BECOMING good at something they desire.

Through the exposure of so many creative art forms, my program helps them discover what they are interested in exploring and gives them realistic steps to build and improve their own skills. Often the younger children in the group can find a mentor a few years older who is committed to the same interests and has put in the work to become good at it. The younger protege then sees the possibilities of what their future payoffs might be if they put in the work themselves. Kids are more inspired by their older peers. The gap isn’t as big so the payoff seems more attainable. This is key. Like us adults, kids need to see what the results will mean for them if they are going to consider working really hard at something.

Putting it All Into Practice

Last year was a very special first year in my studio, working with a small group of after school children from ages 5 – 12 years on their own creations. As a result, we had two successful self-created shows. At our Christmas Concert the children created the stage decorations with me and choreography (see more here). At our Open House Show where the kids created a one hour show including original and adapted songs, two skits, a puppet show and much more (see more here).

Back-to-School, Back to Creativity

This fall I will be offering two Performing Arts Programs. The Wizard of Oz Musical Theatre Program runs after school on Wednesdays. The Rapunzel Puppet Theatre Program runs after school on Fridays. We will also be starting up our Friday Night Jr. Jazzercise classes in the near future. Younger kids can participate in Daily Drop In Preschool Programs from Monday to Thursday. To learn more about our programs, awesomely creative birthday parties and themed parties, visit us online.