ABSTRACT

Just as play is emphasised by those drawn to a Froebelian approach, so is the cultivation of creativity. The chapter outlines the way that childhood experiences linger and re-emerge in adulthood if the conditions are good for creativity in the humanities, sciences and arts. World-shaking creativity is rare. The emergent flickerings of creativity are there in babies and young children. Cooking a delicious meal, creative in its combination of ingredients, improvised from what is found in the fridge, cupboard and vegetable rack, is a much-appreciated kind of everyday creativity by those who share the meal with the cook. Creativity in everyday life lifts living to levels of fulfillment, satisfaction, effective, deep and rigorous practical thinking which are in a different league to pedestrian, boring and commonplace living. Researchers who take a hard line would say there is no evidence to claim that childhood play causes later creativity and imagination.