Creative Thinking and Learning Project

Creative Thinking and Learning Project

Creativity is instinctive in young children, and this booklet is about a project based at Sheringham Nursery School in the London Borough of Newham, which inspired creative practice throughout the learning community. It tells a story about the development of creativity and critical thinking and the impact on young children and their families.

This project focuses on creating and thinking critically – one of the characteristics of effective teaching and learning, so crucial to early learning. Often practitioners ask for help and support to equip an environment creatively. They want children to be able to freely explore their ideas, and seek confidence in providing these opportunities, as well as challenging their own creative thinking.

This project gives us a wonderful opportunity to delve deeper into creative thinking and learning and examine what it means in practice. We can see that focusing on areas with lower EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage 2017) outcomes can strongly impact children and their communities. As well as telling us the story, this booklet provides us with evidence of the crucial role of playful, experiential activities through child-initiated and adult-guided learning.

The reader will gain a deeper understanding of creative thinking and learning, with an emphasis on the value of an enabling environment. It also highlights the importance of quality interactions, for example, making time for special one-to-one conversations between the key person and their children.

Anni expertly equips those who work with young children with many invaluable ideas to implement, inspire and improve creative experiences. This booklet is a great resource, full of easy ideas to develop your practice. Practitioners who participated in the project gained confidence, and shared their enthusiasm with parents and carers about the importance of creative thinking and learning.