The Creative Impulse in the Child

Ladies' Mirror, Volume V, Issue 6, 1 December 1926, Page 59

The Creative Impulse in the Child

By EVELYN KENWICK.

How Mothers may Direct the Development of the Constructive Faculties of their Children

“Behold the child among his newborn blisses, A six-years’ darling of a pigmy size; See where ’mid zvork of his own hand he lies, Fretted by sallies of his mother’s kisses. With light upon him from his father’s eyes ! See, at his feet, some little plan or chart, Some fragment from his dream of human life, Shaped by himself zvith nezvly-learn-ed art r JTie child’s interests are many and varied, and to develop these fully we must give freedom, for through freedom and interest development along the lines of nature proceeds steadily and normally. In no better way can freedom be allowed to the child than by presenting him with all the conditions for a choice of problem and materials for “work of his own hand,” eagerly demanded and into which he throws himself with whole-hearted absorption. This freedom, backed by the sympathy of an adult who understands the child’s needs and can utilise his interests, will pave the way upward to higher planes of achievement, knowledge, and understanding. The creative impulse, as witnessed in constructive work, stands out preeminently among the interests and is common to the majority of normal children. Its beginnings are seen in babyhood, at that destructive rampageous period when the active inquiring spirit creates havoc all along the line, burrowing into the inner workings of everything putting the gramophone out of action, scribbling on the walls after successfully removing the paper thereof, peeping inside the pan of rising bread, splashing lather like daddy. These very natural desires of babvhood must have lawful outlets if the disastrous effects to household goods and grown-up belongings are to be avoided; but the thwarting of curiosity and the craving for activity are a most serious disaster, for the child will suffer mentally and physically if he cannot satisfy these needs. There is to the understanding, few more pitiful sounds than the deep, resigned sigh of the little active child, swept off its feet when set on some most alluring journey, and shaken into quiet. How can the active growing mind and limbs settle .to the acquired static condition of .an elderly person or indolent nurse-maid ? The tiny child in the nursery will use any material which comes to his hands merely for the sake of the activity and not for any purposa! aimimmediate or distant. He enjoys tearing paper, delighting in the crackling noise and the joy of j-ipping it in every direction the

pencil or chalk with which he scribbles, and the paint-brush scrubbed over a surface provide him with the same pleasurable experiences. ' first interest in experimenting with materials, this destructivity, plays a great and important part in the child’s mental and physical life. Futile and valueless as these activities appear at first sight, they must be regarded as a natural phase in development; for through them muscular control, independence, preservation of faith in himself are strengthened with a steady increase of ideas and a widening of interest. By means of free play with toys and domestic apparatus (such as

washing and cleaning materials), a sand-tray, nests of bricks, chalks and blackboard, pencils, a Noah’s ark, trolleys and so on, the child is prepared for the next stage. In the baby stage he builds up, breaks down and rebuilds until the destructive tendencies are gradually sublimated and transformed into the higher and universal interest of creating or constructing. Because this desire to create is recognised as a common characteristic of most normal children, the educator of young children should make it the centre of the educational programme and from it allow the paths of wider intellectual interests to diverge as development proceeds. A year ago, when Mary was four years old, much of her time was engrossingly occupied in constructing doll’s dresses. Her mother was interested and amazed at the child’s power of concentration, though

somewhat perturbed at the lightening speed with which the clothes were fashioned. Mary's methods were primitive to a degree; having chosen the material and cut a hole for the doll's head to slip through, she kept the dress in position on the doll's body by a ribbon waist-band. Then the little parent's face glowed with happiness as she saw the garment she had made fulfilling a garment's purpose, viz., to cover.

"Why did Mary prefer these crude efforts to beautifully dressed dolls?" her mother asks herself, and: "Do these primitive attempts lead on to anything, or should I show Mary better ways of dressing so that she will learn neatness and make some-

thing worth-while ?” The first question can only be answered by observing that Mary’s own work carried out in obedience of her creative impulse with the wonderful experience of “joy in the making” naturally gives a lasting happiness far beyond the evanescent pleasure aroused by the finished productions of other minds and hands. Looking back over a year’s interval the mother finds that time has given her the answer to the second question. Mary, now five years old, has used her mental powers, and a record of natural progress can be made; by observing and comparing her methods and her mother’s, she sees that the use of newspaper patterms will result in her family being (relatively) well turned out. At the same time materials are chosen •to satisfy some ideas of colour, while seasonal changes lead her to

reason that “cotton dresses are better for the summer, serge and velvet are too hot.” So that through these first crude attempts the forces of suggestion, imitation and observation have been unconsciously at work, stirring and stimulating the child’s reasoning powers. Mary has definitely arrived at a further stage of development both in mental attitude and actual workmanship. I write I have before me examples of other types of constructive work carried out by children of different ages, all of whom have had the wider experiences of trained adults to appeal to. An examination of these may help to prove the truth of the old maxim that “we learn by doing” and also to illustrate the power which this interest wields in the intellectual, physical, and moral life of the child. Here is a scrap-book made by five-year-old Colin with pictures cut from catalogues and old picturebooks, which is very illuminating when considered in the light of Colin’s interests, attainments and development in three short weeks. The first few pages show a total disregard of arrangement, method of procedure, and inability to relate the pictures one to another. The early cut-outs, with their jagged edges, show that the child had very little control over his tools. Elephants and soldiers take their place with chickens of the same size cut from the same scrap-sheet, fancy goods from a draper’s catalogue of twice the animals’ dimensions are plastered on the same page. After turning over half-a-dozen nages it is interesting to note that Colin has began to classify his cutouts and is using some judgment in his work. This page shows a train which has been carefully pasted at the foot of the page, while pencils and chalks have also been used to develop the —railway lines, signals, telegraph wires, sky and field being added. Still another page shows soldiers grouped in twos. This was a favourite page which gave Colin great joy in counting the men —thus he acquired much facility in dealing with groups of numbers. The book points to the fact that there has been a development in ideas as well as in manipulation of tools. 'T"'he Kindergarten children in JL Marjorie’s school have made a pillar-box of corrugated paper covered with red paper in which the children are free to post letters to little friends: these are to be collected and delivered at certain times during the week. Marjorie’s mother thoughtlessly remarks to her friends that the children are always “making and playing” and she does wish that they could be “taught to work instead.” If she deferred passing such hasty and superficial judgments until she had considered the methods in the light of scientific educational research she might be surprised to find that though “making and playing” Marjorie is working very hard and is making great progress in both reading and writing because

the teacher has found a motive for bringing the children to a realisation of these arts. And we must compute among the grains much knowledge incidentally acquired, for Marjorie now knows how and why the Penny Post came into existence, and how messages were previously transmitted, so that Marjorie is having her first history lessons in a living and forceful way. Six-year-old John’s stamp-collec-ting craze was turned to good account in the construction of his stamp album, and the home-made book reveals itself to me as of far greater value than the most beautifully bound volume of a celebrated philatelist. Help was given in finding the most economical method of measuring the rectangles for the stamps, but John ruled the pages all by himself, and in counting the number of stamps which could be mounted on the page he discovered how to build up his six times table; for six stamps would go on one line, twice times six on two lines, and so on. As he counted the names of the countries to be included in his book be was led naturally to

the contemplation of the map. His mother seized the opportunity of helping to classify the countries, with the result that John learnt the term “continent” with its definition in a living connection rather than in a formal school lesson. The capital of each country is given with the country, the British possessions and so forth are named, showing that John has accumulated a wealth of geographical and historical information incidentally through this work. Also the care with which he has written his statement points to the fact that penmanship when accompanied by a motive has a greater opportunity to acouire beauty (and character training through the effort put forth than that which is merely an end in itself done under compulsion as was the copy-book work of the old regime. A model of a train made by seven-year-old Charles led to the study of the railway svstems of England, and great was Charles’s enthusiasm when he was given a large map of England and Wales into which he

was helped to mark . the lines of the principle railways, while at the same time an impetus was given to the study of the history of transport from present times back to the days when George Stevenson’s Rocket changed the outlook of the world. This study was further pursued to primitive times and through the ages. The railway guide, became Charles’s standard textbook, and many were the. hours he . spent pondering times, distances, and cost of the various, journeys, insomuch that he assimilated many working mathematical ideas. Thus through this absorbing interest he could truly be said to be educating himself. In the same way,' beginning with the model of a ship, Marcus’s interest led him into a number of unforeseen avenues dealing with geographical and historical schemes. Marcus chose to make a model of a liner from empty boxes, gas-mantle boxes and other waste material, and then used his map of the world for finding steamship routes and distances of journeys as outlined by the shipping companies which had

liberally supplied him with literature and pictures, a delightful help in the drudgery of reading lessons. From liners he turned to the making of ships other than liners, and a model warship was used to turn his thoughts to the Navy. Again, interest was stimulated further, and a fine series of models illustrating ships through the ages proved that he had used his powers of thought in the reading and research required for the work. f i'here is always this widening of the circle as the work proceeds, with great possibilities of getting related, associated ideas through constructive work acting as a stimulus to thought, provided that there is guidance so that ideas will be amplified and developed. Interest in constructive work arouses thought naturally, and thought thus aroused be directed into many related subjects. These are but a few examples of the way in which constructive work may be made of intellectual

value in childhood, but they might be multiplied indefinitely. When one examines the possibilities of creative work and the part it may be made to play in the child’s life one wonders why . it should not be given a more honourable and prominent part in the school and home. The failure seems to be in the fact that a misunderstanding still exists as to what is meant by education. Anything of a practical nature is too often regarded as a little or no variety in the school life of the child, only book work is supposed to be included under the term education. Why not a children’s cookery book, which would encourage direction throughout' life ! The writer could so easily show that in the early stages of carrying out recipes mathematical ideas may be acquired through cookery, .and in later years the development of a scientific interest through the study of food values. A cookery book on these lines would win a grateful welcome from those educationalists who are trying to unite the two sides, allowing the practical to take precedence over the theoretical in the early years, than leading on to the theoretical while maintaining an even balance between these two aspects : “As it i ms better youth should strive 7 hrough acts uncouth towards making Than rest on aught found made.” gducation which ignores the child’s cravings to create, crowding out all opportunities for personal experimentation, and choosing rather to prevent ready-made doctrines and theories to the children, denies the child its right to mental freedom. Though the advocates of the old school system would have us believe that the problems of the arithmetic and grammar book are all that the child requires, modern scientists cannot accept such views, because they are neither in the line with

childish interests nor do they free the inner powers so that the reasoning faculty is kept alert as in the case in the solution of constructive problems. Through handwork the child is enabled to be independent to others from his earliest days and to preserve the characteristics of his own individuality. As a great living educator reminds us: “Only with children who have specialised intellectual abilities is it possible to secure mental activity without participation of the organs of sense and of the muscles.” In initating his own problems, working with an end in view, choosing material and means by which the end may be attained, then experimenting and working with an element of uncertainty and often lighting with happy surprise upon new discoveries, judgment has to be exercised and retrogression of reasoning powers is prevented. Parents may reassure themselves that there is no fear that the children will be backward through spending too much time on constructive work, for, as we have seen, it contains within itself the beginnings of all the school “subjects,” and the very exigencies of the work call for reading, writing, history geography, mathematics, science, and composition, provided always that there is guidance to help the child feel the need for such subjects. Constructive work proves a strenuous form of moral discipline, for the child has to face difficulties and shoulder responsibility, both of which demand effort and continuity of purpose to fight through to the end in view. This develops character and grit far better than any socalled disciplinary task imposed from without. This work, too, keeps alive that glorious spirit of joy which is the heritage of normal healthy childhood and ensures that our children “remain sensitive to the intimation of adventure.” Ihe field of choice is very wide for material wherewith to satisfy the constructive impulse, for we see children left to their own resources experiment with things at hand. Paper, scissors, pencils, chalk, paints, clay, string, cardboard, textiles, sewing materials, a carpenter’s bench, with a few good tools and waste material such as empty match and shoe boxes, tins, and so forth, give ample scope. In the wide use of these materials the home, school, and lay life is lined up, and in this way we can follow the child’s interests and realise his need for work proceeding from the concrete to the abstract on the natural lines of development so that he becomes a useful member of society, able to adapt himself to his environment, and capable of meeting the hardships and difficulties of life in a spirit of happiness resulting from wide and enduring interests.