In the post Creative Genius, I report suggestions that schooling children toward convergent thought is a factor in the loss of a child’s creative potential.  What can educators of young children do to ensure the sustained development of creative potential?

As children grow and develop cognitively, the capacity for creative play becomes the capacity for creative thought.  Young children must be allowed opportunities to play creatively and imaginatively.

I promote the use of raw unfinished toys.  For example, rather than hanging costumes in my dress-up area, I have a basket of colorful cotton cloths.  From these cloths, children make superhero capes, stunning dresses, mermaids’ tails, butterfly wings, and ninja attire.  They also serve as blankets, hammocks, walls for a play-fort, and picnic cloths.

Providing raw materials which must be manipulated by their imagination strengthens children’s ability to create.