The Council is excited to announce that later this year we will release the newly-revised third edition of the landmark textbook Essentials for Child Development Associates Working with Young Children. The new Essentials will provide all of the most current research, information, ideas and strategies needed by entry-level early childhood professionals. The textbook will be organized around each of the thirteen Functional Areas, along with new information about reflection, intentionality, observation, documentation and other key topics of interest to contemporary teachers and caregivers.
In our last article we reflected on "Functional Area 6 - Communication." Please see, below, the many responses we received about this topic from members of the national CDA community. This month, we focus on... Creativity
Here is an advanced sneak peek of "Chapter 7: Creative" for you to reflect on...
Creativity is the ability to see things in new ways. In addition to originality, it involves imagination, flexibility, and curiosity. All things are possible to the creative mind. Creativity also implies usefulness. It's one thing to come up with new ideas. If these ideas don't solve a problem or contribute to our well-being, we wouldn't dub them creative. Only ideas that have impact are creative.
It may be helpful to think of creativity as having two dimensions. It is both a way of thinking and of feeling. As a thinking process, creativity includes generating novel ideas in alternative, unimagined ways. As a feeling process, creativity involves curiosity, risk-taking, and imagination.
Caregivers promote creative qualities in children by:
2. Facilitating children's creativity.
3. Promoting the visual arts in the preschool classroom.
4. Encouraging preschool children's music, movement, and dance.
5. Supporting preschool children's dramatic play.
Please take a moment to reflect on your own teaching practices. What else might you add to the above list? What do you think are the most important goals to remember in supporting young children's creativity? What tips and strategies would you share with others?
Send your thoughts, along with your first name, last initial, city and state, to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Next month, we'll share with you all of the wise responses we received from across the CDA community. In addition, we may also print your name and reflection in the new Essentials textbook and share your great ideas with all of the CDA-seeking community college students around the country who use Essentials as their primary textbook!
CDA Community Reflections on our last topic... "Communication"
Last month, we asked the CDA community to send us their thoughts about the topic of the last article, "Communication," to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Thank you to everyone who responded. Here are a two wise responses we received:
"I think supporting young children's reading and writing is the most important thing we do. In my classroom, we are always telling stories and making them into books. Children then take turns taking the books home to 'read' with their parents before bedtime."
- Max S.
New York, NY
"I am an infant caregiver working with 3 – 12 month olds. My coworkers make fun of me and call me "Chatty Cathy" because I am always having 'conversations' with my babies. I don't let them get to me because I know that talking with infants about what they are doing or I'm doing builds their vocabulary."
- Catherine H.
Albequerque, NM
