Know

Just as experiences and activities inspire your own creativity, experiences and activities support infant’s and toddler’s creativity as well. In Lesson One, you learned that creativity is something that can be nurtured and cultivated; it is not something that simply exists in some individuals and not in others. Each infant and toddler needs opportunities to discover, create and enjoy interactions, experiences and activities that help lead them to ongoing learning and growth. Caring adults can provide infants and toddlers consistent and supportive relationships within a safe environment that offers opportunities and access to a variety of experiences, materials and activities. This type of responsive care provides infants and toddlers the security and confidence they need to explore, experiment and initiate creative learning.

促进好奇心的经验和活动

Infants and toddlers are naturally curious. This curiosity can be supported when caregivers provide opportunities to learn through daily routines and everyday experiences. When this happens, foundational experiences can help infants and toddlers begin to develop positive dispositions for learning, such as:

• Finding an interest
• 愿意探索，实验和尝试新事物
• Knowing how and where to seek help from trusting adults
• Being flexible and finding solutions to problems
• Staying engaged in activities and continuing to try even when things get difficult
• 选择和决定

It is important for caregivers to determine the best ways to ensure that foundational experiences are being offered and that infants’ and toddlers’ creativity is being encouraged throughout the day. The table below highlights different approaches and ideas:

音乐对早产儿的物理发展产生了积极影响，可以促进婴儿的平静(Coleman et al, 1997).

这些经验中的许多经验都是为了成功地建立在婴儿和幼儿的希望成为参与互动的一部分以及他们在戏剧中的天生快乐。例如，由于幼儿开始假装一个物体代表其他东西（例如用作帽子的板），一个关键技能正在发展。幼儿开始了解符号的想法，导致抽象思考。这有助于为能够使用单词和图片来表达想法的基础。

当您创造和提供经验时，也很重要，记住每个婴儿和小孩以独特的方式展示他们的创造力。一些婴儿和幼儿可能不熟悉创造性的俏皮互动，如百古，并且需要支持，以实现新的，不熟悉的经验。因此，我们的关系和与家庭的沟通至关重要。

Families remain an important resource as you learn about the strengths and needs of the infants and toddlers in your care. Some infants and toddlers may need you to make adaptations or provide supports that will enable them to express their creativity and feel successful. Offering well-planned, creative experiences can help encourage infants and toddlers to learn using all of their senses, and it creates the opportunity to expand and adapt for a young child with specific learning needs. Let’s think for a moment about a 9-month-old who is able to sit by himself with support. As he sits on the carpet against a supportive cushion, he begins banging a plastic ball on a mound of stacking blocks (experimenting with a toy to make sounds). He then tries banging the ball on the carpet and notices it does not make a noise (experimenting and exploring with persistence). As he starts to put the ball in his mouth (further exploration), the ball slips out of his hand and rolls across the floor. He starts to cry. The caregiver then reaches out to retrieve the ball and hands it back to him saying, “Oops, here is the ball. You’re very interested in the sounds this ball can make and the way it feels. It felt frustrating to you when the ball rolled away.” In this example, the caregiver supports him in his exploration by making it possible for him to continue.

护理人员和家庭之间的通信plays a vital role in supporting a creative environment. Families can provide information regarding their values, beliefs and meaningful experiences that highlight their family’s culture. Asking all family members about their views on creative play is important, as the infant and toddler will bring experiences from home, incorporating them into the ways they explore and experiment in the early care and learning environment.

Fostering Culturally Responsive Creative Experiences

Culturally responsive experiences are those that help infants and toddlers see themselves represented in your program. This may mean opportunities for self-expression and discovery. It may also mean broad exposure to people, ideas, and experiences from around the world. Exposure to the world around them sparks curiosity and creative thinking in young children. In terms of creativity, the term “culture” can be quite broad. You should provide experiences that help infants and toddlers begin to define a sense of self and a sense of the world around them. This may include racial or ethnic identity, but it can also include identities related to family values, beliefs, or experiences. For example, infants and toddlers may explore making music with different types of instruments, listen to different stories from around the world, or view photos of their families and peers’ families.

Distinguishing between Process- and Product-Oriented Experiences

In your work, you should strive to achieve balance between process-oriented and product-oriented experiences. Process-oriented experiences are child-directed and open-ended and they focus on the experience itself rather than a finished product or outcome. Examples of process-oriented activities may include drawing using crayons and finger paints, making prints using different objects, or exploring materials with different textures like ice or finger paints. Product-oriented experiences are usually adult-directed and have a pre-determined goal or outcome. Examples of product-oriented activities may include children making identical snowmen using the same materials on construction paper, or children using identical materials to work on an item like a house or a card to a family member.

重要的是要理解,在to a finished product or the process that leads to it, a balanced approach is best. There should be opportunities for both in your work with infants and toddlers. When making decisions about using process-oriented or product-oriented experiences, you should ask yourself what your goals or objectives are. If, for example, your goal is to promote infants’ and toddlers’ exploration and creative expression, it would be inappropriate to use identical materials for them to make similar-looking snowmen or flowers on construction paper. If, however, your goal is to encourage or demonstrate specific techniques that are needed for further skill-development (e.g., cutting or gluing), then asking infants and toddlers to cut or glue the same materials may be appropriate.

According to Althouse, Johnson, and Mitchell, who write about integrating the visual arts into the classroom, when adults continuously dictate to children the size paper to use, colors to use, and the product to make, creativity is discouraged. But not all examples of product-oriented experiences discourage creativity. Product-oriented experiences can be important when children are developing skills, as described in the previous paragraph.

Meeting the Needs of All Learners

Each infant and toddler develops differently and approaches creative experiences differently. Some children might have difficulties accessing creative experiences. For example, a toddler may be unable to reach or stand for long periods of time. A child with visual or hearing impairments may have trouble viewing a work of art or listening to a piece of music. An infant who is easily over-stimulated might not enjoy sensory experiences. You must be prepared to meet infants and toddlers where they are and make appropriate creative experiences a priority for all children. Here are some guidelines to keep in mind when it comes to supporting all learners:

• 艺术和创造性的经历应该永远是一种选择，并且应该没有错误的答案（首脑开始，2013年）。每个婴儿和幼儿都遇到他或她自己的方式和自己的步伐。
• 不要让残疾或差异是参与的障碍。您应该创建允许每次婴儿和幼儿在您的幼儿完全参与的适应。
• 脚手架需要支持的婴儿和幼儿的创造性经验。虽然创造性经历往往是开放的，但成年人可以在需要时提供一些帮助。您可以使用图片计划来帮助单个孩子开始活动（即，穿上Smock，拾取刷，浸入油漆，并创造！）。您可以使用各种支持，例如对等支持，成人支持或环境修改，以帮助儿童成功（Sandall＆Schwartz，2008）。

Encouraging Creativity During Daily Routines

As a caregiver of infants and toddlers, you recognize the central role exploration has within nurturing and responsive relationships to support development. Infants and toddlers are discovering things constantly as they engage in and explore their world.

During these early years, caregivers should focus on interacting sensitively and skillfully to support and enhance infants' and toddlers' natural curiosity and creativity. There are numerous ways you, as a caregiver, can encourage curiosity and creativity throughout the day. You can plan specific activities, such as dancing and finger painting. You can also encourage thinking, problem solving and helping infants and toddlers do things in their own ways.

下表突出了您作为婴儿和幼儿护理人员的可能方法，可以在日常生活中鼓励创造力：

You can use your knowledge of infants and toddlers to find and plan opportunities throughout the day that will help build a foundation for creativity.

See

Cultivating Creativity through Experiences and Activities

Do

There are many things you can do to interact and create experiences for infants and toddlers that help support their creativity:

• Share stories and read books.
• 与婴儿和幼儿一起散步，谈谈你所看到的。
• Play dress-up with older mobile infants and toddlers using hats, handbags, etc.
• Use materials for sensory play - sand, water, mud, play-dough, paints.
• Use crayons and paper for scribbling.
• 制作和使用乐器 - 例如，用米饭或干豌豆填充一个空的塑料水瓶。
• Provide new toys and objects in their reach - watch as they explore the items.