2.2 The role of creativity and play in the classroom
Creativity is a concept that is often associated with the expressive arts, such as drama, painting or music, and in particular the ‘product’ of that creativity. However, this narrow view can lead to creativity being neglected in educational practice, and educators who do not consider themselves to be ‘creative people’ may lack confidence in their ability to teach creatively or develop the creativity of learners.
Creativity can also be linked to play in the classroom. A famous quote by Lev Vygotsky captures the opportunities that play offers:
In play a child is always above his average age, above his daily behaviour; in play, it’s as though he were a head taller than himself.
So, what does this mean in the context of the primary classroom? How do children become ‘a head taller’? What are the benefits of this?
Taking the example of classroom role play, children are able to ‘be’ older than they are. They can take on adult roles and use language that constructs the scenarios of, for example, a doctor’s surgery (as a doctor, a patient), a classroom (as a teacher) and the like. In so doing, children create opportunities to try out new words and phrases associated with the particular role and scenarios they choose to enact. Through the social and dialogic interaction that comes with role play, children come to understand how others respond to their words and phrases, while also hearing how others use language to enact their own role.
Play in the classroom extends of course to digital play. Children are often exposed to some form of digital play before they start school. However, as with any experiences, these will vary between children. In the case of digital experiences, socio-economic disadvantage can lead to a digital disadvantage, known as the ‘app gap’ (Kolak et al., 2021). Not all families can afford access to the internet, digital devices, or are able to purchase paid-for apps.
While many resources encourage children’s digital skills alongside wider curriculum outcomes (e.g. literacy and numeracy), the extent to which the activities can be considered play, alongside their creativity and educational value has also been examined critically. Selecting a quality educational app is not straightforward (Kolak et al., 2021). Research into apps that promise gains in children’s literacy and numeracy skills (e.g. Meyer et al., 2021) reveal that often they are designed to offer right or wrong answers (Vaala, Ly and Levine, 2015) and narrow possibilities for play (Plowman, 2020).
Understanding what children think is play is important for educators as they design playful ways to support learning. For example, a teacher might introduce what they think is a playful maths activity, but will the children see it as play?
Activity 5
Task 1
In a study about play and learning (Mukherjee et al., 2022; Bugallo et al., 2024), 5-year-old and 7-year-old children in England were invited to sort cards to indicate whether the activities depicted on the cards represented play, learning or play and learning.
Look at the table below. In each cell there is a ‘card’ with a line drawing depicting an activity, and each column represents one category. How do you think the children categorised the activities?
Using the labels, ‘only play’, ‘only learning’ and ‘play and learning’ assign one label to each column.
Cooking  |
Hula hoop  |
Dressing up  |
Planting  |
Lining up numbers  |
Farm figurines  |
Writing  |
Dominoes  |
Hide and seek  |
Tying shoes  |
The guitar  |
Swinging  |
Comment
This is how the children in the study categorised the activities.
| Only learning | Play and learning | Only play |
|---|---|---|
| Cooking | Hula hoop | Dressing up |
| Planting | Lining up numbers | Farm figurines |
| Writing | Dominoes | Hide and seek |
| Tying shoes | The guitar | Swinging |
Understanding what children consider to be play and what children consider as learning is important when working in the primary classroom. For example, the children saw writing as learning, so educators might want to think carefully about the ways in which they can make writing fun and playful. The children’s selection of dressing up and figurines as play, suggests that educators may be able to introduce these creative activities to support learning goals.
Task 2
Make some notes using the following prompts to guide you:
- Were you surprised by the way in which the children categorised these activities?
- Has Task 1 encouraged you to think differently about activities commonly found in primary school? What playful activities have you previously experienced in the classroom yourself or included in your teaching?
- If you work in a school, would you include different playful activities now?