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Creativity in Early Childhood
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· January 2014
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4614-5999-6_160
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Frank R. Lilly
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Creativity in Early Childhood 
 
Frank R. Lilly 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Special appreciation is extended to research assistant Saugher Nojan for her invaluable 
contribution to this document. 
 
 

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INTRODUCTION:
In a world that is changing dramatically; globally, environmentally, technologically, and 
economically there is a great need to do our best to prepare our children to be able to adapt to a 
world we cannot predict. Specifically, many of the careers young children will eventually choose 
on exiting school have not been invented yet. What subjects are most important to teach is often 
the emphasis of current national and state educational standards. However, the subjects may not 
be the most important thing that needs to be taught. For young children to adapt, they need to be 
able to critically analyze and evaluate their surroundings, their options, their consequences. To 
be able to critically think, students need to be encouraged to be creative and look for multiple 
solutions to problems they are presented with. Creativity has not always been associated with 
problem solving, critical thinking or problem finding. Yet today, educators are beginning to 
understand that unless we teach children to think and to enjoy solving problems, there will be 
repercussions that will leave many unprepared to enter a workforce that demands highly skilled 
workers.
Over the past 62 years, the study of creativity has been valued as a research interest. 
Before this time, few were interested in studying creativity. The zeitgeist of psychological 
research during the late 19
th
and early 20
th
centuries focused more on concrete observable 
behaviors such as learning and perception. Not until the cognitive revolution did creativity 
become a construct worthy of study. Yet today, the study of creativity is well established in 
educational and psychological research (Reilly, Lilly, Bramwell & Kronish, 2011). The need to 
understand creativity is evidenced by the ever-changing dynamics of the technological age 
(Prentice, 2000; Lau, 2006) and our need as humans to adapt to our environment. Genuinely 
creative adaptation represents the only possibility that humans can keep abreast of an evolving 

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world (Rogers, 1954). Therefore, creativity should be cultivated in young children, particularly 
in an educational environment (Saracho, 2012; Starko, 1995). Yet, are young children capable of 
being creative? If so, in what ways are they creative? Is their creativity innate or learned? If 
learned, in what ways can we help to improve young children’s abilities to be creative? This 
article discusses where, how and when young children are creative, what promotes childhood 
creativity and what constrains it. The theoretical focus is developmental, including biological, 
psychological, and societal systems that influence and impede creativity.