Encouraging creativity during the preschool period is of great importance due to the fact that children are highly sensitive to stimuli from the environment. Children respond to them, form their own view of the world and explore how it functions. It is necessary to establish a creative environment which enables children to express their own needs and wishes as well as independently explore and realize their ideas. Children are thus given the opportunity to develop their creativity which is necessary to grow, adapt to the changing world and build good relations with other people. It is of great importance that play, the basic activity of preschoolers, is creatively planned and directed, bearing in mind that the choice of the play material plays a very important role.
In my diploma thesis, the survey research method was used to find out the views, opinions and experiences of preschool teachers on the subject of child's play, as well as to get an insight into their planned activities with differently structured materials and the influence of the chosen materials on the development of preschoolers' creativity. Data analysis showed that most preschool teachers have a lot of experiences with unstructured and semi-structured materials since they often include them in preschoolers' play, being aware of their advantages both in the field of childs's play as well as other fields of the curriculum. Most preschool teachers state that unstructured and semi-structured materials enhance preschoolers' creativity during play, whereas highly-structured ones can even hinder it.
The observation method based on selected creativity chart table criteria was used to assess the development of creativity during play with respect to the chosen play material and the progress every individual makes on the basis of their previous experiences with the specific material. The results show that by using unstructured and semi-structured materials preschoolers develop higher levels of creativity. Furthermore, each new experience is deepened and upgraded when such materials are used.
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