Stimulation of Art Creativity in Children of Pre-school and Early School Age Through Storytelling Method

The motivation of children of pre-school and early school age for an artistic expression is based on their active emotional relationship with their surroundings. The way in which children experience their surroundings depends... [ view full abstract ]

The motivation of children of pre-school and early school age for an artistic expression is based on their active emotional relationship with their surroundings. The way in which children experience their surroundings depends on their sensibility and their capacity of translating their impressions into an aesthetical image, as well as on the methods of conveying the emotional state of the leader of the artistic activity into the purpose of stimulating the artistic expression. Using digital technologies from their earliest age, contemporary children lose the emotional relation to visual information; they perceive visual information merely as superficial and accurate facts. Storytelling as the method of awakening the emotional states reflects in the humanistic approach to the child, where the stimulation of emotional and mental experiences affects the development of imagination, the visualization of real and unreal events and the implementation of the experience into the art-making process. Apart from a number of positive effects on verbo-tonal, intellectual and emotional development of the child, this method benefits the development of creative factors and it can even have a therapeutic value. The interdisciplinary and holistic character of storytelling method activates an integral cognitive, psycho-motor and affective development of the child. This paper analyzes the artistic and creative processes of children who participated in museum workshops as part of a storytelling project. The project was based on local heritage stories, which were related to original works of art and told in authentic spaces. The integral approach to storytelling develops the child’s receptive abilities and the abilities to produce picturesque thoughts; it enhances the child’s experiential and moral sense and develops its capacity to express its forms of thinking by using different art techniques.

Key words: emotional development, artistic expression, stimulation of creativity, storytelling, creativity development