Early Childhood Education literature considers play as the most appropriate way to plan and promote learning and development. Moreover, we acknowledge the importance of the teacher’s role in children’s play (Loizou, Michaelides & Georgiou, 2019. Vygotsky, 1978) and in enhancing children’s learning focusing on creativity (Leggett,2017). Creative play, as another type of play, connects play with creativity and the arts and provides children with the right context to develop their creativity (Szekely, 2015). The purpose of this study was to show how a creative play program affects children’s creativity focusing on two case studies. Creativity theoretically is defined as an attitude or a habit (Sternberg, 2007) and as a transforming activity for children, which can lead to different ways of acting or thinking (Leggett,2017). Additionally, it is considered as the processes followed by children, such as generating ideas (Robson, 2014), or as the characteristics of the products created, such as originality (Glaveanu, 2011.Weisberg, 2015). In this study we are referring to creative play occurring at play areas in a pre-primary class, as specified by the Early Childhood Education Curriculum of Cyprus (2020). We concur with the definition of creative play ‘as a flow of actions’, where teachers and children ‘in the context of the arts’, participate ‘in the process of creation and creativity’ (Loizou & Loizou, K., 2022, p. 3-4). The research question guiding this study was: How does the implementation of a creative play program impact children’s creativity?

This is qualitative research (Creswell,2007) and the participants were a boy and a girl, 6 and 5,5 years old. The two children were chosen as case studies based on observations focusing on their creativity development. Data was collected through four video recordings (326 minutes) of creative play at two play areas (the ‘Bakery’ and the ‘Toy Factory’), before and after children’s participation in a Creative Play Program implemented in their class. The Creative Play Program lasted for four months and included free/structured creative play in the two above mentioned play areas, Preparatory Structured Activities (P.S.A.) and Creativity Enhancing Structured Activities (C.E.S.A.) in different content areas. Parents agreed for their children’s participation and their anonymity was ensured. Consent and assent forms with a withdrawal option were signed and pseudonyms were used. Data was analysed using the Children’s Creativity Description Tool, that was created through theoretical thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Research on creativity highlights several variables that one can observe and describe during children’s creative play (e.g., creative process, creative product). Those were identified specific ‘themes and sub-themes, related to children’s creativity (e.g., transformations as a sub-theme of creative process) were noted. The Children’s Creativity Description Tool included the themes and sub-themes that emerged through the theoretical thematic analysis and was used to analyze the data from the two children.

Findings suggest that the Creative Play Program had a positive impact on the creativity of the two children, since the observed variables (e.g., motivation, originality) occurred more frequently after the implementation of the program. Specifically, findings show that the Creative Play Program positively affected children’s creative attitude during creative play (e.g., motivation), the creative processes they followed (e.g., idea generation) and their creations (e.g., originality of the products). Findings emphasized the importance of offering children the opportunity to participate in creative play experiences to explore and activate their creative potential. Also, specific Creative Mind Tools are highlighted, as activity strategies that children employ during their creative play, these include ‘Plan’, ‘Solve’ and ‘Connect’. Finally, this study underlines children’s Zone of Proximal Creative Development (ZPCD), in which they act during creative play.

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