The creativity in children often stems from familiarity. The characters in the stories they’re told, to the characters they see on TV and films is what sparks their imagination, and this is often very evident in what they choose to create. Here at Busy Brush Cafe we see children pick out a plain white pottery fish and paint it to look exactly like Nemo, or a child comes in with a train magazine and is super excited when we have train stencils and they finish with a Thomas the Tank Engine plate. These familiar characters are obviously important in their beginnings of art, but their own ideas are far more important in development.
Children, especially nursery age, are immersed in creative activities regularly whether that is free play in a sand pit or tasks set by a teacher in a certain time frame. This is essential in their early social development as they will often have to work together to share resources. As they get older the activities are more restrictive, their creative writing exercises are about a specific subject rather that letting their minds wander or their GCSE art final piece has to be a certain topic. It is still useful as everyone can have their own take on a basic subject/story, but why not let it be a free activity? For the only restraint to be time or size.