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European Journal of Education Studies ISSN: 2501 - 1111 ISSN-L: 2501 - 1111 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu Volume 3 │ Issue 9 │ 2017 doi: 10.5281/zenodo.846296 DEVELOPMENT OF ART AND CREATIVITY IN CHILDREN Sevda Karaseyfioğlu Paçalıi Research Assistant, Department of Fine Arts Education, Education Faculty, Cumhuriyet University, Turkey Abstract: Every invention and creation, no matter in what field, is the outcome of a search for solutions and distinct ideas. Creativity is a sine qua non for development and improvement. This view has been a central focus in every field and a considerable volume of research has sought to find out how creativity starts, occurs and develops. Creativity is also a principal element of change and progression. Art can be defined as the manifestation of creativity and imagination. As the lively debate about what is art and what is not art continues, new meanings are assigned to art. Art is, in general, a reality that should exist in everyone's life, whether an adult or a child. Since creativity emerges as the beginning of art in children, children’s art paintings, drawings and other works produced by children is of key importance. “ child’s development can be followed in his or her art. Keywords: child, art, creativity, development, existence Introduction George ”ernard Shaw writes The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man as cited in Evans & DeHaan, 1 : 63 . Shaw’s famous remark highlights that a creative perspective is required to seek out new ways for the unknown and unresolved; and progress depends on it. Creativity is a broad concept that contains many definitions and descriptions. It refers to generating, inventing and devising. It is a restless process of change and formation (San, 1985). Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 71 Sevda Karaseyfioğlu Paçalı DEVELOPMENT OF ART AND CREATIVITY IN CHILDREN The concept of creativity is involved in every aspect of life. This concept is used in a wide range of areas including science, works of art, advertising, fashion, decoration, industrial products on the market, and so on. This allows human beings to put forward different views on creativity. Creativity is comprehensively addressed in Ellis Paul’s The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking”. Creativity is an effort to be aware of and come through difficulties, a need to prove what is right or wrong, an attempt to formulate hypotheses about generalizations or proposals, and the sensitivity to disruptions, deficiencies, the lack of information and the environment. And it involves transferring the outcome of all these acts to different people (Sungur, 1997). In fact, creativity itself gives answers to the questions about creativity. It carries a nonrestrictive and broadening meaning and involves the capacity to develop a different point of view and solve problems accordingly. In short, creativity is an effort to look for and find different ways and to provide different solutions for each question (Becer, 1993). Human beings try to manifest their existence by adding new meaning to the existing one or by introducing something new. This is a necessity to take part in creation (May, 1994). Each person has a distinct reality of creativity that arises from his or her effort to fix the disconnection between the inner world and the outer world (Tozar, 2002). This reality actually begins with a person's concerns about and questioning his or her existence and universe in order to learn and understand what is going on. Wondering and questioning seem to be enough for a beginning, but in fact, it is not. It is also important to find answers and give clarifications to questions. Sociologists, artists, psychologists and many others have tried to describe and interpret creativity. There are a plenty of resources available. As creativity has a broad meaning, a need has arisen to classify it. For example, Eric Fromm classifies creativity in two categories. The first is the creative action that is learned and developed through abilities for visual arts, music, literature, etc. and thus helps to produce a piece of work. The second is the whole of the reactions that are at the core of creativity. These reactions may not appear through a piece of work since they differ among individuals and depend on the specific personality of each individual. Creativity can be developed through the activation of all senses (Gönen et al., 2006). For downloading the full article, please access the following link: https://oapub.org/edu/index.php/ejes/article/view/972 European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 9 │ 2017 72 Sevda Karaseyfioğlu Paçalı DEVELOPMENT OF ART AND CREATIVITY IN CHILDREN European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 9 │ 2017 73