Practitioners/Teachers 

In D. Gauntlett & B. S. Thomsen, Cultures of creativity, pp. 21-23 

Young children in the preschool years in a diverse country like South Africa are exposed to a myriad of rich experiences as childhood is constructed by and for them. As experts in childhood who are making sense of the world around them the opportunities for play helps them to reconstruct knowledge, skills and values they are exposed to in multiple learning environments such as the family, community and preschool. This is important if we take into account that a significant number of children in South Africa construct their childhood in total immersion in the practical day to day activities with adults in their context. In their daily lives young children do things that make us think of them as out of the ordinary. Their play through child-initiated efforts enables them to become powerful and take control of the situations they have prioritised for themselves. Power becomes visible as young children utilise their cognitive processes, affective experiences and socio-cultural background knowledge to express themselves in creative ways. Play affords building blocks for creativity to develop in multi-faceted ways. As children grow they would have promising threads to draw on depending on how their creative endeavours are supported by adults.