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As i shared the art work of young children with you and their expressions. i agree as it is mentioned in chapter 7 , that creativity of preschool children differs from that of schoolaged children.Pre school children's art work is purely authentic self-expression.It is not done to find solution to some problem or to reach some goal. I like the way author has explained the fourth grade" slump". It's very true that children by that age /stage have very much of structured environment in school and of formal education such as sitting in rows, raising hands before speaking, following specific rules of class and school and daily schedules. Being so much in structured environment curbs the orginality of a child by the time he reaches fourth grade. As it is mentioned in this chapter "conventional behavior is unlikely to be original, and described preschool children as preconventional because they did not produce the art that was a clear representation of reality-a kind of conventional thinking-but instead drew from their own prefrences and uninhibited feelings". I examined the art work of the little boy in my care who drew the picture of heart with hands and legs. and another boy who draws the pics of super heroes in his pics as well as he shows his super hero imaginations in his pretend play.Which coincides what Piaget (1962) says about imaginative play, as he also observed in preschoolers the peak of imaginative behavior. As we know that children's creativity is effected by many factors, one of the most strong factor is family.Parents are the first teachers of their children, they provide opportunities, resources,teach values to their child, as well as provide some structure in life. Children do need some unstructured time and freedom of expression to learn about themselves, but meanwhile they do need some structure and discipline as well in life. The idea of balance that was introduced in this chapter applies to discipline. If a child gets guidance and discipline by the parent along with some freedom, their creativity flourishes. As "Schmukler (1985) mentions in her discussion of , "facilitating family environment",she emphasized children' play and imagination as bases for creative skill." she also says that the development of child's creativity depends on opportunities of play and parent and mostly it is mothers who play an important role in the creative development of a child. Another thought in this chapter that i very much agree with is in context of children's creative development ," Wallach &Kogan,(1965) found that a permissive school environment allowed children to think divergently and creatively".Children do not perform well in test like environment, where as if they are asked same questions in non test like environment the results will be better. My son and daughter is very much stressed out when they have tests or exams. They will teach the same thing to other friendsvery well and they will get higher grades than my children, but when it comes to themself and giving tests they get exteremly stressed, which brings their scores litle down.Even when i put myself in their shoes i see myself stressed in test like environment.But same subject i will dicuss very confidently and with full understanding in normal environment.

chapter 17 very much coincides with chapter 7, as it does mention how much adult guidance is needed in providing opportunities and support to the child to be creative in play . If a teacher is there to support a child's creativity and provide opportunities that child will be a creative adult in life. As this chapter shows from it's title, 'creating play environment' children are again dependent of adult support and facilitation. Culture, family situations, society, accessibility to play grounds, finances, as well as environment effects play of a child.In chapter 17 it is discussed how important play is in child's life and it plays an important role in cognitive development of a child. i noticed children in my care, when we play outdoors children are very focussed and more calm as well as happy as compare being inside. Their attention span shortens indoors, they are less tolerant and gets irritated by other friends much quicker than while playing outdoors.Although they do play well indoors also and enjoy playing together. But the feeling of more free and independent outdoors i think make them more composed. As i read this chapter it was interesting to recognize how much children's play has been affected by the saftey issues, technology, and how much we now a days have confined our children into structure and supervised play. Children's play spaces should be where they can play and explore as well as they should have freedom of movement. Out door play is very beneficial for children's social and emotional development as well as for cognitive and academic development. Sobel (1993) believes that outdoor spaces for children should be away from adult viewing. children love to play in their secret places and hide in trees. They do not like to be observed by the adults all the time.while reading this chapter i came across the section of Gardening: on pg 316.Where it describes the benefits of gardening with children, and described gardening as an activity related to play environment, it is a work/play activity in which children do need direct assistance of their adults but it is fun for both children and adults. Where as children do learn to understand through gardening the relationship and connection man has with the universe. as said by (Brosterman,1997). "Gardens allow children to experience the cycles of nature and develop habits of responsibility and nurturance and allow children to find satisfaction in doing something useful (Ravkin, 1995)." As we did a project with children of planting a vegetable garden, I noticed children showed responsibility and care for earth. They did worry to water the plants every day, were concerned if worms going to harm the plant or not, looking at newly planted plants and watch them grow. It was interesting to see how coneccted they were with plants.