Cukoo Clock and Little Girl




Ideational fluency is a term that refers to the ability to hold an idea over time, to be able to think flexibly about an idea, and to be able to see the problems inherent in an idea. Here is an example of how ideas stay alive over time at the pre-school. 
Some of the ideas the Meadow room children wanted to work on that first day of school where a cuckoo clock, a 'show', a costume and a baby and crib. 7 days later,after much work on Circus characters, Stella and Elizabeth came to the studio to make them. 
E. wanted to make a fabric baby doll, while S. wanted to make the cuckoo clock. The cuckoo clock is a mixed media piece with numbers, a bird, and a depiction of a sunrise. The little girl is a muslin stuffed doll.

They wrote a play that they could perform at circle, in which the cuckoo clock chimed softly to help the little girl go to sleep, and more loudly to help her wake up in the morning.
The next day, when Henry was working on an idea about Spiderman, he went and got the girls to be in a new story about Spiderman, a Little Girl, a Cuckoo Clock and a bad guy. E. has another idea about Spiderman that she wants to work on next with H.
Working collaboratively over time, the children do many things; find a shared idea and language about the work, see problems and negotiate solutions, build skills and learn techniques. Is the ability to think creatively enhanced by studio work, or do children come to the studio with this ability?

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