004: How to encourage creativity and artistic ability in young children – Interview with Dr. Tara Callaghan

I’m so excited to welcome my first guest on the Your Parenting Mojo podcast: Professor Tara Callaghan of St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia. Professor Callaghan has spent a great number of years studying the emergence of artistic ability in young children and she shares some of her insights with us. This is a rather longer episode than usual so here are some places you might want to skip ahead to if you have specific interest: [3:55]: The connection between individuality and creativity, especially in Western cultures [9:00]: What is “symbolic representation” and why is the development of symbolic representation an important milestone for young children? [12:10]: Is it helpful for parents to ask a child “What are you drawing?” [15:25]: When do children understand symbols? [31:15]: What can parents do to support children’s development of symbolic representation in particular and artistic ability in general? References Brownlee, P. (2016). Magic Places. Good Egg Books: Thames, NZ (must be ordered directly from the publisher in New Zealand; see: http://penniebrownlee.weebly.com/books.html (http://penniebrownlee.weebly.com/books.html)) Callaghan, T.C., Rackozy, H., Behne, T., Moll, H, Lizkowski, U., Warneken, F., and Tomasello, (2011). Early social cognition in three cultural contexts. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 76(2), Serial Number 299. hhttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mono.2011.76.issue-2/issuetoc (ttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mono.2011.76.issue-2/issuetoc) Callaghan, T. and Corbit, J. (2015). The development of symbolic representation. In Vol. 2 (L. Liben and U. Muller, Vol. Eds.) of the 7th Edition (R. Lerner, Series Ed) of the Handbook of Child Psychology and Developmental Science (pp. 250-294). New York: Wiley. Callaghan, T., and M. Rankin (2002). Emergence of graphic symbol functioning and the question of domain specificity: A longitudinal training study. Child Development, March/April 2002, 73:2, 359-376. Callaghan, T., P. Rochat and J. Corbit (2012). Young children’s knowledge of the representational function of pictoral symbols: Development across the preschool years in three cultures. Journal of Cognition and Development, 13:3, 320-353. Available at: http://www.psychology.emory.edu/cognition/rochat/lab/CALLAGHAN,%20ROCHAT,%20and%20CORBIT,%202012.pdf (http://www.psychology.emory.edu/cognition/rochat/lab/CALLAGHAN,%20ROCHAT,%20and%20CORBIT,%202012.pdf) DeLoache, J. S., (2004). Becoming symbol-minded. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8, 66-70. Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661303003346 (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661303003346) Frith, C., and Frith, U. (2005). Theory of mind. Current Biology 15(17), R644.R645. Full article available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982205009607 Ganea, P.A., M.A. Preissler, L. Butler, S. Carey, and J.S. DeLoache (2009). Toddlers’ referential understanding of pictures. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 104(3):283-295. Full article available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2865246/ (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2865246/) Golomb, C. (2003). The child’s creation of a pictoral world. London: Psychology Press. Jolley, R.P. (2010). Children and pictures: Drawing and understanding. Wiley-Blackwell, Cichester, England. Jolley, R. P. and S. Rose (2008). The relationship between production and comprehension of representational drawing. In Children’s understanding and production of pictures, drawings, and art (C. Milbrath and H.M. Trautner (Eds)). Boston, MA, Hogrefe Publishing. Chapter available at: <a href="http://www.staffs.ac.uk/personal/sciences/rj2/publications/Jolley%20and%20R...