Creative preschoolers as perceived by their parents and teachers

The paper presents the results of research on identifi cation of creative preschoolers via observation of their overt behavior in two settings: at home and in the kindergarten. A model of preschoolers’ creative activity as well as two original observational sheets were prepared on the basis of the knowledge of the subject. The data were collected form a sample of parents and teachers of 235 preschoolers. The main categories of creative activity at home were: humour, autonomy, self-expression, persistence, fantasy/imagination, stubbornness; in the kindergarten they were: exploration, control/autonomy, engagement. The results show that the relationship between the parents’ and teachers’ ratings was very weak. The children exhibited a wide range of creative behaviors across the main categories rather than a full pattern (syndrome) of creative behavior. These fi ndings support the existence of a large and at the same time dispersed creative potential of preschoolers, very diversifi ed patterns of creative behaviors, and small developmental changes within this range