Date of Award

1970

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Theatre Arts

First Reader

Professor Dennis Holt

Abstract

A child needs beauty and love every bit as much as he needs food and exercise. He needs quiet just as he needs laughter and shouting. He needs to be alone just as he needs to be with others. He needs to work as well as to play. All components of growth are equally important if he is to develop a wholeness of personality. For a child to live is quite a different thing than for him to exist. He needs to be guided in his growing so he reaches for his best. He needs to find his way to enjoy and contribute to the world in which he lives.

One of the most significant trends in recent years to insure that these above-mentioned basic needs of a child are fulfilled is the emphasis on creative arts for children. Creative arts experiences definitely contribute to freedom of growth and personality development. Viktor Lowenfeld, a leader in this field, explains the underlying reason for this educational trend: "If children developed without any interference from the outside world, no special stimulation for their creative work would be necessary. Every child would use his deeply rooted creative impulse without inhibition, confident in his own kind of expression... What civilization has buried we must try to regain by creating the natural base necessary for such free creation."

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