Experiences of preschool teachers applying art activities in the context of creativity

Art activities, which have an important place in preschool education, should be implemented in a way that enables children to activate their creative thoughts, express their thoughts and feelings, and develop their aesthetic perceptions. From this point of view, this study, which was conducted in order to examine the art activities applied in the preschool period in the context of creativity, was carried out by qualitative research techniques. The participants of the study consist of three pre-school teachers and classes who voluntarily agree to participate in the study, who are working in independent kindergartens that are represent lower, middle and upper socioeconomic levels in Elazig province in the 2018-2019 academic year. The research data were obtained by using the interview form from open-ended questions, the observation form prepared based on the content of the questions in the interview form, and the document review form. Content analysis method was used to analyze the data. As a result of the study, it was seen that teachers representing lower and middle socioeconomic levels did not act in line with their opinions and generally focused on copy and template works but other teachers generally applied activities that prioritize creativity. It has been concluded that teachers representing lower and middle socioeconomic levels intervene in children's products while performing arts activities and give little place to methods and techniques to develop creative thinking. It was observed that the teacher representing the upper socioeconomic level created an environment that would allow children to be original in art activities. In this study, it was seen that socioeconomic level provided little benefit to teachers in the planning and implementation part, but the role of the educator was found to be the most important factor.