Emotions, Creativity, and the Arts: Evaluating a Course for Children

Art-based programming has been proposed to be one of the most promising approaches for teaching creativity because it provides meaningful learning through a pleasurable activity. We describe a course for children that sought to increase both creativity skills (problem finding and idea generation) and emotion skills (abilities to perceive one’s emotions accurately, use one’s emotions to guide creative thinking, and understand emotions). Sixty-four children were recruited from primary schools in Santander, Spain (mean age = 9.73 years, 59% females) to test a six-session course at Centro Botín, an art center based in Santander, Spain. Significant effects were found for the creativity skills of problem finding and idea generation, as well as for self-reported creative behavior, though several effects were not sustained at 2-month follow-up. We discuss potential solutions for sustained creativity training and transfer of skills outside of the course setting.