Engagement in Craft and the Development of Creative Skills among 6 – 13 Years Old Children

Abstract

Creativity has been a valuable an essential element in advancing development in the 21st century. Children within 6 – 13 years old are curious, active, and engage in play as well as other activities where they exhibit their talents, sense of industry and creativity. During this period, the adults, care givers and educators around the child have the responsibility to identify such talents, interest and skills the children possess and direct them towards befitting learning and career opportunities that suits them. Unfortunately this has been overlooked in most African and Cameroonian communities. Now our days, children are hardly even given the opportunity or freedom to engage in craft. Besides, the awareness and value of the skills children gain from engaging in craft seem to be lacking. This paper thus aims at exploring elements of creativity in 6-13 years-old rural and urban Meta children’s engagement in craft. Apart from this, it compares the creative dispositions exhibited by rural and urban Meta children’s engagement in craft. The sequential explanatory design was used to obtain both qualitative and quantitative data through an observation check list and an interview guide from a sample of 40 6 – 13 years old Meta children purposively drawn from some Meta villages and neighbourhoods in an urban area. Thematic content analysis together with descriptive and inferential statistics was used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that Meta children exhibit creative skills as they engage in craft. Comparatively, children in the rural area exhibited more creative skill in craft than those in the urban area. Children should thus be encouraged to engage in craft as it develops their creativity.