Sonia Mainstone-Cotton is a freelance nurture consultant. She currently works in a specialist team supporting 3- and 4-year-olds who have social, emotional and mental health needs. She also trains staff across the country, working with children’s centres, schools, nurseries, charities and churches. Sonia is series editor for the Little Minds Matter series from Routledge and has written ten books and it’s her latest book we discuss here – Creativity and Wellbeing in the Early Years, part of the Little Minds Matters series from Routledge.
In this Early Years TV session, Sonia Mainstone Cotton discusses creativity and well-being in the early years and provides ideas and strategies for using creativity to improve children’s well-being.
She notes that creativity is often used in early years provision and encourages Early Years professionals to consider the importance of using high-quality materials to foster creativity. We discuss the common themes that appear throughout her book – including the importance of providing children with less common materials such as graphite and clay, including how clay can be used in conjunction with other outdoor activities, such as foraging, flowers, leaves, and printing.
Sonia has some innovative ways to connect with the community and bring in local artists to teach children and how this can be a gateway to other creative pursuits. As you would expect from Sonia, she also challenges the idea that creativity is only for people with money, and discusses other challenges that can prevent children from expressing their creativity.
Sonia discusses her advisory role for the accessible and useful Little Minds Matters series from Routledge and she reveals that there are upcoming books focusing on diversity, speech and language, and communication, physical development, gender diversity and gender issues.
Links:
https://routledge.co.uk/Little-Minds-Matter/book-series/LMM
https://www.instagram.com/mainstonecotton/
https://www.soniamainstone-cotton.com/
https://twitter.com/sonia_main
https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/12274/1/12274.pdf 5x5x5 project at Bath Spa Uni that Sonia refers to
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Episode Includes
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