Creative play in the digital age

Award-winning Egyptian designer Ghada Wali speaks to the British Council about her work with toy bricks, and the links between play, human connection and innovation.

Natalia Kolnik, Director of Education at the Montana Science Center, reflects on the innovative STEAMlab, which offers high-tech experiences for learners of all ages - but still finds a huge role for hands-on play and modelling. Nestled high in the northwest of the United States, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains’ snowy Bridger Range, sits the town of Bozeman. At nearly 50,000 residents, Bozeman is considered one of the state of Montana’s larger ‘cities’.  

The British Council spoke to Inua Ellams, the award-winning poet, playwright, performer, graphic artist and designer, about learning to be creative and why that is important.  What does creativity mean to you?  In the simplest sense, creativity is flexibility. It means having no fixed way of beginning conversations or approaching problems. It is always being open, fluid, looking at the tools available around you, and finding the most effective and economical ways to solve problems. That is at its purest what creativity means to me. 

Understanding the power of digital media and how it can be manipulated is a crucial skill. Hands on Media Education is a Canadian organisation using stop-motion animation to introduce these concepts to people of all ages. Here, Director Jessie Curell tells us what a typical workshop entails.  Teaching citizens of all ages how to engage with digital tools by becoming active creators of media, rather than passive consumers, is what I do. 

In developing countries or unstable environments, it is difficult to predict which skills are going to be most valuable in the future. Skateistan is an award-winning international NGO working in Afghanistan, Cambodia and South Africa to empower children through skateboarding and creative education. 

According to the United Nations, we are entering a decade of change. What role will creativity play in this process? We speak to Joshua Ogden, Creative Director, to learn how the creativity of the advertising industry could be applied to global challenges like climate change.

Zakaria Jaiathe, co-founder of XIBIT, a mixed reality exhibitions start up, speaks to the British Council about the new opportunities for creative expression that technology is opening up.

What is creativity? What theoretical frameworks exist to help us understand and assess it? This first chapter in a literature review looking at the role of creative play in developing creativity in the digital age considers what creativity can mean in the 21st century.

What is the link between creative play and creativity? How can we understand the link through the academic models of person, process and product?

This second part of the literature review looks at what we mean when we talk about creative play. How is it different from other types of play? Why is it important?

Jimmy Paul, Co-chair of the Workforce workgroup for the Independent Care Review, gives a personal and heartfelt account of how embracing creativity is helping drive much needed change.

Daniel Chavez Heras, PhD student at the Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London, shares how the University’s ‘Unmaking Club’ — a creative approach to teaching technology to students — is helping to train the next generation of critical technologists.

Cambridge PhD Student Stephen Bayley considers the role that education systems can play in ensuring that children have the skills they need to thrive in the 21st century.

Tanya Paes, PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education, shares her findings on creative play and the development of self-regulation and language skills for children with English as an additional language (EAL).

We're introducing computer coding in schools across Mauritius to strengthen creative thinking and problem solving skills and inspire the next generation of young innovators.