Motor stories and learning environments for fostering creativity in Physical Education in early childhood education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v75.117783Keywords:
Creativity, early childhood education , learning environments, motor stories, Physical EducationAbstract
Introduction: Creativity is an increasingly relevant cognitive skill in the educational field. In this context, Physical Education emerges as an ideal subject to foster creativity, especially during Early Childhood Education.
Objective: To analyze the influence of two methodologies, motor stories and learning environments, on the creativity of preschool students.
Method: A six-session intervention program was implemented over three weeks. The sample consisted of 58 five-year-old students divided into three groups: Group A) had received Physical Education throughout the entire stage; Group B) had received it for one year; and Group C) had not received physical education classes. The Children’s Graphic Creativity Test was administered before and after the intervention to measure creativity.
Results: Significant differences were found between the groups. Group B obtained the highest scores in both the pre-test and the post-test, while Group A benefited the most from the program (high percentile: 50% pre-test and 94.4% post-test). No gender differences were observed.
Discussion: The findings are consistent with research highlighting guided discovery and problem-solving as effective teaching styles to enhance creativity. Moreover, literature supports the idea that, at early ages, contextual factors could be more influential in creativity than gender.
Conclusion: Motor stories and learning environments appear to nurture creativity in Early Childhood physical education regardless of gender. This highlights the importance of active methodologies over traditional approaches.
References
Antipe Vásquez, S., Saravia Valenzuela, R., Silva Soto, C., Gutiérrez Saldivia, X., & Fuentes-Vilugrón, G. (2025). El juego como motor del desarrollo social y cognitivo en niños y niñas en la primera in-fancia. Retos, 72, 359-374. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v72.115009
Antoñanzas, J. L., Pelay, M., Salavera, C., Soler, R., y Usan, P. (2015). Creatividad y aprendizaje en niños de 4 y 5 años. Revista de Psicología y Educación, 10(1), 139–152.
Auger, P., y Woodman, R. W. (2016). Creativity and intrinsic motivation: Exploring a complex relation-ship. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 52(3), 342-366.
Baer, J., y Kaufman, J. C. (2008). Gender differences in creativity. Journal of Creative Behavior, 42(2), 75-105.
Berruezo, P. P. (2000). Hacia un marco conceptual de la psicomotricidad a partir del desarrollo de su práctica en Europa y en España. Revista Interuniversitaria de Formación del Profesorado, 37, 21-33.
Blández, J. (2005). La utilización del material y del espacio en educación física: Propuestas y recursos didácticos. (3ª ed.). Inde.
Bournelli, P., Makri, A., y Mylonas, K. (2009). Motor creativity and self-concept. Creativity Research Journal, 21(1), 104-110. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400410802633657
Burgos, B. M. V., de Cleves, N. R., y Márquez, M. G. C. (2010). La creatividad como práctica para el desa-rrollo del cerebro total. Tabula Rasa (13), 321-338.
Carmona, C., y Fernández, T. (2014). Prueba de Creatividad Gráfica Infantil. (1ª ed.). Editorial Ingenia.
Cenizo-Benjumea, J. M., y Fernández-Truan, J. C. (2004). El desarrollo de la creatividad motriz como necesidad educativa. Escuela Abierta, 7, 97-136.
Chávez, B. I., Ramírez, J., y Grimaldo, E. (2020). Creatividad en la infancia: diferencias por edad y sexo. Revista Multidisciplinaria de Avances de Investigación, 6(1), 34–46.
Chen, P., Wang, R., y Ma, Y. (2025). Promoting junior high school students’ creativity in maker educa-tion: The design thinking approach. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 56, 101764. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2025.101764
Chibás, F. (1992). Creatividad + Dinámica de grupo = ¿Eureka! (2ª ed.). Editorial Pueblo y Educación.
Conde, J. L. (2008). Cuentos motores. (3ª Ed., Vol. 1, pp. 14-21). Paidotribo.
Cuetos, M. J., Serrano, N., y Sala, B. (2022). La creatividad en la Educación: diferencias por rendimiento, edad y sexo. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 20(3), 683–710. https://doi.org/10.25115/ejrep.v20i58.6906
Elisondo, R., y Donolo, D. (2011). Los estímulos en un test de creatividad. Boletín de Psicología, 101, 51–65.
Ferreiro, R. (2012). La pieza clave del rompecabezas del desarrollo de la creatividad: La Escuela. Revis-ta Iberoamericana Sobre Calidad, Eficacia y Cambio En Educación, 10(2), 6–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.15366/reice2012.10.2.001
Gallardo, M. J. (2014). La creatividad en la escuela. Jaén. Universidad de Jaén.
Gil, D., Guzmán, M., y Moreno, E. (2013). Caminando hacia la escuela que queremos. (1ª ed.). Octaedro.
Griggs, G. (2009). ‘What you risk reveals what you value’: Fostering creativity in primary physical edu-cation. International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education, 37(2), 121-130. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004270802012707
González-Martí, I., & Hernández Martínez, A. (2013). El cuento motor como recurso didáctico en Edu-cación Física en la Educación Infantil. Desarrollo curricular de la Educación Física en la Educa-ción Infantil, 118-127.
Hernández Martínez, A., González Martí, I., Sánchez Matas, Y., & Carrión Olivares, S. (2020). Los ambien-tes de aprendizaje en Educación física y motivación en las primeras edades (Learning environ-ments in Physical Education and motivation in early childhood). Retos, 38, 761-767. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v38i38.77441
Huang, C., y Yang, C. (2020). Evolution of topics in education research: a systematic review using bibli-ometric analysis. Educational Review, 72(3), 281-297. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2019.1566212
Jiménez, L., y Muñoz, M. D. (2012). Educar en creatividad: un programa formativo para maestros de Educación Infantil basado en el juego libre. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psy-chology, 10(3), 1099–1122. http://dx.doi.org/10.25115/ejrep.v10i28.1551
Jurado, J. L., Aguilera, P., Calvo, L. J., Franco, M. M., y García, D. (2006). Ambiente de aprendizaje: un re-curso metodológico en Educación Física. Revista Digital Práctica Docente, 3, 1-11.
Justo, E., y Franco, C. (2008). The influence of a programme of psychomotor intervention on creative drive in early years pupils. Bordón, 60(2), 107–121.
Konstantinidou, E., Gregoriadis, A., Grammatikopoulos, V., y Michalopoulou, M. (2013). Primary physi-cal education perspective on creativity: the nature of creativity and creativity fostering class-room environment. Early Child Development and Care, 184(5), 766-782. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2013.818989
Luís, J., Laborda, A., Pelay, M. T., Salavera, C., Soler, R., y Supervia, P. U. (2015). Creatividad y aprendizaje en niños de 4 y 5 años. Revista de Psicología y Educación, 10(1), 139–152.
Mayor Díez, I., Sanchis Soler, G., & Ávalos-Ramos, M. A. . (2024). Diferencias de género y edad en la mo-tivación hacia la Educación Física en Educación Primaria en estudiantes españoles (Gender and age differences in motivation towards Physical Education in Primary Education in Spanish stu-dents). Retos, 61, 971-978. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v61.102734
Mi, S., Bi, H., y Lu, S. (2020). Trends and foundations of creativity research in education: A method based on text mining. Creativity Research Journal, 32(3), 215-227. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2020.1821554
Murcia, N. (2001). La evaluación de la creatividad motriz: un concepto por construir. Apunts: Educa-ción Física y Deportes, 65, 17-25.
Neville, R. D., y Makopoulou, K. (2021). Effect of a six-week dance-based physical education interven-tion on primary school children’s creativity: A pilot study. European Physical Education Re-view, 27(1), 203-220. https://doi.org/10.1177/1356336X20939586
Nielsen Rodríguez, A., Romance García, Ángel R., & Chinchilla Minguet, J. L. (2020). Los ambientes de aprendizaje como metodología activa promotora de la actividad física en Educación Infantil. Un estudio de caso (Learning environments as an active methodology to promote physical activity in Early Childhood Education. A case study). Retos, 37, 498-504. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v37i37.71026
OECD (2019). Future of Education and Skills 2030: Conceptual Learning Framework. https://www.oecd.org/en/about/projects/future-of-education-and-skills-2030.html
Oliveira, E., Almeida, L., Ferrándiz, C., Ferrando, M., Sainz, M., y Prieto, M. D. (2009). Tests de pensa-miento creativo de Torrance (TTCT): elementos para la validez de constructo en adolescentes portugueses. Psicothema, 21(4), 562–567.
Piirto, J. (2011). Creativity for 21st century skills. How to embed creativity into the curriculum. Sense Publishers.
Real Decreto 95/2022, de 1 de febrero, por el que se establece la ordenación y las enseñanzas mínimas de la Educación Infantil. Boletín Oficial del Estado, 28, de 2 de febrero de 2022. https://www.boe.es/eli/es/rd/2022/02/01/95
Robinson, K. (2006). How schools kill creativity? [Video]. TED Talks. De https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity?subtitle=en
Romance, R., Nielsen-Rodríguez, A., Mendes, R. S., Dobado-Castañeda, J. C., y Dias, G. (2023). The influ-ence of physical activity on the creativity of 10 and 11-year-old school children. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 48, 101295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2023.101295
Ruiz-Omeñaca, J. V. (2011). El cuento motor en la Educación Infantil y en la Educación Física escolar. Cómo construir un espacio para jugar, cooperar, convivir y crear. Wanceulen.
Saleem, S., Burns, S., y Perlman, M. (2024). Cultivating young minds: Exploring the relationship between child socio-emotional competence, early childhood education and care quality, creativity and self-directed learning. Learning and Individual Differences, 111, 102440. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2024.102440
Tienken, C. H. (2016). PISA is coming! Kappa Delta Pi Record, 52(3), 112–115. https://doi.org/10. 1080/00228958.2016.1191897
Tife, M. D. (2007). Gestión del conocimiento y creatividad. Revista Escuela de Administración de Nego-cios, (61), 97-102.
Thomaidou, C., Konstantinidou, E., y Venetsanou, F. (2021). Effects of an eight-week creative dance and movement program on motor creativity and motor competence of preschoolers. Journal of Physical Education and Sport, 21, 3268-3277.
Torrance, E. P. (1981). Thinking Creatively in Action and Movement. Scholastic Testing Service.
Valverde, T., Maravé-Vivas, M., y Salvador, C. (2023). La creatividad en los juegos motrices: Una apro-ximación práctica en 3º de Educación Primaria. En I. Estevan y X. García (Eds.), Avances en la didáctica de las habilidades perceptivo-motrices y básicas (pp. 257-279). Publicaciones de la Universitat de Valencia.
Vasilopoulos, F., y Dumontheil, I. (2024). Predictors of cognitive and motor creativity in childhood. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000693
Wijayanti, A., Wiyanto, W., Ridlo, S., y Parmin, P. (2025). El efecto de la actividad física en proyectos STEAM diferenciados en el aprendizaje de ciencias y el desarrollo de habilidades del siglo XXI. Retos, 70, 1079-1096. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v70.116789
Yandún Cartagena, C. A., Chiles Arévalo, G. V., Paz-Alcívar, M. Y., Calupiña Bustos, S. S., & Michilena Játiva , M. L. (2025). Psicomotricidad como estrategia integral para mejorar motricidad, expresión corporal y calidad de vida en niños de educación inicial. Retos, 73, 1322-1331. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v73.117774
Yildirim, A. (2010). Creativity in early childhood education program. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 9, 1561–1565. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.SBSPRO.2010.12.365
Zachopoulou, E., Trevlas, E., Konstadinidou, E., y Archimedes Project Research Group. (2006). Diseño e implementación de un programa de educación física para promover la creatividad infantil en la primera infancia. Revista Internacional de Educación Infantil, 14 (3), 279-294. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669760600880043
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 María Sevilla Sánchez, Irene González-Martí, María Pilar León González
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and ensure the magazine the right to be the first publication of the work as licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of authorship of the work and the initial publication in this magazine.
- Authors can establish separate additional agreements for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the journal (eg, to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Is allowed and authors are encouraged to disseminate their work electronically (eg, in institutional repositories or on their own website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as to a subpoena more Early and more of published work (See The Effect of Open Access) (in English).
This journal provides immediate open access to its content (BOAI, http://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/boaifaq.htm#openaccess) on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. The authors may download the papers from the journal website, or will be provided with the PDF version of the article via e-mail.
