The Effect of a Music Experience Activity Package on Creative Thinking Abilities of Young Children
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Abstract
Background and Objectives: Creativity is a fundamental skill for the holistic development of preschool children and provides a foundation for future learning, critical thinking, and problem-solving. This study aimed to develop a music experience activity set to enhance preschool children's creative abilities and to compare their creative abilities before and after the intervention, both within the experimental group and between the experimental and control groups.
Methods: This study employed a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest control group design. The sample consisted of 60 preschool children aged 5–6 years, selected through multistage sampling. Nonthaburi Provincial Administrative Organization was selected to represent the central region, and Wat Pracharangsan School was subsequently selected as the research site. The participants were divided into an experimental group and a control group, with 30 children in each group. The research instruments comprised a music experience activity set developed by the researcher and a creativity assessment form. Both instruments underwent content validity assessment by experts in early childhood education and music pedagogy. The experimental group participated in the music experience activities for eight weeks, while the control group continued with the school's regular learning activities. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including means and standard deviations, and inferential statistics using t-tests.
Results: The findings indicated that the developed music experience activity set was considered appropriate by experts and could be practically implemented in classroom settings. The experimental group's post-intervention creativity scores were significantly higher than their pre-intervention scores at the .05 significance level. Furthermore, the experimental group's post-intervention creativity scores were significantly higher than those of the control group at the .05 significance level.
Application of this Study: The music experience activity set can be applied by early childhood teachers and relevant educational personnel as a practical instructional resource for designing classroom activities that foster preschool children's creativity. The findings also support the integration of music-based experiences into early childhood education to provide opportunities for creative expression and development.
Conclusions: The developed music experience activity set demonstrated positive effects on preschool children's creative abilities. The findings provide empirical support for the use of structured music activities as an educational innovation to promote creativity in early childhood and offer a practical approach for teachers seeking to integrate arts-based learning into classroom practice.
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