Examining the Impact of Historical Stories on the Development of Creativity in Children

Abstract

The lack of attention from developing countries, particularly those facing war and insecurity, to developing children's creativity, coupled with the use of traditional educational systems in schools, severely impacts children's creativity. Despite this, fostering creativity and imagination in children is considered a key educational goal in the current age. Creativity helps children develop the ability to think creatively, solve problems, and generate new ideas. Thus, one effective way to strengthen and empower talents and skills is through the study of historical stories. Not only do children gain knowledge about events, occurrences, historical figures, and past scientists, but they also find a means to journey into the world of imagination, examining and observing historical events from various perspectives. Through historical stories, they learn about crises, challenges, and the triumphs of heroes and conquerors, drawing valuable lessons from their histories. By reading historical stories, children can model perseverance, ethics, and decision-making, deepening their imagination and thoughts. This study aims to examine the impact of historical stories on the development of creativity in children, considering the importance of this subject. It seeks to demonstrate, based on previous research and studies, how historical stories can serve as a useful and effective tool for developing creative and innovative skills in children. The research also investigates how historical stories can strengthen children's creativity and measures their impact on problem-solving and decision-making skills, as well as institutionalizing the motivation to read historical stories and their effectiveness in enhancing children's reasoning abilities and critical thinking skills. The research method was conducted library-based, examining various types of historical stories to evaluate their effects on children's creativity, including critical thinking and analytical abilities. The results reveal that historical stories can act as a valuable tool in the learning process, going beyond mere narration of the past. They also enhance critical thinking and creativity in children while providing a foundation for learning deep human and cultural concepts. This paper focuses on the impact of historical stories on children's creativity and examines the challenges and opportunities present in developing countries and regions facing war and insecurity. Findings indicate that the challenges and issues hindering children's creativity arise from unsuitable conditions for studying historical stories and factors such as insecurity and ongoing wars in the countries, which prevent children's development and deprive them of education. Children may drop out of school due to losing their family breadwinner. These mentioned challenges can be mitigated to some extent by applying the conclusions and recommendations available in this research. This study emphasizes the importance of incorporating appropriate historical stories into educational programs to enhance children’s creativity and innovative thinking, which largely depends on creativity, perseverance, and the understanding of responsibility among parents and teachers in educational and developmental institutions.