The Effects of Picture Book Creation Activities on the Creativity and Playfulness of 5-Year-Old Children

Objectives This research investigates the effects of picture book creation activities on the creativity and playfulness of 5-year-old children. Methods The subjects of this study were 13 five-year-old children from H Kindergarten in K City, Gyeongsangbuk-do, and 13 five-year-old children from D Kindergarten in D City, selected as the experimental group and the control group, respectively. The experimental intervention involved conducting picture book creation activities and storytelling sessions from November 8, 2023, to January 17, 2024. The test results were analyzed using SPSS 28.0 for Windows. Specific methods included frequency analysis, independent/dependent t-tests, non-parametric statistics such as the Mann-Whitney U test, the Signed Ranks Test, and correlation analysis. The findings of this research are as follows. Results First, picture book creation activities were found to positively impact the enhancement of children's creativity. Specifically, the sub-factors of creativity, including flexibility, fluency, imagination, and originality, were positively influenced. Second, picture book creation activities were found to positively affect children’s playfulness. All sub-factors of playfulness, including physical spontaneity, social spontaneity, cognitive spontaneity, expression of enjoyment, and sense of humor, showed positive developmental effects. Conclusions These findings suggest that picture book creation activities are influential variables in enhancing the creativity and playfulness of 5-year-old children. Therefore, the results of this study indicate that picture book creation activities can help promote the creativity and playfulness of young children.