The effect of educational games which are played under the guidance of teachers on children’s creative thinking skills in preschool period

The aim of this study is to determine the effect of the educational game training which will be given 2 days a week in addition to standart preschool education, to preschool children aged 4 and 5, on creativity development. Totally 141 children from two different kindergarten are included in this study. Children are randomly divided into two groups 37 girls, 38 boys in total 75 children to experimental group and 30 girls, 36 boys in total 66 children to control group. Before the study Thinking Creatively in Action and Movement (TCAM) Test developed by E. P. Torrance and adapted to Turkish by Karabulut (2012) were applied all of the 141 children. Educational game is played to the experimental group 2 days a week and an hour a day during 14 weeks in addition to their standart education. But the control group doesn’t involve in any activities except for their standart education. At the end of the 14 weeks TCAM test is applied again both control and experimental group as a final test. As a result of the statistical analysis of the obtained data significant differences has been determined in the fluency, originality, imagination and total creativity scores of the children in the experimental group compared to the children in the control group. In the light of the these datas, it can be said that under the guidance of the teacher, regular and well-planned educational game programmes make a significant contribute on children’s creative thinking skills. © The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology