Little Creatures Films are supported by research:

The founding director's collaborative filmmaking model derives from graduate level research, specifically her Ed.M. thesis (Columbia Teachers College, 2004), which explored the question:  How can video be used to create a more meaningful alternative to current mainstream corporate children’s television programming, for children between the ages of three and ten?  What do children gain from personal video stories that they cannot gain from this type of television? Her research fits into three main categories, which drive Little Creatures' work:

• The need for “critical pedagogy,” wherein the child viewer takes in the televised media and filters it through his or her dynamic mind and actions; children should experience visual media such as television in an active, rather than passive, way, and have outlets for responding to such stimuli  (Buckingham, 2000; Singer & Singer, 1990, p. 183; Tobin, 2000).

• The theory that children need to carry out imaginative play, because it not only provides pleasure but also helps them grow cognitively, emotionally and socially (Froebel, 1885; Huizinga, 1950; Erikson, 1976; Singer & Singer, 1990; Sutton-Smith, 1997; Vygotsky, 1978; V. Paley, 2004).

• “Adult facilitation” of children’s play, or playing with children, maintaining an engaged stance, yet still able to analyze the child’s learning and seek to raise that learning to a higher level, as described by Lev Vygotsky (1978) and researched by Lindqvist (1995), Ferholt (2007), Forman (1999), Brenneman Eno (2004).

Selected References

Brenneman Eno, Kristin. (2008). Not too young to watch, not too young to make. Youth Media Reporter. Volume 2, December 2008.

Brenneman Eno, Kristin. (2004). Children’s Video Stories: Using Current Media to Empower Young Children’s Imaginative Play. Ed.M. Thesis, Department of Art and Art Education, Columbia University Teachers College.

Buckingham, David. (2000).  After the Death of Childhood.  Malden, Mass:  Blackwell Publishers, Inc.

Erikson, E. (1976).  Play and Actuality.  (Excerpt from Play and Development, 1972) Play:  its role in development and evolution.  Bruner, J., Jolly, A., and Sylva, K., eds.  New York:  Basic Book.

Ferholt, Beth &  Rainio, P. (2004, April 14). Playdrama: A Transitory Activity That Combines Play, Drama and Philosophical Dialogue.  Paper presentation at the Annual meeting of the American Education Research Association.

Forman, George. (1999, Fall).  Instant Video Revisiting:  The video camera as a ‘tool of the mind’ for young children.  Early Childhood Research and Practice, 1, (2).

Froebel, Friedrich. (1885).  The Education of Man.  Translation by Josephine Jarvis.  New York:  A. Lovell.

Huizinga, Johan. (1950). Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture.  Boston: Beacon Press.

Lindqvist, Gunilla. (1995).  The Aesthetics of Play:  A Didactic Study of Play and Culture in Preschools. Philadelphia: Coronet Books.

Paley, Vivian.  (2004).  A Child’s Work:  The Importance of Fantasy Play.  Chicago:  U. of Chicago Press.

Singer, Dorothy & Singer, Jerome. (Eds.) (1990).  The House of Make-Believe:  Children’s Play and the Developing Imagination .  Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Sutton-Smith, B.  (1997).  The Ambiguity of Play.   Cambridge:  Harvard University Press.

Tobin, Joseph.  (2000).  Good Guys Don’t Wear Hats: Children Talk About the Media.  New York:  Teachers College Press.

Vygotsky, Lev. (1978).  Mind and Society.  Cambridge:  Harvard University Press.