Abstract
This case study explores four elementary art teachers' perspectives of play-basedlearning and creativity in art education. The research questions guiding this study are: (1) What are art teachers' perspectives on play-based learning and creativity? (2) How do art teachers teach for play and creativity? (3) Why are the art teachers teaching for various levels of play and creativity? Various qualitative methods of data collection wereemployed including, observing one 45-minute art class at each of four different PublicElementary Schools, interviews and questionnaires with the four art teachers, photos ofstudents' artwork, and researcher's notes. The purpose of the study was to understandhow play for creativity development is valued in schools and if it may be used as a bestpractice for play-based learning by art educators. Results indicated that all the art teachers valued and taught for creativity to varying degrees, with one of the four art teachers declaring that she used play-based learning practices in her classroom. The other three teachers recognized the importance of play in child development although they did not specifically utilize play-based learning in their practice. The findings of the study may be helpful to other art teachers who are interested in developing students' creativity through carefully structured playful experiences.