Impact of Digital Games on Early Creative Expression in Children: Longitudinal Study Based on Experimental Intervention

Objective Exploring the impact of digital games on children's early creative expression. Method 300 kids between the ages of 4 and 6 were randomly assigned to 150 each in the experimental group and a control group. The experimental group received a 16-week, three-times-a-week, 30-minute digital games intervention, and the control group followed the regular program activities. The experiment used a pre- and post-test control group design, and the pre-test obtained data on the initial creativity levels of the two groups, including drawing creation and storytelling. The post-test was conducted at the end of the experiment, and the quantitative data were analyzed by SPSS26.0, and the qualitative data were analyzed by thematic analysis method. Results Prior to the intervention, there was no discernible difference between the experimental group and a control group in terms of the measures of game process observation and the dimensions of creative expression capacity (P>0.05). After the intervention, the experimental group was significantly better than the control group in innovativeativeness in drawing (P<0.001), and richness of plot in storytelling (P<0.001), and the experimental group's own scores on the pre- and post-tests of the dimensions improved significantly (P<0.001). The experimental group was significantly better than the control group in terms of creative expression in drawing works, storytelling multidimensionality and most dimensions of game process observation (P<0.05). Moreover, all pre- and post-test measures revealed significant differences within the experimental group, but all pre- and post-test dimensions did not show significant differences between boys and girls (P>0.05). Conclusion Digital games on children walking up creative expression ability has a significant enhancement effect, for the early childhood education in the application of digital resources provides a strong basis for helping to optimize the teaching method, promote the development of children's creativity.