Abstract
The primary concern of this article is to clarify what kinds of significance or potentialities art and craft education has children with special educational needs. In particular, the present study focuses on 'Formative Play' and tries to make clear its usefulness. It is because we cannot say that the significance, teaching contents and methods of Formative Play are not adequately recognized yet in present school education, and furthermore, the author has high expectations for educational meanings and possibilities that Formative Play itself has for children with special educational needs. Moreover, if the present paper succeeds in achieving an agreement on usefulness of Formative Play, we can expect Formative Play to be positively introduced as teaching contents to the fields such as integrative/confluent education. This would lead to secure a chance of self-expression for children, which is in line with the goal of art education that the writer has at the present time.
