This study examined the contention that teacher instruction in the "correct use" of classroom equipment, as in the Montessori training method, inhibits a child's ability to generate other uses for that same equipment. Subjects were 31 matched pairs of four- and five-year-olds from two Montessori preschools and two traditional nursery schools. Each child was given adaptations of four Unusual Uses Test from Torrance's Minnesota Tests of Creative Thinking and Writing. The tests utilized two items familiar to all children (a stuffed dog and a fork) and two Montessori equipment items (a triangular wooden block and a button frame). A comparison of the children's test results contradicted theassertion that teacher demonstration of how to use equipment inhibits creativity, whether or not the objects used are Montessori equipment items. (ST)