Oh gosh yes Annette! You are describing my dd to a tee. She started her 3 year program at 2 1/2 because of odd birth date cutoffs in our state. Despite being months younger than the next youngest kid in the class she was so far ahead socially, verbally and creatively that they had to bring in a similarly social 4 year old for her to interact with. But they did it and it worked out great.
I vote for a play based program for the creative ones. The last year in this play based laboratory program she "wrote" (dictated to a student teacher) a play every day, then cast her classmates in the supporting roles and they performed it. No one ever knew what she was going to come up with next and it was totally supported by the teacher. This was completely dd�s idea - the program was 100 percent child based and child driven - it was a perfect match.
The right teacher is key here. Creative kids can "push buttons" if they are paired with adults who don't "get" them. Meet the teachers and see how they respond to your ds. You will probably quickly see if they encourage the creativity or try to contain it or direct him to certain tasks.
One really helpful tip I got when looking for a preschool was to look at the artwork on the wall. If you see a bunch of identical apple trees or penguins on the wall it tells you a lot about what the program stresses. My dd's program did not even provide for teacher made examples. They just put out a bunch of materials and had the kids explore and play with whatever interested them in whatever way it interested them. This approach may not work for the kids that thrive on structure and discipline but was wonderful for my creative, outgoing dd.
The only drawback was that we *may* have picked up her ld's earlier in a more academic program. I have wondered about that but have decided that with all the difficulties she has ahead of her in school I am glad we gave her the gift of 3 years of absolute joy in preschool.
Good luck!
