Thinking outside of the box is a useful skill for anyone to have. It goes hand in hand with creative problem solving, an ability that is highly valued by both schools and employees. Creative problem solving can lead to all sorts of successes in life, from basic survival to an abundant life.
Encouraging creative thinking should start early. Even toddlers can come up with a bit of creative thinking. By the time a child is of preschool age, you should foster an environment that offers plenty of opportunity for creative thinking and problem solving.
So how can you create this environment? Allow you child some guided independence. For example, if she can’t reach the light switch, ask her how she might accomplish this task. Supervise her of course and encourage a dialog first (you don’t want her doing anything dangerous). When presented with this problem, my four-year-old went over to the library book basket, choose a book and used it as a tool to extend her reach to turn on the bathroom light.
Present some fun activities in the form of questions and opportunities. For example, you might take out your collection of single socks and ask her, “These are all socks that don’t have mates. What do you think we should do with them?” If your preschooler is stumped offer some silly suggestions or leading questions to get her thinking.
“Should we make them into a soup?” “Could the cat wear them?” “Should we wear them on our hands?” This last one may lead the child to the thought of making sock puppets, especially if you try a sock on your hand and wiggle it a bit. Could you stuff the socks and make a bowling game? Could you hide the socks somewhere and have a scavenger hunt? Could you sort them by color or length? Could you ball them up and play catch? Could you tie them all together and make a jump rope? Giving a child an unconventional raw material, such as single socks can spark all kinds of creative thinking.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here or subscribe to the blog using the subscription box on the right.
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