Fun activities to develop problem solving skills

As they grow, children have many opportunities to learn about the world. However, they also regularly face problems, be it the school environment, emotions, or social relationships. The benefits of problem-solving skills for children are numerous and can help them deal effectively with complex situations in their everyday lives.

With the help of problem-solving skills, creativity and critical thinking, children will learn to find practical solutions independently without relying on an adult. Moreover, when faced with difficulties, they will be more confident in their ability to use their skills and develop innovative solutions on their own.

Here is a series of activities that help to train and train these capacities of children:

Puzzles

One of the best problem solving activities for kids is jigsaw puzzles. They come in different levels of difficulty. Depending on the age of the child, we can choose from a variety of ideas. When the child interacts with a puzzle, he learns to analyze the problem/question, find different ways to solve it and arrive at the solution. In addition, the activity will help little ones improve their critical thinking skills, gross motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

Treasure hunt

One of the educational activities that every child should have the opportunity to experience is treasure hunting. It's an easy-to-apply, fun activity that can be done both indoors and outdoors and requires nothing more than items we already have on hand. This activity allows children to think "out of the box", from several perspectives, training thinking with a focus on analysis and identifying opportunities.

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We are creative and ... we build

When we give children LEGO pieces or wooden pieces, we help them train their imagination and build their own world, but also use their problem-solving skills. Building requires little ones to strategize about what to build and how to put the pieces together; to come up with creative solutions to ensure it is a functional design. We can increase the challenge and ask them to build the tallest tower to support a meringue, or build a fantastical creature with three arms or two towers with a connecting bridge...the options are endless.

Open questions

Asking open-ended questions is a great way to improve a child's ability to think creatively and critically and improve their problem-solving skills. With these questions, there is no right or wrong answer, and the answer goes beyond a simple "no" or "yes." Children need to think of the most interesting things, to satisfy all their curiosities too, and when they answer their first "why?", it's our role to encourage them to have another "AHA" moment! 

Crafts

Involving little ones in arts and crafts is another great way to train their problem-solving skills. It is valuable to provide the child with a variety of materials to challenge their creativity. 

Problem-solving skills teach children to think creatively and deal independently with life's challenges. Guiding them to recognize the problem and letting them solve it themselves could be the first step towards building self-confidence and training their analytical and solution-focused thinking.  

*Article written by Veronica Dunga, KEN Academy trainer.