Helping Your Child Become a Great Problem Solver

Learning how to problem solve is an essential part of your child’s development. This is because problem solving gives your child the necessary skills to observe, analyse and communicate effectively. Problem solving skills will not only help your child to find solutions to difficulties they encounter on a daily basis, but they will also provide many benefits for their education, future career and self-confidence.

To help your child become a great problem solver, I have teamed up with an independent school in Yorkshire to share the following tips…

Encouraging free play will give your child plenty of opportunities to learn. This kind of self-exploration is crucial for developing problem skills. For example, whilst your child is playing with water they can experiment with different materials to discover which ones sink and which ones float. Your child can also explore what happens to certain substances like oil when then they are added to water.

Outdoor experiences offer new challenges to children, which help to develop problem-solving skills. These opportunities will help to build confidence and help your child to identify hazards and evaluate risks. If you would like to spend more time outdoors with your family you could plan a camping trip. This will give you all a chance to explore together, learn survival skills and try new activities such as orienteering and building a camp fire.

A fun way to teach problem solving to older children is through coding. Coding develops brainstorming, creative thinking, and decision-making skills, all of which are necessary for a successful education and career. With coding, children learn to spot a problem and then break it down into smaller pieces in order to solve it effectively. This is called decomposition, which is a key skill for future employment opportunities.