Open Ended Problem Solving

Our local school district every year sponsors a learning fair for students grade 4th through 6th. Basically, students complete a project at home and share it at the Learning Fair usually on a poster, table top or a demonstration. The whole idea is for the students to come up with a question or problem and answer it. My children and their friends have participated in it over the past several years and it is a wonderful event. It allows the students open ended learning where they pick the question. It is a great way to introduce early concepts of research and problem solving. In the end, the children learn so much and have so much fun along the way. This year the two questions they came up with in our house are:

1. How do you make cotton candy without a cotton candy machine?
2. What can babies see? 

Previous years have included how do cell phones work, how does a hair perm work and how do you make chewing gum? This is a super simple idea to try with your children to grow their abilities to learn and problem solve. Just remember let them pick the topic no matter what it might be (unless dangerous obviously - well making cotton candy without a machine actually turned out to be quite dangerous, hot sugar hurts!)

For the younger crowd, let them participate as well.  Let them come up with the question.  You may just need to help problem solve a bit along the way.  I think you will really enjoy just hearing their ideas and questions.  

Push Children to Be Creative

Technology offers us information at all hours of the day bombarding us with knowledge. With everyone having access to "google" at anytime, children need to be taught to think outside the box. Parents and teachers can provide opportunities for children to be more creative. One way to do this is to provide challenges that can be solved in different ways. Sometimes as adults we provide too much input or steps to complete a project. Next time you plan an activity try just putting materials on a table but don't say how to get to the end result. Let the child explore the materials and create what they like. You can do this with art materials such as glue, paints, paper and decorative items. You could also try it with kitchen items to create a science experiment environment. Regardless of what you set up initially remember to not offer suggestions or request an end result. Just let the children express their creativity. For older children you could offer a challenge such as create a musical instrument using recycled items. If you are outdoors, you can provide loose parts for children to create obstacle courses or whatever they like. You will see it is very hard to stay in the room and not comment. But you will greatly appreciate the end result when you see the pride in your child's face because they created something truly all by themselves.