When it comes to children we want to give them the best possible start in life. Teaching them how to think outside the box in school and life will be a valuable tool you can impart. Raising creative thinkers who look beyond the obvious solution is an important skill. It means nurturing children to become independent — curious, questioning and innovative.

Due to the increase in artificial intelligence, many tasks will be automated in the near future. Research indicates that 60 percent of occupations have at least 30 percent of work activities that could be automated. By teaching children to be creative and to think outside of the box, it will serve them well throughout school, university, and especially in their adult lives. The sooner we get them started in the right direction, the faster they will pick up these thinking skills. That in turn means they will reach their professional and personal goals quicker and more easily. Take the time to teach them right from the beginning and encourage out of the box thinking.

Here are several suggestions to teach children how to think outside of the box:

• Provide ample opportunity for creative play time. Whether it just be general free play or you set the stage for a playtime activity, children need the gift of time to just play and problem solve. When children problem solve during playtime it gives them a safe space to practice skills to repeat in the real world.
• Children develop their inventiveness and skill while having fun. Playing helps children build new skills that could lead to increased self-confidence and coping with future challenges. Some interesting games that can help children develop essential problem-solving skills include Sudoku, crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, computer games, board games, and many others.
• Through open-ended questioning, children can better learn about the world around them and connect using this knowledge to make themselves better people. These questions don't have any right or incorrect answers, but they encourage children to think outside the box, generate ideas, and help them become more confident in their ability to use words. Ask lots of questions without prompting what the answer could be. This is also called “asking open-ended questions”. Questions such as: what would you do next? how can you fix this? what can you do differently?
• Be creative. Children learn from role models. If you are creative and think outside the box, your children will be more likely to follow your lead.
• Reduce Screen Time. Most screen time is passive (watching television) or does not require creativity (most video games). When screen time is reduced, children will have to get creative to determine what to do during free playtime.
• Teach them to embrace boredom. It is perfectly fine for children to be bored. This is when thinking outside the box to entertain themselves gets turned on full force!
• Offer positive reinforcement. When you children think outside of the box and come up with a creative solution praise them for a job well done.
• Integrate independent thinking into everyday activities. Give children plenty of opportunities to think independently every day. An excellent way to do this is by asking open-ended questions that encourage them to give initial responses instead of always offering yes/no answers. These questions help develop out of the box thinking skills by allowing for divergent and critical responses.
• Teach them to be responsible. Provide your child with opportunities to make decisions. Let him pick out his clothing for the day, choose what he wants for breakfast, and choose art projects to complete. Assigning some responsibilities to your child will always promote independent thinking in them. They will be forced to think about all their options before they choose.

 

Encouraging creative thinking from an early age helps shape their minds and it may even result in more neural connections being created. That in turn will help them grasp concepts in school better. Out of the box and creative thinking skills are some of the best advantages you can give them. It’s well worth spending the time and effort on!