There are so many lovely activities that you can do with babies, toddlers and young children to help support problem-solving skills through play. The activities that you are looking for to help with this skill are any that require them to analyse a situation and find a solution themselves.
Here are two, play-based activities that encourage problem-solving skills:
BISCUIT CONSTRUCTION SITE
Suitable for: toddlers and pre-schoolers
Have fun creating the yummiest of building sites together, complete with biscuit bricks and chocolate cement! This is a brilliant sensory play activity that is great for hand-eye co-ordination and problem-solving skills.
(As with all food-based activities, ensure that any relevant allergens are avoided and children are supervised when eating.)
Equipment
- Various biscuits, cereal, chocolate spread or icing and a clean surface or chopping board.
How to
- Discuss with the children what a building site is and what happens there. You could show them some images of a building site. Explain to the children that they are going to be building a house.
- Show them the various ‘building materials’ that they have to use and help them to solve the problem of how they are going to make a house with them.
- Explain to them that the biscuits can be used instead of bricks or timber and the chocolate spread or icing can act as cement and ‘stick’ the materials together.
- Support them in building their houses by discussing how they can position the materials to form the ‘walls’ and ‘roof’ and helping them to stick these together.
- Let the children show their buildings to their peers. Encourage them to explain how they built it and what they used.
Alternatives
- You could challenge yourselves further by attempting to build bridges, roads and skyscrapers – how high can you get?
Extension activity
- Have a competition over who can make the strongest build! Test the strength of them by standing small-world figures or blocks on the constructions – how many will they hold? How could they be made stronger?
Skills developed
- Problem solving.
- Motor skills.
- Numeracy.
- Sensory integration.
RAINBOW SCARF BOX
Suitable for: babies and toddlers
This activity is wonderfully engaging for little ones, it combines intrigue, colours and sensory play to bring lots of giggles and fun. It’s also brilliant for problem-solving and fine motor skills.
(For safety reasons, do not leave children unattended with the scarves.)
Equipment
- Selection of colourful scarves, and an empty box with a small hole in the top.
How to
- Tie the scarves together.
- Put them inside the box with an end poking out of the small hole.
- Ask the children ‘where are my scarves?’.
- To further engage the children, pretend to look around the room for the scarves! Try picking up the box and giving it a shake then turning it over.
- Encourage the children to play with the box and see if they can work out how to get the scarves out. Discuss the colours of the scarves they have found.
- Repeat as many times as they would like. Repetition is great for developing new skills.
Alternatives
- Don’t tie the scarves together, so the child has to work out how to get them all out of the box individually.
- Or you could hide the scarves in another object, such as a small tube, instead.
Extension activity
- Try using different types of fabric that have different textures. Encourage the child to touch and stroke the variety of fabrics and introduce new linked vocabulary to them, such as ‘soft’, ‘shiny’ and ‘bumpy’.
Skills developed
- Problem solving.
- Concentration.
- Language and communication.
- Motor skills.
- Working memory.
ABOUT THIS SERIES
- This is the fourth article in an eight-part series on practical ways to support the development of essential skills in children from birth to five, including those with special educational needs and disabilities.
- Georgina Durrant is author of 100 Ways Your Child Can Learn Through Play, a book of play-based activities that help develop important skills for children with SEN. She is a former teacher/SENDCO, private tutor and founder of The SEN Resources Blog: www.senresourcesblog.com.
- Twitter: @senresourceblog Facebook: @senresourcesblog