Teach Children to Think Outside of the Box

With all of the future changes and automation in our society, it is our job as parents to teach children to think outside of the box. We need to raise children that are independent and creative thinkers. Unfortunately, many times these skills can go by the wayside at school. Teachers have to cram in so much content knowledge in order to get satisfactory state test scores, that creativity and ingenuity are not always a priority. Parents and teachers can take the time to add in supplemental lessons or use project-based and discovery learning to encourage children to think outside of the box.

Start Early

When it comes to your children you want to give them the best possible start in life. Raising creative thinkers who look beyond the obvious solution is an important skill. 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 your 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 you 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.

Make it Part of Your Daily Life

When we make a new skill a part of our every day lives it becomes a habit. Provide your children with challenges and call them out when they try to take the easy way out when solving a puzzle or a problem. They’ll thank you in the long run. Not only will thinking outside the box help your children, but it will also help you. Children are amazing problem solvers. You would be amazed at how much they can help see things in a different light compared to adults. You just need to ask.

Encourage Creativity and Ingenuity in Children

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.
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 a creative person. Children learn from role models. If you are creative and think outside the box, your children will be more likely to follow your lead.
ask challenging or thought provoking questions. Try solving riddles.
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.
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.

Teaching your children 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.

More Information about How to Teach Children to Think Outside of the Box

Think Outside the Box digital download challenges creativity, critical thinking, and ingenuity with 50 different questions to ponder and respond.

Are you looking to challenge children to think outside the box? These 50 questions from the Think Outside the Box packet encourage children to use their imagination, intelligence, and creativity to solve problems, list ideas and think critically. This packet includes 50 questions and 2 response sheets to record answers (single lined and dotted lines). FIND OUT MORE.