Learning how to critically think is one of the most important skills a parent can teach their child. With the world being so fast-paced, children need to be able to do more than remember a bunch of facts, they need to think critically, analyse and adapt information to be able to develop skills. If you are on the search for ways to help your child with their critical thinking skills, then you’ve come to the right place. Advised by a prep school in Surrey, here are some ways to get started.
Building critical thinking schools is a tool that is taught and learnt every day through simple activities. Below are some ideas on how to lay the foundation.
- Allow your child to play. Provision of building blocks, board games and encouragement of role play will add to your child’s critical thinking skills. Introduce your child to toys that will keep them engaged and questioning different ideas and concepts.
- Ask open questions. The idea of an open question is to get answer further than yes or no. It allows space for ideas and opinions. Using this technique on your child will allow them to think for themselves instead of relying on adults to answer for them. Once your child has answered, acknowledge their idea and ask them to elaborate. This is a great way to strengthen critical thinking skills.
- Pause and wait. Often it is easy to answer a question for your child or move on in a hurry to avoid long spaces of silence whilst your child comes up with an answer. However, these spaces are your child using their existing knowledge to come up with better answers which is essential when developing thinking skills.
- Encourage them to think outside the box. Children tend to make decisions based on what they know and stay in their safe space. Ask them to consider other possibilities when making decisions to help their problem-solving skills too.
There will always be situations when you will have to step in and help your child out which is entirely fine. However, giving them that little bit of time and patience is the best way to get them using their own minds and develop their critical thinking skills.
*Collaborative post