Help your child learn how to think, reason and solve problems!
The skills a child gains in early childhood set the foundation for learning for the rest of that child’s life.
Many parents and schools focus on certain life skills or academic knowledge. These subjects are important, but young children can benefit even more from developing the ability to think, reason and solve problems creatively.
When you teach your child how to think, they will have greater benefits from school and more independence.
How to Have Creative Ideas
Creativity and creative problem solving are important parts of learning often overlooked. A child’s creativity can be fostered if they are placed in an environment that rewards and expands on the child’s inner creativity and thoughts.
What a child creates inside is worth being focused on. Young children have an innate desire to learn and grow. They tend to excel when placed in an environment that gives them the freedom and opportunity to do so.
There are many ways our Reno preschool can expand your child’s creativity. The first way is by providing them with a variety of activities and opportunities for self-discovery and exploration. This helps the child to identify their strengths and interests. It sets the foundation for their future learning. When a child is pursuing their passions, they will learn better and faster and the learning experience will be more enjoyable.
Creativity is also fostered by giving a child plenty of options for artistic self-expression. A preschool focused on developing creative thinking and ideas will focus more on imagination. A child will have plenty of opportunities to develop academic skills later. In early childhood, fostering creativity and expression is more beneficial. This can include art, music and dance, dramatic play and many other activities.
The Role of Parents
Parents can support this style of learning by actively engaging their child in a discussion of whatever art they have created. This discussion does a few important things for the child. First, it creates a connection with the parent and shows the child the parent is interested in what they have created and what their ideas are. This interest is very important for a child’s development. Second, it allows the child to practice their expression verbally.
This process moves the child along a continuum of expression. They begin with abstract art, such as a drawing or sculpture, and end with the child putting the idea into words. The child may not draw any particular object or anything that an adult would find decipherable. Every drawing is still an act of creative thinking and expression that is important to the child. It is often ideas they have trouble putting into words.
How to Teach Your Child How to Think
By encouraging a young child to be creative and expressive, you can teach your child how to think. Creativity allows a child to deeply explore ideas, emotions or events they have experienced. The medium of art is far less intimidating and more open than a verbal discussion. It is also accessible to every child, even if they are not verbal or able to write anything.
When a creative activity is discussed afterward with an adult, it gives the child the chance to practice analysis and synthesis. These are the most advanced thinking skills. Analysis is the act of breaking a more complex idea down into parts. The various question prompts an adult can ask allows the child to analyze what they have created. For example, an adult may ask why a child chose a particular color or why they wanted to draw a particular shape. A child may not have an answer ready to these questions. Even if they don’t have an answer, the question stimulates their thinking.
Synthesis is the final level of thinking skills. In synthesis, a child begins to put various ideas they have broken down back together. Usually, they create a brand new and creative idea in the process. This is important because the idea created is unique to the child. They reached it on their own. An adult can guide a young child to synthesize by helping them organize and find connections between what they have learned or made. These connections in their thinking and experience create synthesis.
A young child is probably not going to understand the process they go through. They don’t have to understand words like analysis and synthesis to do them and grow from them. Beginning with a creative idea and a creative act, and then exploring that creative idea or creative act in depth, accomplishes this learning. When you do this, you teach your child how to think not what to think.
Placing a child in the correct preschool setting gives them the fullest opportunity to explore and grow before they have to tackle kindergarten. When a child enters kindergarten already armed with the ability to think deeply and creatively, they will achieve far more success.
Please contact us with any questions you have and options for enrolling your child in our Reno preschool which will teach your child how to think!