Why Teaching Problem-Solving is Beneficial for Children

Unfortunately, children face social and emotional challenges every day. Because of this, problem-solving skills are necessary to face adversity head-on.

Problem-solving skills allow children to develop perspective-taking and learn how to take calculated risks. Increased decision-making skills have a ripple effect on other life skills, such as collaboration, analytical reasoning, and effective communication.

As your students develop problem-solving skills, they become more independent and are able to navigate challenges without experiencing emotional distress. Plus, children with robust problem-solving skills are better equipped to think creatively, which can ultimately contribute to addressing and solving complex social problems.

This article will examine effective problem-solving strategies for children and activities that facilitate learning while being fun and enojoyable for children. Plus, with Friendzy Freebies, the impact of these activities go even further!

5 Problem-Solving Strategies for Students

Take a deep breath – Deep breathing calms the nervous system, affording children space and time to respond to a given situation. It is an effective emotional resilience and problem-solving method. You can create your school’s brand kit by uploading your own fonts, logo, colors and images to match your school’s branding. You have access to Canva stock images and templates. If you have a team creating social media content, you can share and collaborate with team members.

Learn more about Friendzy's robust professional development library that includes videos like breathing techniques for the classroom.

Verbalize the issue – Encourage kids to express how they feel through words. When they describe how they feel out loud, it helps give perspective and aids in coming up with solutions. Friendzy's Daily Check-In freebie can help your students express themselves and develop actionable solutions.
Brainstorm solutions together – While vocalizing issues can be difficult, you can aid students in addressing challenges through effective communication and creative solutions. It’s important to encourage creative thinking rather than provide children with solutions outright.
Weigh your options – Every challenge has a variety of possible solutions. Therefore it’s vital to teach students how to identify the pros and cons of each one. Through the process of carefully weighing each option, children can effectively identify solutions that are best suited to address potential obstacles that may arise in the future.
Assess the situation – One of the most important strategies is reflection. Encourage students to reflect on the outcomes of their decision and identify successful and unsuccessful strategies, allowing them to optimize their approach in the future.

Awareness of our body's fight or flight response can impact effective problem-solving. That's why it's essential to employ breathing techniques. Use Friendzy’s free Breathing Handout in your classroom to support healthy problem-solving strategies today!

7 Problem-Solving Activities for Kids

There’s no better method for learning problem-solving skills than creative play. These activities are a fun way to introduce these topics and create a low-stakes method of teaching basic problem-solving and life skills. Here are a few popular activities you can try in your classroom!

Puzzles

Like other board games, puzzles are a classic problem-solving activity popular with kids and adults. They encourage persistence and patience while teaching motor and critical thinking skills.

You can implement all kinds of puzzles in your classroom, from simple shape puzzles to 40,000-piece masterpieces. You can even introduce Legos for a 3D-like puzzle experience. As children get better at puzzles, their problem-solving abilities will also improve!

Scavenger Hunts

Scavenger hunts are one of the most versatile activities for developing a child’s ability to follow directions, follow problem-solving steps, and develop social skills. It’s easy to set up a scavenger hunt in the classroom and tie it in with your lesson plan.

Utilizing scavenger hunts creates a platform for children to use their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. It may require some upfront work, but the resulting benefit of increased engagement, learning, and fun will be well worth the investment!

Storybooks

Few things are better for a child’s development than reading. Reading stories introduces novel scenarios and endearing protagonists who face challenges. These stories show children how characters prevail and reveal new problem-solving strategies.

Challenge your students to act like their favorite characters, then ask them how those characters would respond during various scenarios. The lessons they learn through reading can have a direct real-life correlation that allows them to solve their own problems.

Are you looking for fascinating books your students will love? Check out Friendzy’s Better Together Book List, filled with stories that encourage relationship-building, empathy, communication, and, most importantly, problem-s

Crafts

Arts and crafts provide the opportunity for the mind to wander, creating connections not obvious previously. Encouraging students to get their hands dirty and create something unique from various materials will release the problem-solver in them!

Educators can create themes that complement their lesson plans and encourage creativity. The key is to ensure active student participation.

When you implement the Friendzy program into your classroom, your students engage with hands-on lessons and activities in every module. Join us for a live demo to see these activities in action!

Asking Open-Ended Questions

Open-ended questions facilitate deeper and more nuanced responses, fostering insightful and creative thinking. These questions help children vocalize their struggles and constructively communicate their feelings without throwing a tantrum.

Use open-ended questions like these:

How did that make you feel?
What did you learn?
How will you handle the situation next time?
What do you think your friends were feeling?

Meaningful conversations happen when everyone asks insightful questions. Use Friendzy’s printable Better Together Discussion Questions worksheet to facilitate deep conversations with the children in your life!

Mazes

Mazes and maze-like activities can help improve motor skills, power of observation, sense of direction, and, you guessed it, problem-solving skills. You can even go beyond paper mazes and allow children to explore corn mazes, playgrounds, or obstacle courses.

As children develop their skills, they can complete even more complex mazes, increasing their collaborative abilities and teamwork. Hopefully, there are no minotaurs, and the students will make it out without unleashing Pandora’s box!

Human Knot

Another excellent problem-solving activity that boosts teamwork is the human knot. The human knot requires no materials; students can do it anywhere, making it practical and fun.

First, have students stand in a circle. Direct them to hold the right hand of the person standing opposite them. Then, tell the students to take the left hand of another person, but not someone standing directly next to them.

The goal is for the children to untangle themselves without releasing their hands. In this activity, students must communicate effectively, engage in creative thinking, and work through challenges without getting upset.

Teaching Problem-Solving Skills to Kids is Easy with Friendzy

Creative play and problem-solving activities are fun ways to engage challenges without fear of failure. Whether you tangle the class in a human knot or create riveting scavenger hunts, there are plenty of creative ways to teach the critical problem-solving skills kids will use forever.

Of course, providing basic problem-solving skills is easier with a few key strategies. Having students take deep breaths supports mental health and role-playing and can aid brainstorming and creative thinking.

Teach children to evaluate the outcomes of their decisions and assess the methods that will enhance their decision-making skills.

Engaging students in deep character development can seem overwhelming; that's why Friendzy created a social-emotional character development program that teaches students vital social and emotional skills like problem-solving that allow them to succeed in school and life. Connect with us today to see how our program can benefit you and your students!

Problem-Solving Strategies And Activities For Kids