infant problem solving skills

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Problem Solving with Others – Infant/Toddler

Problem solving with others.

With your help,  infants and toddlers can begin to learn the skills needed to solve problems with others

At a Glance

Most infants have a strong desire to engage with the people and objects around them. And, they rely on adults to guide and promote positive social interactions. As they develop, toddlers begin to show interest in playing beside their peers — and, later, with them. As they interact and learn the social rules of play, young children need help to develop social problem-solving skills. Educators can provide children with language to understand problems and feelings. They can also support children to find and accept fair solutions when issues arise.

• Get to Know This Skill - Infants
• Get to Know This Skill - Toddlers

What It Looks Like

A quick glance at how you can help infants and toddlers develop problem-solving skills, help children solve problems.

When challenges arise during play, help children identify the problem, provide language they can use to communicate, and guide children to consider different possible solutions.

Encourage Fair Solutions

Encourage children to reflect on a problem and help model potential solutions that are fair for everyone. Notice how this educator proposes a way for two toddlers to share a toy they both want.

Practice Sharing Together

Set up and monitor activities that require collaboration. This gives children an opportunity to practice sharing and helps prepare them for similar situations they may encounter later on.

STRATEGY LIBRARY

Social Problem Solving With Toddlers

In this short series of lesson, you’ll learn three simple steps to help toddlers engaging in social problem solving.

With your support, young children can develop the social, emotional and language skills they need to engage in positive play experiences.

TRAUMA-INFORMED CARE

The Power of Play

A brief video from the Harvard Center on the Developing Child explores how play in early childhood can reduce stress (including trauma-related stress) and scaffold problem solving.

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FAMILY CONNECTION

Families as a Resource

In this article from the Center for Responsive Schools, Carol Davis shares how educators can have conversations with families about problems that occur in the classroom.

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CONSIDERING EQUITY

Inclusive Social Interactions

In their latest magazine issue, Cultivate Learning shares collaborative strategies to support children of different abilities to develop social skills.

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PROBLEM SOLVING THROUGH BOOKS

That's (Not) Mine

Written by Anna Kang and illustrated by Christopher Weyant, this story highlights different ways to (not) solve problems with friends in a fun and engaging way.

Activity Cards for Infant and Toddler Classrooms

Part of the streamin 3 curriculum, these activity cards provide simple and fun ways you can prompt older infants and toddlers to collaborate and solve problems together.

Dance Party

As children dance, problems will naturally arise. Narrate what the problem is, then suggest a solution.

Find a Solution

Present a problem with puppets or characters from a story. Use picture cards to help them find a solution.

Partner Clapping

As children try this activity with partners, help them find solutions when things don't go quite right.

Partner Tasks

Assign pairs of children classroom tasks to complete together .

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Includes questions and activities to guide your use of the videos, book suggestions, and activity cards featured for each of the Core Skills

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How to Teach Kids Problem-Solving Skills

KidStock / Blend Images / Getty Images

• Steps to Follow
• Allow Consequences

Whether your child can't find their math homework or has forgotten their lunch, good problem-solving skills are the key to helping them manage their life. 

A 2010 study published in Behaviour Research and Therapy found that kids who lack problem-solving skills may be at a higher risk of depression and suicidality.   Additionally, the researchers found that teaching a child problem-solving skills can improve mental health . 

You can begin teaching basic problem-solving skills during preschool and help your child sharpen their skills into high school and beyond.

Why Problem-Solving Skills Matter

Kids face a variety of problems every day, ranging from academic difficulties to problems on the sports field. Yet few of them have a formula for solving those problems.

Kids who lack problem-solving skills may avoid taking action when faced with a problem.

Rather than put their energy into solving the problem, they may invest their time in avoiding the issue.   That's why many kids fall behind in school or struggle to maintain friendships .

Other kids who lack problem-solving skills spring into action without recognizing their choices. A child may hit a peer who cuts in front of them in line because they are not sure what else to do.  

Or, they may walk out of class when they are being teased because they can't think of any other ways to make it stop. Those impulsive choices may create even bigger problems in the long run.

The 5 Steps of Problem-Solving

Kids who feel overwhelmed or hopeless often won't attempt to address a problem. But when you give them a clear formula for solving problems, they'll feel more confident in their ability to try. Here are the steps to problem-solving:  

• Identify the problem . Just stating the problem out loud can make a big difference for kids who are feeling stuck. Help your child state the problem, such as, "You don't have anyone to play with at recess," or "You aren't sure if you should take the advanced math class." 
• Develop at least five possible solutions . Brainstorm possible ways to solve the problem. Emphasize that all the solutions don't necessarily need to be good ideas (at least not at this point). Help your child develop solutions if they are struggling to come up with ideas. Even a silly answer or far-fetched idea is a possible solution. The key is to help them see that with a little creativity, they can find many different potential solutions.
• Identify the pros and cons of each solution . Help your child identify potential positive and negative consequences for each potential solution they identified. 
• Pick a solution. Once your child has evaluated the possible positive and negative outcomes, encourage them to pick a solution.
• Test it out . Tell them to try a solution and see what happens. If it doesn't work out, they can always try another solution from the list that they developed in step two. 

Practice Solving Problems

When problems arise, don’t rush to solve your child’s problems for them. Instead, help them walk through the problem-solving steps. Offer guidance when they need assistance, but encourage them to solve problems on their own. If they are unable to come up with a solution, step in and help them think of some. But don't automatically tell them what to do. 

When you encounter behavioral issues, use a problem-solving approach. Sit down together and say, "You've been having difficulty getting your homework done lately. Let's problem-solve this together." You might still need to offer a consequence for misbehavior, but make it clear that you're invested in looking for a solution so they can do better next time. 

Use a problem-solving approach to help your child become more independent.

If they forgot to pack their soccer cleats for practice, ask, "What can we do to make sure this doesn't happen again?" Let them try to develop some solutions on their own.

Kids often develop creative solutions. So they might say, "I'll write a note and stick it on my door so I'll remember to pack them before I leave," or "I'll pack my bag the night before and I'll keep a checklist to remind me what needs to go in my bag." 

Provide plenty of praise when your child practices their problem-solving skills.  

Allow for Natural Consequences

Natural consequences  may also teach problem-solving skills. So when it's appropriate, allow your child to face the natural consequences of their action. Just make sure it's safe to do so. 

For example, let your teenager spend all of their money during the first 10 minutes you're at an amusement park if that's what they want. Then, let them go for the rest of the day without any spending money.

This can lead to a discussion about problem-solving to help them make a better choice next time. Consider these natural consequences as a teachable moment to help work together on problem-solving.

Becker-Weidman EG, Jacobs RH, Reinecke MA, Silva SG, March JS. Social problem-solving among adolescents treated for depression . Behav Res Ther . 2010;48(1):11-18. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2009.08.006

Pakarinen E, Kiuru N, Lerkkanen M-K, Poikkeus A-M, Ahonen T, Nurmi J-E. Instructional support predicts childrens task avoidance in kindergarten .  Early Child Res Q . 2011;26(3):376-386. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2010.11.003

Schell A, Albers L, von Kries R, Hillenbrand C, Hennemann T. Preventing behavioral disorders via supporting social and emotional competence at preschool age .  Dtsch Arztebl Int . 2015;112(39):647–654. doi:10.3238/arztebl.2015.0647

Cheng SC, She HC, Huang LY. The impact of problem-solving instruction on middle school students’ physical science learning: Interplays of knowledge, reasoning, and problem solving . EJMSTE . 2018;14(3):731-743.

Vlachou A, Stavroussi P. Promoting social inclusion: A structured intervention for enhancing interpersonal problem‐solving skills in children with mild intellectual disabilities . Support Learn . 2016;31(1):27-45. doi:10.1111/1467-9604.12112

Öğülmüş S, Kargı E. The interpersonal cognitive problem solving approach for preschoolers .  Turkish J Educ . 2015;4(17347):19-28. doi:10.19128/turje.181093

American Academy of Pediatrics. What's the best way to discipline my child? .

Kashani-Vahid L, Afrooz G, Shokoohi-Yekta M, Kharrazi K, Ghobari B. Can a creative interpersonal problem solving program improve creative thinking in gifted elementary students? .  Think Skills Creat . 2017;24:175-185. doi:10.1016/j.tsc.2017.02.011

Shokoohi-Yekta M, Malayeri SA. Effects of advanced parenting training on children's behavioral problems and family problem solving .  Procedia Soc Behav Sci . 2015;205:676-680. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.09.106

By Amy Morin, LCSW Amy Morin, LCSW, is the Editor-in-Chief of Verywell Mind. She's also a psychotherapist, an international bestselling author of books on mental strength and host of The Verywell Mind Podcast. She delivered one of the most popular TEDx talks of all time.

• April 29, 2022

Play Activities for 12 to 24 Months

Whether you’re looking for games to build your toddler’s language skills, or games to keep the young ones busy, here are some great play ideas for your infant or toddler., action-oriented activities, squishy sponges.

Give the child some soaking wet sponges to play with outside. Let him wash his trike, the mailbox, or even stamp wet sponge-shapes onto the sidewalk. Show him how he can squeeze the sponge to make the water come out—this builds physical skills in his hands and fingers. “Important” jobs like washing a tricycle or baby doll help toddlers feel like confident and helpful members of the family. As with all water activities, it is critical to supervise children carefully as they play.

Leaf Collector

Give the child a small basket and take her on a walk around your neighborhood or a local park or school. See if she wants to pick up leaves and other “treasures” and put them in her basket. You might be surprised by how long your toddler will be happy to walk, snapping up leaf after leaf for her collection. This activity builds gross motor (large muscle) and fine motor (small muscle) skills as children walk, squat, and pick up their discoveries.

Freeze! Toddlers love freeze dancing

Play music and encourage the child to dance or move in whatever way he likes. Then instruct him to stop when the music ends. This kind of activity encourages listening skills and self-regulation as he practices stopping and starting. (This is a very useful skill for when he goes to school and has to follow a lot of directions!)

Pop Some Popcorn

Take a receiving blanket and have the child hold one side while you hold the other. Place some foam balls (“popcorn”) on the blanket and then shake the blanket so the balls bounce (or pop!) off. Your little one might like singing “POPCORN! POPCORN! POP, POP, POP!” while you shake. Once all the balls have “popped,” have your grandchild race to grab them and put them on the blanket to do it again.

Quiet Play Activities

Shadow play.

In a darkened room, shine a flashlight at your hand so that the shadow is reflected on the wall. Wave to the child and make silly shadow shapes with your hand. Does the child want to try to wave with his shadow hand too? He may also enjoy shining the flashlight on the wall all by himself.

Fill and Dump

Make 5-10 homemade balls (wad up waxed paper or newspaper and cover with masking tape). Put the balls in a shoebox or basket. Give the child another box and show her how she can move each ball from one box to the other. If the child is walking, place the baskets a few steps apart so they can toddle from one to the other. Games like this encourage toddlers to move their hands across their bodies as they transfer the balls, which helps them later on with many skills from athletics to handwriting. ##Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear Starting at about 18 months, children are just beginning to play pretend. A good way to build these skills is by playing with a doll or stuffed animal. You might say, “Oh, Teddy fell down and got a boo-boo. He needs a hug.” Then give it a cuddle. See if the child also wants to give Teddy a hug. Next, you might use a “prop”—like a cup or a blanket—and suggest that the child “give Teddy a drink” or “put Teddy to sleep.”

Make a Homemade “Wagon”

Attach a 12–18 inch length of string or ribbon to a shoebox using sturdy tape. Show the child how she can pull the string to make the box move. If she is walking, give her a job to do using her “wagon,” such as pulling some clean dishtowels into the kitchen or delivering mail in another room. This kind of activity builds physical and problem-solving skills as the child learns how to use an object as a “tool” (pulling the string to move the box.) Be sure to supervise closely and put this toy away when you are done playing.

Activities That Build Thinking Skills

How does your garden grow.

Plant some seeds that grow in summer, such as grass or flower seeds, in a patch of dirt outside or in a pot to keep inside. This is a fun project for toddlers who love to shovel, pour water, and get messy! At the same time they’re building fine motor skills (as they use their fingers and hands) and learning important science concepts as they watch their plants grow.

Try the Classic Shell Game

You’ll need a plastic cup and a small toy. Show the child the toy, then set it down and cover it slowly with the cup. See if he picks up the cup to find the toy. Once the child has mastered this game with one cup, try it with two cups and later, with three cups. This is a very challenging concept for toddlers to master so it’s important to be patient. Soon enough, the child will have no trouble at all locating the toy. This kind of activity builds thinking skills and hand-eye coordination.

Take Out Some Tubes

Put those empty wrapping paper tubes to work. String a scarf through the tube and let your toddler pull it out. Or, show your toddler how to drop a ball or foam block down the tube and watch it fall on the floor. Roll the tube and race across the room to get it. Make music by banging the tube on the floor. Games like this build the child’s thinking and imaginative play skills.

Practice Pouring

Wash out an empty plastic spice container and show the child how you can drop a few pieces of cereal inside. Offer it to the child and watch as she tries to figure out how to get the cereal out. She may shake it or drop it, but eventually, she will pour them out onto the high chair tray, a plate, or her hand. This type of activity builds problem-solving skills.

Activities That Build the Senses

Take a peek.

Remove the label from several small water bottles. Fill each bottle with interesting objects—one might contain small shells, another can be filled with sparkly glitter, water, and mineral oil, and another with a few pennies. Securely glue the lid on each bottle. Give them to the child to look at, shake, and explore.

Water, Water Everywhere

Fill a dishpan with water and place it on a towel on the floor (or better, outside). Give the child plastic cups, spoons, bowls, and a funnel. Watch her pour, splash, and more. Add some food coloring to the water for a new twist on water play. As with any water activity, supervise carefully and pour all water out when you are done.

Band Together

Gather several objects that make different noises—rattles, bells, tambourines, etc. Start singing a song and pick up an instrument—offer one to the child too—and make some music together. Games like this nurture a child’s language, physical, and thinking skills.

Make a Bubble “Mound”

Fill a small bowl with some bubble liquid and then use a straw to blow a mound of bubbles. Let the child explore the bubbles with his hands—but watch to make sure he doesn’t eat any. He may also enjoy watching you blow bubbles for him to catch.

Activities That Build Language Skills

During diaper changes, take a moment to play “what’s this?” Lift up her foot and say, “What’s this? It’s a foot. And what are these? They are toes.” You can name belly, belly button, knee, leg, parts of the face, and more. Through repetition, young toddlers learn new words.

Picture This

Snap photos of the child during an activity with you, such as making cookies. Take a picture of the beginning of the activity (getting the ingredients), the middle (adding ingredients, stirring), and the end (eating cookies). Glue each photo to an index card. Show the photos to the child and talk about the steps you took for each activity. Activities like this help develop the child’s thinking and language skills.

Point It Out

As you read books with the child, ask him to “point to the cat” or “show me the moon” in his favorite stories. He may not be able to follow through yet (so you should go ahead and do the pointing), but as the child approaches 2 years, you may be surprised by how many words he seems to know. Reading activities like this help children understand the connection between words and pictures and build their vocabulary.

Hello, Good-Bye

Make a tunnel from a large cardboard box by opening both ends. The child can be at one end of the tunnel. You sit at the opposite end. Peek your face in the tunnel and say, “Hi!” Then lean away from the tunnel (so the child can’t see you) and say, “Bye!” Does the child try to communicate with you by crawling to find you, or by making sounds to copy your “hi” and “bye?” This activity encourages language, problem-solving, and physical skills as a child figures out how to locate you.

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Problem-Solving Brain Games for Babies

January 30th, 2017 | 2 min. read

By Gryphon House

It can be daunting to come up with infant classroom ideas. There are so many ways babies learn, and so many things to teach them! One of the most universal things educators can work with is problem solving activities for infants. Problem solving strategies can be introduced to children pretty early, usually starting around 6 months. 

It can be daunting to come up with infant classroom ideas. There are so many ways babies learn, and so many things to teach them! One of the most universal things educators can work with is problem solving activities for infants. Problem solving strategies can be introduced to children pretty early, usually starting around 6 months. These activities can apply to universal problem solving—determining that individual actions can effect and fix problems—or specific problem solving like communicating with a caregiver. Cognitive activities for infants build these skills and pave the way for effective problem-solving abilities later in life.

There are several books that focus on puzzles for babies. One of them is Jackie Silberg ’s 125 Brain Games for Babies . This book serves as an excellent resource for parents and educators seeking advice on how best to engage with their children. Below are a few brain activities for babies that provide a foundation for problem-solving skills.

Pick Up, Throw Down

Infants are very observant. They notice when two things happen close together and strive to make a connection. When babies begin to hold and drop things, they notice if people stop to pick them up.

What to Do:

• Sit your baby in her high chair and give her several large toys to play with. Play with her and talk about the toy’s texture, what they are, and how they look
• After a while, drop one of the toys on the floor. Draw your baby’s attention to it by saying “Uh oh” or “Where did the rattle go?”
• Bend down and pick up the toy. Do this a few other times if your baby has not yet caught on
• When your baby drops or throws one of the toys on the ground, immediately pick it up and give it back to her. Over time, you can encourage her to point or vocalize to tell you where the toy is

Seek and Find

Once infants discover object permanence, a whole array of problem-solving opportunities open up. This activity facilitates that knowledge by encouraging babies to look for an object they can hear but not see.

• Find a wind-up clock that makes a ticking noise. Hold it up in front of your baby and say a little tick-tock rhyme, such as: “Tick tock, tick tock / Goes the clock / Tick tock”
• After a few moments, cover the clock with a scarf, blanket, or towel. Ask your baby where the tick-tock went
• Encourage your child to locate the clock using the sound it makes. When he pulls on the scarf, reveal the clock and say “Hooray!”
• Practice the game a bit more until your baby gets the hang of it. For an added challenge, move the clock to different places that your child can crawl towards

Quite Puzzling

One-piece puzzles help build motor skills as well as problem solving. Infants have to use trial and error as they attempt to figure out which way the piece fits inside the puzzle.

• Provide your baby with a simple one-piece puzzle with a wooden knob for them to grasp
• Talk to your baby as she tries to put the piece in its place. Ask her what she is doing and periodically turn the puzzle board slightly to help her put the piece in
• When your baby finally puts the piece in the puzzle, celebrate with clapping and praise

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Introduction

Nature of learning and play, categories of play, object play, physical, locomotor, or rough-and-tumble play, outdoor play, social or pretend play alone or with others, development of play, effects on brain structure and functioning, benefits of play, benefits to adults of playing with children, implications for preschool education, modern challenges, role of media in children’s play, barriers to play, role of pediatricians, conclusions, lead authors, contributor, committee on psychosocial aspects of child and family health, 2017–2018, council on communications and media, 2017–2018, the power of play: a pediatric role in enhancing development in young children.

POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST: The authors have indicated they have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: The authors have indicated they have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose.

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Michael Yogman , Andrew Garner , Jeffrey Hutchinson , Kathy Hirsh-Pasek , Roberta Michnick Golinkoff , COMMITTEE ON PSYCHOSOCIAL ASPECTS OF CHILD AND FAMILY HEALTH , COUNCIL ON COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA , Rebecca Baum , Thresia Gambon , Arthur Lavin , Gerri Mattson , Lawrence Wissow , David L. Hill , Nusheen Ameenuddin , Yolanda (Linda) Reid Chassiakos , Corinn Cross , Rhea Boyd , Robert Mendelson , Megan A. Moreno , MSEd , Jenny Radesky , Wendy Sue Swanson , MBE , Jeffrey Hutchinson , Justin Smith; The Power of Play: A Pediatric Role in Enhancing Development in Young Children. Pediatrics September 2018; 142 (3): e20182058. 10.1542/peds.2018-2058

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Children need to develop a variety of skill sets to optimize their development and manage toxic stress. Research demonstrates that developmentally appropriate play with parents and peers is a singular opportunity to promote the social-emotional, cognitive, language, and self-regulation skills that build executive function and a prosocial brain. Furthermore, play supports the formation of the safe, stable, and nurturing relationships with all caregivers that children need to thrive.

Play is not frivolous: it enhances brain structure and function and promotes executive function (ie, the process of learning, rather than the content), which allow us to pursue goals and ignore distractions.

When play and safe, stable, nurturing relationships are missing in a child’s life, toxic stress can disrupt the development of executive function and the learning of prosocial behavior; in the presence of childhood adversity, play becomes even more important. The mutual joy and shared communication and attunement (harmonious serve and return interactions) that parents and children can experience during play regulate the body’s stress response. This clinical report provides pediatric providers with the information they need to promote the benefits of play and and to write a prescription for play at well visits to complement reach out and read. At a time when early childhood programs are pressured to add more didactic components and less playful learning, pediatricians can play an important role in emphasizing the role of a balanced curriculum that includes the importance of playful learning for the promotion of healthy child development.

Since the publication of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Clinical Reports on the importance of play in 2007, 1 , 2 newer research has provided additional evidence of the critical importance of play in facilitating parent engagement; promoting safe, stable, and nurturing relationships; encouraging the development of numerous competencies, including executive functioning skills; and improving life course trajectories. 3 , – 5 An increasing societal focus on academic readiness (promulgated by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001) has led to a focus on structured activities that are designed to promote academic results as early as preschool, with a corresponding decrease in playful learning. Social skills, which are part of playful learning, enable children to listen to directions, pay attention, solve disputes with words, and focus on tasks without constant supervision. 6 By contrast, a recent trial of an early mathematics intervention in preschool showed almost no gains in math achievement in later elementary school. 7 Despite criticism from early childhood experts, the 2003 Head Start Act reauthorization ended the program evaluation of social emotional skills and was focused almost exclusively on preliteracy and premath skills. 8 The AAP report on school readiness includes an emphasis on the importance of whole child readiness (including social–emotional, attentional, and cognitive skills). 9 Without that emphasis, children’s ability to pay attention and behave appropriately in the classroom is disadvantaged.

The definition of play is elusive. However, there is a growing consensus that it is an activity that is intrinsically motivated, entails active engagement, and results in joyful discovery. Play is voluntary and often has no extrinsic goals; it is fun and often spontaneous. Children are often seen actively engaged in and passionately engrossed in play; this builds executive functioning skills and contributes to school readiness (bored children will not learn well). 10 Play often creates an imaginative private reality, contains elements of make believe, and is nonliteral.

Depending on the culture of the adults in their world, children learn different skills through play. Sociodramatic play is when children act out the roles of adulthood from having observed the activities of their elders. Extensive studies of animal play suggest that the function of play is to build a prosocial brain that can interact effectively with others. 11  

Play is fundamentally important for learning 21st century skills, such as problem solving, collaboration, and creativity, which require the executive functioning skills that are critical for adult success. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has enshrined the right to engage in play that is appropriate to the age of the child in Article 21. 12 In its 2012 exhibit “The Century of the Child: 1900–2000,” the Museum of Modern Art noted, “Play is to the 21st century what work was to industrialization. It demonstrates a way of knowing, doing, and creating value.” 13 Resnick 14 has described 4 guiding principles to support creative learning in children: projects, passion, peers, and play. Play is not just about having fun but about taking risks, experimenting, and testing boundaries. Pediatricians can be influential advocates by encouraging parents and child care providers to play with children and to allow children to have unstructured time to play as well as by encouraging educators to recognize playful learning as an important complement to didactic learning. Some studies 15 , – 18 note that the new information economy, as opposed to the older industrial 1, demands more innovation and less imitation, more creativity and less conformity. Research on children’s learning indicates that learning thrives when children are given some agency (control of their own actions) to play a role in their own learning. 19 The demands of today’s world require that the teaching methods of the past 2 centuries, such as memorization, be replaced by innovation, application, and transfer. 18  

Bruner et al 20 stressed the fact that play is typically buffered from real-life consequences. Play is part of our evolutionary heritage, occurs in a wide spectrum of species, is fundamental to health, and gives us opportunities to practice and hone the skills needed to live in a complex world. 21 Although play is present in a large swath of species within the animal kingdom, from invertebrates (such as the octopus, lizard, turtle, and honey bee) to mammals (such as rats, monkeys, and humans), 22 social play is more prominent in animals with a large neocortex. 23 Studies of animal behavior suggests that play provides animals and humans with skills that will help them with survival and reproduction. 24 Locomotor skills learned through rough-and-tumble play enables escape from predators. However, animals play even when it puts them at risk of predation. 25 It is also suggested that play teaches young animals what they can and cannot do at times when they are relatively free from the survival pressures of adult life. 26 Play and learning are inextricably linked. 27 A Russian psychologist recognized that learning occurs when children actively engage in practical activities within a supportive social context. The accumulation of new knowledge is built on previous learning, but the acquisition of new skills is facilitated by social and often playful interactions. He was interested in what he called the “zone of proximal development,” which consists of mastering skills that a child could not do alone but could be developed with minimal assistance. 28 Within the zone of proximal development, the “how” of learning occurs through a reiterative process called scaffolding, in which new skills are built on previous skills and are facilitated by a supportive social environment. The construct of scaffolding has been extrapolated to younger children. Consider how a social smile at 6 to 8 weeks of age invites cooing conversations, which leads to the reciprocal dance of social communication even before language emerges, followed by social referencing (the reading of a parent’s face for nonverbal emotional content). The balance between facilitating unstructured playtime for children and encouraging adult scaffolding of play will vary depending on the competing needs in individual families, but the “serve-and-return” aspect of play requires caregiver engagement. 29  

Early learning and play are fundamentally social activities 30 and fuel the development of language and thought. Early learning also combines playful discovery with the development of social–emotional skills. It has been demonstrated that children playing with toys act like scientists and learn by looking and listening to those around them. 15 , – 17 However, explicit instructions limit a child’s creativity; it is argued that we should let children learn through observation and active engagement rather than passive memorization or direct instruction. Preschool children do benefit from learning content, but programs have many more didactic components than they did 20 years ago. 31 Successful programs are those that encourage playful learning in which children are actively engaged in meaningful discovery. 32 To encourage learning, we need to talk to children, let them play, and let them watch what we do as we go about our everyday lives. These opportunities foster the development of executive functioning skills that are critically important for the development of 21st century skills, such as collaboration, problem solving, and creativity, according to the 2010 IBM’s Global CEO Study. 33  

Play has been categorized in a variety of ways, each with its own developmental sequence. 32 , 34  

This type of play occurs when an infant or child explores an object and learns about its properties. Object play progresses from early sensorimotor explorations, including the use of the mouth, to the use of symbolic objects (eg, when a child uses a banana as a telephone) for communication, language, and abstract thought.

This type of play progresses from pat-a-cake games in infants to the acquisition of foundational motor skills in toddlers 35 and the free play seen at school recess. The development of foundational motor skills in childhood is essential to promoting an active lifestyle and the prevention of obesity. 36 , – 39 Learning to cooperate and negotiate promotes critical social skills. Extrapolation from animal data suggests that guided competition in the guise of rough-and-tumble play allows all participants to occasionally win and learn how to lose graciously. 40 Rough-and-tumble play, which is akin to the play seen in animals, enables children to take risks in a relatively safe environment, which fosters the acquisition of skills needed for communication, negotiation, and emotional balance and encourages the development of emotional intelligence. It enables risk taking and encourages the development of empathy because children are guided not to inflict harm on others. 25 , 30 , 40 The United Kingdom has modified its guidelines on play, arguing that the culture has gone too far by leaching healthy risks out of childhood: new guidelines on play by the national commission state, “The goal is not to eliminate risk.” 41  

Outdoor play provides the opportunity to improve sensory integration skills. 36 , 37 , 39 These activities involve the child as an active participant and address motor, cognitive, social, and linguistic domains. Viewed in this light, school recess becomes an essential part of a child’s day. 42 It is not surprising that countries that offer more recess to young children see greater academic success among the children as they mature. 42 , 43 Supporting and implementing recess not only sends a message that exercise is fundamentally important for physical health but likely brings together children from diverse backgrounds to develop friendships as they learn and grow. 42  

This type of play occurs when children experiment with different social roles in a nonliteral fashion. Play with other children enables them to negotiate “the rules” and learn to cooperate. Play with adults often involves scaffolding, as when an adult rotates a puzzle to help the child place a piece. Smiling and vocal attunement, in which infants learn turn taking, is the earliest example of social play. Older children can develop games and activities through which they negotiate relationships and guidelines with other players. Dress up, make believe, and imaginary play encourage the use of more sophisticated language to communicate with playmates and develop common rule-bound scenarios (eg, “You be the teacher, and I will be the student”).

Play has also been grouped as self-directed versus adult guided. Self-directed play, or free play, is crucial to children’s exploration of the world and understanding of their preferences and interests. 19 , 32 , 44 Guided play retains the child agency, such that the child initiates the play, but it occurs either in a setting that an adult carefully constructs with a learning goal in mind (eg, a children’s museum exhibit or a Montessori task) or in an environment where adults supplement the child-led exploration with questions or comments that subtly guide the child toward a goal. Board games that have well-defined goals also fit into this category. 45 For example, if teachers want children to improve executive functioning skills (see the “Tools of the Mind” curriculum), 46 they could create drum-circle games, in which children coregulate their behavior. Familiar games such as “Simon Says” or “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” ask children to control their individual actions or impulses and have been shown to improve executive functioning skills. 47 Guided play has been defined as a child-led, joyful activity in which adults craft the environment to optimize learning. 4 , 48 This approach harkens back to Vygotsky 28 and the zone of proximal development, which represents the skills that children are unable to master on their own but are able to master in the context of a safe, stable, and nurturing relationship with an adult. The guidance and dialogue provided by the adult allow the child to master skills that would take longer to master alone and help children focus on the elements of the activity to guide learning. One way to think about guided play is as “constrained tinkering.” 14 , 48 This logic also characterizes Italy’s Emilio Reggio approach, which emphasizes the importance of teaching children to listen and look.

According to Vygotsky, 28 the most efficient learning occurs in a social context, where learning is scaffolded by the teacher into meaningful contexts that resonate with children’s active engagement and previous experiences. Scaffolding is a part of guided play; caregivers are needed to provide the appropriate amount of input and guidance for children to develop optimal skills.

How does play develop? Play progresses from social smiling to reciprocal serve-and-return interactions; the development of babbling; games, such as “peek-a-boo”; hopping, jumping, skipping, and running; and fantasy or rough-and-tumble play. The human infant is born immature compared with infants of other species, with substantial brain development occurring after birth. Infants are entirely dependent on parents to regulate sleep–wake rhythms, feeding cycles, and many social interactions. Play facilitates the progression from dependence to independence and from parental regulation to self-regulation. It promotes a sense of agency in the child. This evolution begins in the first 3 months of life, when parents (both mothers and fathers) interact reciprocally with their infants by reading their nonverbal cues in a responsive, contingent manner. 49 Caregiver–infant interaction is the earliest form of play, known as attunement, 50 but it is quickly followed by other activities that also involve the taking of turns. These serve-and-return behaviors promote self-regulation and impulse control in children and form a strong foundation for understanding their interaction with adults. The back-and-forth episodes also feed into the development of language.

Reciprocal games occur with both mothers and fathers 51 and often begin in earnest with the emergence of social smiles at 6 weeks of age. Parents mimic their infant’s “ooh” and “ah” in back-and-forth verbal games, which progress into conversations in which the parents utter pleasantries (“Oh, you had a good lunch!”), and the child responds by vocalizing back. Uncontrollable crying as a response to stress in a 1-year-old is replaced as the child reaches 2 to 3 years of age with the use of words to self-soothe, building on caregivers scaffolding their emotional responses. Already by 6 months of age, the introduction of solid foods requires the giving and receiving of reciprocal signals and communicative cues. During these activities, analyses of physiologic heart rate rhythms of infants with both their mothers and fathers have shown synchrony. 49 , 52  

By 9 months of age, mutual regulation is manifested in the way infants use their parents for social referencing. 53 , 54 In the classic visual cliff experiment, it was demonstrated that an infant will crawl across a Plexiglas dropoff to explore if the mother encourages the infant but not if she frowns. Nonverbal communication slowly leads to formal verbal language skills through which emotions such as happiness, sadness, and anger are identified for the child via words. Uncontrollable crying in the 1-year-old then becomes whining in the 2-year-old and verbal requests for assistance in the 3-year-old as parents scaffold the child’s emotional responses and help him or her develop alternative, more adaptive behaviors. Repetitive games, such as peek-a-boo and “this little piggy,” offer children the joy of being able to predict what is about to happen, and these games also enhance the infants’ ability to solicit social stimulation.

By 12 months of age, a child’s experiences are helping to lay the foundation for the ongoing development of social skills. The expression of true joy and mastery on children’s faces when they take their first step is truly a magical moment that all parents remember. Infant memory, in Piagetian terms, develops as infants develop object permanence through visible and invisible displacements, such as repetitive games like peek-a-boo. With the advent of locomotor skills, rough-and-tumble play becomes increasingly available. During the second year, toddlers learn to explore their world, develop the beginnings of self-awareness, and use their parents as a home base (secure attachment), frequently checking to be sure that the world they are exploring is safe. 55 As children become independent, their ability to socially self-regulate becomes apparent: they can focus their attention and solve problems efficiently, they are less impulsive, and they can better manage the stress of strong emotions. 56 With increased executive functioning skills, they can begin to reflect on how they should respond to a situation rather than reacting impulsively. With the development of language and symbolic functioning, pretend play now becomes more prominent. 57 Fantasy play, dress up, and fort building now join the emotional and social repertoire of older children just as playground activities, tag, and hide and seek develop motor skills. In play, children are also solving problems and learning to focus attention, all of which promote the growth of executive functioning skills.

Play is not frivolous; it is brain building. Play has been shown to have both direct and indirect effects on brain structure and functioning. Play leads to changes at the molecular (epigenetic), cellular (neuronal connectivity), and behavioral levels (socioemotional and executive functioning skills) that promote learning and adaptive and/or prosocial behavior. Most of this research on brain structure and functioning has been done with rats and cannot be directly extrapolated to humans.

Jaak Panksepp, 11 a neuroscientist and psychologist who has extensively studied the neurologic basis of emotion in animals, suggests that play is 1 of 7 innate emotional systems in the midbrain. 58 Rats love rough-and-tumble play and produce a distinctive sound that Panksepp labeled “rat laughter.” 42 , 59 , – 64 When rats are young, play appears to initiate lasting changes in areas of the brain that are used for thinking and processing social interaction.

The dendritic length, complexity, and spine density of the medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) are refined by play. 64 , – 67 The brain-derived neurotrophic factor ( BDNF ) is a member of the neurotrophin family of growth factors that acts to support the survival of existing neurons and encourage the growth and differentiation of new neurons and synapses. It is known to be important for long-term memory and social learning. Play stimulates the production of BDNF in RNA in the amygdala, dorsolateral frontal cortex, hippocampus, and pons. 65 , 68 , – 70 Gene expression analyses indicate that the activities of approximately one-third of the 1200 genes in the frontal and posterior cortical regions were significantly modified by play within an hour after a 30-minute play session. 69 , 70 The gene that showed the largest effect was BDNF . Conversely, rat pup adversity, depression, and stress appear to result in the methylation and downregulation of the BDNF gene in the PFC. 71  

Two hours per day of play with objects predicted changes in brain weight and efficiency in experimental animals. 11 , 66 Rats that were deprived of play as pups (kept in sparse cages devoid of toys) not only were less competent at problem solving later on (negotiating mazes) but the medial PFC of the play-deprived rats was significantly more immature, suggesting that play deprivation interfered with the process of synaptogenesis and pruning. 72 Rat pups that were isolated during peak play periods after birth (weeks 4 and 5) are much less socially active when they encounter other rats later in life. 73 , 74  

Play-deprived rats also showed impaired problem-solving skills, suggesting that through play, animals learn to try new things and develop behavioral flexibility. 73 Socially reared rats with damage to their PFC mimic the social deficiencies of rats with intact brains but who were deprived of play as juveniles. 66 The absence of the play experience leads to anatomically measurable changes in the neurons of the PFC. By refining the functional organization of the PFC, play enhances the executive functioning skills derived from this part of the brain. 66 Whether these effects are specific to play deprivation or merely reflect the generic effect of a lack of stimulation requires further study. Rats that were raised in experimental toy-filled cages had bigger brains and thicker cerebral cortices and completed mazes more quickly. 67 , 75  

Brain neurotransmitters, such as dopamine made by cells in the substantia nigra and ventral tegmentum, are also related to the reward quality of play: drugs that activate dopamine receptors increase play behavior in rats. 76  

Play and stress are closely linked. High amounts of play are associated with low levels of cortisol, suggesting either that play reduces stress or that unstressed animals play more. 23 Play also activates norepinephrine, which facilitates learning at synapses and improves brain plasticity. Play, especially when accompanied by nurturing caregiving, may indirectly affect brain functioning by modulating or buffering adversity and by reducing toxic stress to levels that are more compatible with coping and resilience. 77 , 78  

In human children, play usually enhances curiosity, which facilitates memory and learning. During states of high curiosity, functional MRI results showed enhanced activity in healthy humans in their early 20s in the midbrain and nucleus accumbens and functional connectivity to the hippocampus, which solidifies connections between intrinsic motivation and hippocampus-dependent learning. 79 Play helps children deal with stress, such as life transitions. When 3- to 4-year-old children who were anxious about entering preschool were randomly assigned to play with toys or peers for 15 minutes compared with listening to a teacher reading a story, the play group showed a twofold decrease in anxiety after the intervention. 24 , 80 In another study, preschool children with disruptive behavior who engaged with teachers in a yearlong 1-to-1 play session designed to foster warm, caring relationships (allowing children to lead, narrating the children’s behavior out loud, and discussing the children’s emotions as they played) showed reduced salivary cortisol stress levels during the day and improved behavior compared with children in the control group. 81 The notable exception is with increased stress experienced by children with autism spectrum disorders in new or social circumstances. 82 Animal studies suggest the role of play as a social buffer. Rats that were previously induced to be anxious became relaxed and calm after rough-and-tumble play with a nonanxious playful rat. 83 Extrapolating from these animal studies, one can suggest that play may serve as an effective buffer for toxic stress.

The benefits of play are extensive and well documented and include improvements in executive functioning, language, early math skills (numerosity and spatial concepts), social development, peer relations, physical development and health, and enhanced sense of agency. 13 , 32 , 56 , 57 , 84 , – 88 The opposite is also likely true; Panksepp 89 suggested that play deprivation is associated with the increasing prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. 90  

Executive functioning, which is described as the process of how we learn over the content of what we learn, is a core benefit of play and can be characterized by 3 dimensions: cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, and working memory. Collectively, these dimensions allow for sustained attention, the filtering of distracting details, improved self-regulation and self-control, better problem solving, and mental flexibility. Executive functioning helps children switch gears and transition from drawing with crayons to getting dressed for school. The development of the PFC and executive functioning balances and moderates the impulsiveness, emotionality, and aggression of the amygdala. In the presence of childhood adversity, the role of play becomes even more important in that the mutual joy and shared attunement that parents and children can experience during play downregulates the body’s stress response. 91 , – 94 Hence, play may be an effective antidote to the changes in amygdala size, impulsivity, aggression, and uncontrolled emotion that result from significant childhood adversity and toxic stress. Future research is needed to clarify this association.

Opportunities for peer engagement through play cultivate the ability to negotiate. Peer play usually involves problem solving about the rules of the game, which requires negotiation and cooperation. Through these encounters, children learn to use more sophisticated language when playing with peers. 95 , 96  

Play in a variety of forms (active physical play, pretend play, and play with traditional toys and shape sorters [rather than digital toys]) improves children’s skills. When children were given blocks to play with at home with minimal adult direction, preschool children showed improvements in language acquisition at a 6-month follow-up, particularly low-income children. The authors suggest that the benefits of Reach Out and Play may promote development just as Reach Out and Read does. 97 When playing with objects under minimal adult direction, preschool children named an average of 3 times as many nonstandard uses for an object compared with children who were given specific instructions. 98 In Jamaica, toddlers with growth retardation who were given weekly play sessions to improve mother–child interactions for 2 years were followed to adulthood and showed better educational attainment, less depression, and less violent behavior. 3  

Children who were in active play for 1 hour per day were better able to think creatively and multitask. 22 Randomized trials of physical play in 7- to 9-year-olds revealed enhanced attentional inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and brain functioning that were indicative of enhanced executive control. 99 Play with traditional toys was associated with an increased quality and quantity of language compared with play with electronic toys, 100 particularly if the video toys did not encourage interaction. 101 Indeed, it has been shown that play with digital shape sorters rather than traditional shape sorters stunted the parent’s use of spatial language. 102 Pretend play encourages self-regulation because children must collaborate on the imaginary environment and agree about pretending and conforming to roles, which improves their ability to reason about hypothetical events. 56 , 57 , 103 , – 105 Social–emotional skills are increasingly viewed as related to academic and economic success. 106 Third-grade prosocial behavior correlated with eighth-grade reading and math better than with third-grade reading and math. 17 , 107  

The health benefits of play involving physical activity are many. Exercise not only promotes healthy weight and cardiovascular fitness but also can enhance the efficacy of the immune, endocrine, and cardiovascular systems. 37 Outdoor playtime for children in Head Start programs has been associated with decreased BMI. 39 Physical activity is associated with decreases in concurrent depressive symptoms. 108 Play decreases stress, fatigue, injury, and depression and increases range of motion, agility, coordination, balance, and flexibility. 109 Children pay more attention to class lessons after free play at recess than they do after physical education programs, which are more structured. 43 Perhaps they are more active during free play.

Play also reflects and transmits cultural values. In fact, recess began in the United States as a way to socially integrate immigrant children. Parents in the United States encourage children to play with toys and/or objects alone, which is typical of communities that emphasize the development of independence. Conversely, in Japan, peer social play with dolls is encouraged, which is typical of cultures that emphasize interdependence. 110  

Playing with children adds value not only for children but also for adult caregivers, who can reexperience or reawaken the joy of their own childhood and rejuvenate themselves. Through play and rereading their favorite childhood books, parents learn to see the world from their child’s perspective and are likely to communicate more effectively with their child, even appreciating and sharing their child’s sense of humor and individuality. Play enables children and adults to be passionately and totally immersed in an activity of their choice and to experience intense joy, much as athletes do when they are engaging in their optimal performance. Discovering their true passions is another critical strategy for helping both children and adults cope with adversity. One study documented that positive parenting activities, such as playing and shared reading, result in decreases in parental experiences of stress and enhancement in the parent–child relationship, and these effects mediate relations between the activities and social–emotional development. 111 , – 113  

Most importantly, play is an opportunity for parents to engage with their children by observing and understanding nonverbal behavior in young infants, participating in serve-andreturn exchanges, or sharing the joy and witnessing the blossoming of the passions in each of their children.

Play not only provides opportunities for fostering children’s curiosity, 14 self-regulation skills, 46 language development, and imagination but also promotes the dyadic reciprocal interactions between children and parents, which is a crucial element of healthy relationships. 114 Through the buffering capacity of caregivers, play can serve as an antidote to toxic stress, allowing the physiologic stress response to return to baseline. 77 Adult success in later life can be related to the experience of childhood play that cultivated creativity, problem solving, teamwork, flexibility, and innovations. 18 , 52 , 115  

Successful scaffolding (new skills built on previous skills facilitated by a supportive social environment) can be contrasted with interactions in which adults direct children’s play. It has been shown that if a caregiver instructs a child in how a toy works, the child is less likely to discover other attributes of the toy in contrast to a child being left to explore the toy without direct input. 38 , 116 , – 118 Adults who facilitate a child’s play without being intrusive can encourage the child’s independent exploration and learning.

Scaffolding play activities facilitated by adults enable children to work in groups: to share, negotiate, develop decision-making and problem-solving skills, and discover their own interests. Children learn to resolve conflicts and develop self-advocacy skills and their own sense of agency. The false dichotomy between play versus formal learning is now being challenged by educational reformers who acknowledge the value of playful learning or guided play, which captures the strengths of both approaches and may be essential to improving executive functioning. 18 , 19 , 34 , 119 Hirsh-Pasek et al 34 report a similar finding: children have been shown to discover causal mechanisms more quickly when they drive their learning as opposed to when adults display solutions for them.

Executive functioning skills are foundational for school readiness and academic success, mandating a frame shift with regard to early education. The goal today is to support interventions that cultivate a range of skills, such as executive functioning, in all children so that the children enter preschool and kindergarten curious and knowing how to learn. Kindergarten should provide children with an opportunity for playful collaboration and tinkering, 14 a different approach from the model that promotes more exclusive didactic learning at the expense of playful learning. The emerging alternative model is to prevent toxic stress and build resilience by developing executive functioning skills. Ideally, we want to protect the brain to enable it to learn new skills, and we want to focus on learning those skills that will be used to buffer the brain from any future adversity. 18 The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University offers an online resource on play and executive functioning with specific activities suggested for parents and children ( http://developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Enhancing-and-Practicing-Executive-Function-Skills-with-Children-from-Infancy-to-Adolescence-1.pdf ). 120  

Specific curricula have now been developed and tested in preschools to help children develop executive functioning skills. Many innovative programs are using either the Reggio Emilia philosophy or curricula such as Tools of the Mind (developed in California) 121 or Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies–Preschool and/or Kindergarten. 122 Caregivers need to provide the appropriate amount of input and guidance for children to develop optimal problem-solving skills through guided play and scaffolding. Optimal learning can be depicted by a bell-shaped curve, which illustrates the optimal zone of arousal and stress for complex learning. 123  

Scaffolding is extensively used to support skills such as buddy reading, in which children take turns being lips and ears and learn to read and listen to each other as an example of guided play. A growing body of research shows that this curriculum not only improves executive functioning skills but also shows improvement in brain functioning on functional MRI. 6 , 124 , – 126  

Focusing on cultivating executive functioning and other skills through playful learning in these early years is an alternative and innovative way of thinking about early childhood education. Instead of focusing solely on academic skills, such as reciting the alphabet, early literacy, using flash cards, engaging with computer toys, and teaching to tests (which has been overemphasized to promote improved test results), cultivating the joy of learning through play is likely to better encourage long-term academic success. Collaboration, negotiation, conflict resolution, self-advocacy, decision-making, a sense of agency, creativity, leadership, and increased physical activity are just some of the skills and benefits children gain through play.

For many families, there are risks in the current focus only on achievement, after-school enrichment programs, increased homework, concerns about test performance, and college acceptance. The stressful effects of this approach often result in the later development of anxiety and depression and a lack of creativity. Parental guilt has led to competition over who can schedule more “enrichment opportunities” for their children. As a result, there is little time left in the day for children’s free play, for parental reading to children, or for family meal times. Many schools have cut recess, physical education, art, and music to focus on preparing children for tests. Unsafe local neighborhoods and playgrounds have led to nature deficit disorder for many children. 127 A national survey of 8950 preschool children and parents found that only 51% of children went outside to walk or play once per day with either parent. 128 In part, this may reflect the local environment: 94% of parents have expressed safety concerns about outdoor play, and access may be limited. Only 20% of homes are located within a half-mile of a park. 129 , 130 Cultural changes have also jeopardized the opportunities children have to play. From 1981 to 1997, children’s playtime decreased by 25%. Children 3 to 11 years of age have lost 12 hours per week of free time. Because of increased academic pressure, 30% of US kindergarten children no longer have recess. 42 , 129 An innovative program begun in Philadelphia is using cities (on everyday walks and in everyday neighborhoods) as opportunities for creating learning landscapes that provide opportunities for parents and children to spark conversation and playful learning. 131 , 132 For example, Ridge et al 132 have placed conversational prompts throughout supermarkets and laundromats to promote language and lights at bus stops to project designs on the ground, enabling children to play a game of hopscotch that is specifically designed to foster impulse control. By promoting the learning of social and emotional skills, the development of emotional intelligence, and the enjoyment of active learning, protected time for free play and guided play can be used to help children improve their social skills, literacy, and school readiness. Children can then enter school with a stronger foundation for attentional disposition based on the skills and attitudes that are critical for academic success and the long-term enjoyment of learning and love of school.

Media (eg, television, video games, and smartphone and tablet applications) use often encourages passivity and the consumption of others’ creativity rather than active learning and socially interactive play. Most importantly, immersion in electronic media takes away time from real play, either outdoors or indoors. Real learning happens better in person-to-person exchanges rather than machine-to-person interactions. Most parents are eager to do the right thing for their children. However, advertisers and the media can mislead parents about how to best support and encourage their children’s growth and development as well as creativity. Parent surveys have revealed that many parents see media and technology as the best way to help their children learn. 133 However, researchers contradict this. Researchers have compared preschoolers playing with blocks independently with preschoolers watching Baby Einstein tapes and have shown that the children playing with blocks independently developed better language and cognitive skills than their peers watching videos. 34 , 134 Although active engagement with age-appropriate media, especially if supported by cowatching or coplay with peers or parents, may have some benefits, 135 real-time social interactions remain superior to digital media for home learning. 136  

It is important for parents to understand that media use often does not support their goals of encouraging curiosity and learning for their children. 137 , – 141 Despite research that reveals an association between television watching and a sedentary lifestyle and greater risks of obesity, the typical preschooler watches 4.5 hours of television per day, which displaces conversation with parents and the practice of joint attention (focus by the parent and child on a common object) as well as physical activity. For economically challenged families, competing pressures make it harder for parents to find the time to play with children. Encouraging outdoor exercise may be more difficult for such families given unsafe playgrounds. Easy access to electronic media can be difficult for parents to compete with.

In the 2015 symposium, 137 the AAP clarified recommendations acknowledging the ubiquity and transformation of media from primarily television to other modalities, including video chatting. In 2016, the AAP published 2 new policies on digital media affecting young children, school-aged children, and adolescents. These policies included recommendations for parents, pediatricians, and researchers to promote healthy media use. 139 , 140 The AAP has also launched a Family Media Use Plan to help parents and families create healthy guidelines for their children’s media use so as to avoid displacing activities such as active play, and guidelines can also be found on the HealthyChildren.org and Common Sense Media (commonsensemedia.org) Web sites.

There are barriers to encouraging play. Our culture is preoccupied with marketing products to young children. 142 Parents of young children who cannot afford expensive toys may feel left out. 143 Parents who can afford expensive toys and electronic devices may think that allowing their children unfettered access to these objects is healthy and promotes learning. The reality is that children’s creativity and play is enhanced by many inexpensive toys (eg, wooden spoons, blocks, balls, puzzles, crayons, boxes, and simple available household objects) and by parents who engage with their children by reading, watching, playing alongside their children, and talking with and listening to their children. It is parents’ and caregivers’ presence and attention that enrich children, not elaborate electronic gadgets. One-on-one play is a time-tested way of being fully present. Low-income families may have less time to play with their children while working long hours to provide for their families, but a warm caregiver or extended family as well as a dynamic community program can help support parents’ efforts. 144 The importance of playtime with children cannot be overemphasized to parents as well as schools and community organizations. Many children do not have safe places to play. 145 Neighborhood threats, such as violence, guns, drugs, and traffic, pose safety concerns in many neighborhoods, particularly low-income areas. Children in low-income, urban neighborhoods also may have less access to quality public spaces and recreational facilities in their communities. 145 Parents who feel that their neighborhoods are unsafe may also not permit their children to play outdoors or independently.

Public health professionals are increasingly partnering with other sectors, such as parks and recreation, public safety, and community development, to advocate for safe play environments in all communities. This includes efforts to reduce community violence, improve physical neighborhood infrastructure, and support planning and design decisions that foster safe, clean, and accessible public spaces.

Pediatricians can advocate for the importance of all forms of play as well as for the role of play in the development of executive functioning, emotional intelligence, and social skills ( Table 1 ). Pediatricians have a critical role to play in protecting the integrity of childhood by advocating for all children to have the opportunity to express their innate curiosity in the world and their great capacity for imagination. For children with special needs, it is especially important to create safe opportunities for play. A children’s museum may offer special mornings when it is open only to children with special needs. Extra staffing enables these children and their siblings to play in a safe environment because they may not be able to participate during crowded routine hours.

Recommendations From Pediatricians to Parents

Adapted from pathways.org ( https://pathways.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/PlayBrochure_English_LEGAL_FOR-PRINT_2022.pdf ).

The AAP recommends that pediatricians:

Encourage parents to observe and respond to the nonverbal behavior of infants during their first few months of life (eg, responding to their children’s emerging social smile) to help them better understand this unique form of communication. For example, encouraging parents to recognize their children’s emerging social smile and to respond with a smile of their own is a form of play that also teaches the infants a critical social–emotional skill: “You can get my attention and a smile from me anytime you want just by smiling yourself.” By encouraging parents to observe the behavior of their children, pediatricians create opportunities to engage parents in discussions that are nonjudgmental and free from criticism (because they are grounded in the parents’ own observations and interpretations of how to promote early learning);

Advocate for the protection of children’s unstructured playtime because of its numerous benefits, including the development of foundational motor skills that may have lifelong benefits for the prevention of obesity, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes;

Advocate with preschool educators to do the following: focus on playful rather than didactic learning by letting children take the lead and follow their own curiosity; put a premium on building social–emotional and executive functioning skills throughout the school year; and protect time for recess and physical activity;

Emphasize the importance of playful learning in preschool curricula for fostering stronger caregiver–infant relationships and promoting executive functioning skills. Communicating this message to policy makers, legislators, and educational administrators as well as the broader public is equally important; and

Just as pediatricians support Reach Out and Read, encourage playful learning for parents and infants by writing a “prescription for play” at every well-child visit in the first 2 years of life.

A recent randomized controlled trial of the Video Interaction Project (an enhancement of Reach Out and Read) has demonstrated that the promotion of reading and play during pediatric visits leads to enhancements in social–emotional development. 112 In today’s world, many parents do not appreciate the importance of free play or guided play with their children and have come to think of worksheets and other highly structured activities as play. 146 Although many parents feel that they do not have time to play with their children, pediatricians can help parents understand that playful learning moments are everywhere, and even daily chores alongside parents can be turned into playful opportunities, especially if the children are actively interacting with parents and imitating chores. Young children typically seek more attention from parents. 46 Active play stimulates children’s curiosity and helps them develop the physical and social skills needed for school and later life. 32  

Cultural shifts, including less parent engagement because of parents working full-time, fewer safe places to play, and more digital distractions, have limited the opportunities for children to play. These factors may negatively affect school readiness, children’s healthy adjustment, and the development of important executive functioning skills;

Play is intrinsically motivated and leads to active engagement and joyful discovery. Although free play and recess need to remain integral aspects of a child’s day, the essential components of play can also be learned and adopted by parents, teachers, and other caregivers to promote healthy child development and enhance learning;

The optimal educational model for learning is for the teacher to engage the student in activities that promote skills within that child’s zone of proximal development, which is best accomplished through dialogue and guidance, not via drills and passive rote learning. There is a current debate, particularly about preschool curricula, between an emphasis on content and attempts to build skills by introducing seat work earlier versus seeking to encourage active engagement in learning through play. With our understanding of early brain development, we suggest that learning is better fueled by facilitating the child’s intrinsic motivation through play rather than extrinsic motivations, such as test scores;

An alternative model for learning is for teachers to develop a safe, stable, and nurturing relationship with the child to decrease stress, increase motivation, and ensure receptivity to activities that promote skills within each child’s zone of proximal development. The emphasis in this preventive and developmental model is to promote resilience in the presence of adversity by enhancing executive functioning skills with free play and guided play;

Play provides ample opportunities for adults to scaffold the foundational motor, social–emotional, language, executive functioning, math, and self-regulation skills needed to be successful in an increasingly complex and collaborative world. Play helps to build the skills required for our changing world; and

Play provides a singular opportunity to build the executive functioning that underlies adaptive behaviors at home; improve language and math skills in school; build the safe, stable, and nurturing relationships that buffer against toxic stress; and build social–emotional resilience.

For more information, see Kearney et al’s Using Joyful Activity To Build Resiliency in Children in Response to Toxic Stress . 147  

American Academy of Pediatrics

brain-derived neurotrophic factor

prefrontal cortex

Dr Yogman prepared the first draft of this report and took the lead in reconciling the numerous edits, contributions, and suggestions from the other authors; Drs Garner, Hutchinson, Hirsh-Pasek, and Golinkoff made significant contributions to the manuscript by revising multiple drafts and responding to all reviewer concerns; and all authors approved the final manuscript as submitted.

The opinions and assertions expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Uniformed Services University or the Department of Defense.

FUNDING: No external funding.

This document is copyrighted and is property of the American Academy of Pediatrics and its Board of Directors. All authors have filed conflict of interest statements with the American Academy of Pediatrics. Any conflicts have been resolved through a process approved by the Board of Directors. The American Academy of Pediatrics has neither solicited nor accepted any commercial involvement in the development of the content of this publication.

Clinical reports from the American Academy of Pediatrics benefit from expertise and resources of liaisons and internal (AAP) and external reviewers. However, clinical reports from the American Academy of Pediatrics may not reflect the views of the liaisons or the organizations or government agencies that they represent.

The guidance in this report does not indicate an exclusive course of treatment or serve as a standard of medical care. Variations, taking into account individual circumstances, may be appropriate.

All clinical reports from the American Academy of Pediatrics automatically expire 5 years after publication unless reaffirmed, revised, or retired at or before that time.

Michael Yogman, MD, FAAP

Andrew Garner, MD, PhD, FAAP

Jeffrey Hutchinson, MD, FAAP

Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, PhD

Roberta Golinkoff, PhD

Virginia Keane, MD, FAAP

Michael Yogman, MD, FAAP, Chairperson

Rebecca Baum, MD, FAAP

Thresia Gambon, MD, FAAP

Arthur Lavin, MD, FAAP

Gerri Mattson, MD, FAAP

Lawrence Wissow, MD, MPH, FAAP

Sharon Berry, PhD, LP – Society of Pediatric Psychology

Amy Starin, PhD, LCSW – National Association of Social Workers

Edward Christophersen, PhD, FAAP – Society of Pediatric Psychology

Norah Johnson, PhD, RN, CPNP-BC – National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners

Abigail Schlesinger, MD – American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Karen S. Smith

David L Hill, MD, FAAP, Chairperson

Nusheen Ameenuddin, MD, MPH, FAAP

Yolanda (Linda) Reid Chassiakos, MD, FAAP

Corinn Cross, MD, FAAP

Rhea Boyd, MD, FAAP

Robert Mendelson, MD, FAAP

Megan A Moreno, MD, MSEd, MPH, FAAP

Jenny Radesky, MD, FAAP

Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, MBE, FAAP

Justin Smith, MD, FAAP

Kristopher Kaliebe, MD – American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Jennifer Pomeranz, JD, MPH – American Public Health Association Health Law Special Interest Group

Brian Wilcox, PhD – American Psychological Association

Thomas McPheron

Competing Interests

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A New Look at Infant Problem-Solving: Using DeepLabCut to Investigate Exploratory Problem-Solving Approaches

Associated data.

The original contributions presented in the study are publicly available. These data can be found here: https://osf.io/sydqz/ .

When confronted with novel problems, problem-solvers must decide whether to copy a modeled solution or to explore their own unique solutions. While past work has established that infants can learn to solve problems both through their own exploration and through imitation, little work has explored the factors that influence which of these approaches infants select to solve a given problem. Moreover, past work has treated imitation and exploration as qualitatively distinct, although these two possibilities may exist along a continuum. Here, we apply a program novel to developmental psychology (DeepLabCut) to archival data ( Lucca et al., 2020 ) to investigate the influence of the effort and success of an adult’s modeled solution, and infants’ firsthand experience with failure, on infants’ imitative versus exploratory problem-solving approaches. Our results reveal that tendencies toward exploration are relatively immune to the information from the adult model, but that exploration generally increased in response to firsthand experience with failure. In addition, we found that increases in maximum force and decreases in trying time were associated with greater exploration, and that exploration subsequently predicted problem-solving success on a new iteration of the task. Thus, our results demonstrate that infants increase exploration in response to failure and that exploration may operate in a larger motivational framework with force, trying time, and expectations of task success.

Introduction

The ability to overcome obstacles to achieve one’s goals is crucial to success across a broad range of contexts. Problem-solving is particularly ubiquitous early in life. Infants are faced with a multitude of new problems every day such as obtaining desirable, out-of-reach objects, navigating around barriers, and learning to operate new toys. Research suggests that infants typically adopt one of two approaches to solving problems: infants imitate the problem-solving solutions of others (e.g., Provasi et al., 2001 ; Esseily et al., 2010 ) or explore to generate their own solutions (e.g., Willatts, 1999 ; Fagard et al., 2014 ). However, the circumstances that influence whether infants adopt problem-solving approaches modeled for them versus explore new approaches are not well understood. In this paper, we investigate whether the nature of the social input infants receive (namely, the effort and success of an adult’s modeled problem-solving solution) and infants’ own firsthand experience influence the degree to which infants use imitative versus exploratory problem-solving solutions.

Infants are capable learners and independently generate new solutions to problems via exploration. A variety of work suggests that when infants are presented with problem-solving paradigms in which they cannot obtain goal objects directly, they implement novel solutions ( Goldfield, 1983 ; Willatts and Rosie, 1988 ; Babik et al., 2018 ). For instance, by the end of the first year of life, infants discover that they must reach or crawl around a barrier to retrieve a toy ( Lockman, 1984 ; Lockman and Adams, 2001 ), and they can pull a cloth supporting an out-of-reach toy to get the toy ( Sommerville and Woodward, 2005a , b ). Critically, infants not only implement known solutions, but often explore new solutions iteratively until success is achieved ( Willatts, 1990 ). With age, infants’ ability to explore and innovate novel problem-solving solutions continues to improve. By 16 months of age, infants discover that they can use a rake as a tool to bring an out-of-reach toy into reach ( Fagard et al., 2014 ). Thus, from an early age infants engage in exploration when presented with novel problems, often leading to problem-solving success.

Simultaneously, a variety of evidence suggests that infants also rely on imitation to solve problems. By 12 months of age, infants can already solve simple problems by replicating modeled solutions across a variety of contexts ( Provasi et al., 2001 ; Brugger et al., 2007 ; Fagard and Lockman, 2009 ; Fagard et al., 2016 ). For example, 1-year-olds will learn from an adult model to grasp one end of a box while simultaneously raising a lid to overcome suction, to orient a bottle upside-down to retrieve a wooden peg, and to use a stick as a tool to retrieve a toy from a box ( Esseily et al., 2010 ). Thus, infants readily imitate modeled solutions to facilitate their own success on novel problems.

While there is ample evidence that infants imitate, they do not do so indiscriminately; rather, infants remove superfluous components of modeled problem-solving solutions and explore their own solutions when modeled solutions are inefficient. For example, infants only replicate the exact actions of an adult model when they are the most efficient means to achieving a goal (e.g., Schwier et al., 2006 ). When steps are not causally necessary, infants are likely to skip these steps (e.g., Hauf et al., 2004 ; Brugger et al., 2007 ; Schulz et al., 2008 ). Not only do infants deviate from imitation by omitting superfluous steps, but infants also explore alternate solutions. When infants were shown a demonstration in which an experimenter turned on a light with their head with unconstrained hands, infants often utilized their own hands to turn on the light, achieving the goal more directly ( Gergely et al., 2002 ; Zmyj et al., 2009 ). These studies demonstrate that there is some degree of fluidity in terms of whether infants will imitate versus explore when solving a problem.

In studies to date, imitation is often considered as qualitatively distinct from exploration, and consequently, researchers sometimes focus selectively on one approach or the other. For instance, Brugger et al. (2007) studied the effects of step necessity and adult modeling on imitation by coding whether infants performed two modeled steps. In this way, the authors successfully studied imitation, but exploration of novel solutions was not considered. Likewise, many studies separately measure imitation and exploration by providing distinct definitions of each. For example, Muentener et al. (2018) investigated both exploration and imitation but devised separate tasks and scales to quantify each approach independently. At a global level, it is reasonable to consider the constructs of imitation and exploration separately given that researchers are trying to capture qualitatively distinct strategies. However, individuals often also engage in more nuanced explorations that involve variations on modeled solutions. For example, imagine an observer watches a model insert a key into a lock and turn it twice counterclockwise. After watching, the observer puts their own key into the lock, but it does not open. The observer may persevere in trying to reproduce the exact solution of the model, or they may enact a qualitatively distinct solution such as knocking on the door. On the other hand, the observer may also engage in micro-exploration: jiggling the key, varying force, or varying the angle they use to release the lock. When this variability is taken into consideration, it becomes clear that a continuous scale can be construed between faithful imitation and micro-exploration.

While micro-exploration has not been studied at the level of particular problem-solving strategies, there is evidence of micro-exploration within infant object interactions. Nuanced refinements of existing strategies have been argued to play a particularly important role in infancy both for acquiring motor skills ( Robin et al., 1996 ; Keen, 2011 ) and for generating more complicated problem-solving strategies ( Lockman, 2000 ). Specifically, to utilize tools and interact with objects, infants must learn to make subtle variations in their approaches, for instance by adjusting their trajectory and velocity while using a hammer ( Kahrs et al., 2013 ) or by altering their grip on a food-laden spoon ( McCarty et al., 1999 ), thus engaging in micro-exploration. These findings indicate that infants engage in micro-exploration to successfully handle objects and that they may also apply this ability to solve challenging problems.

Thus, the ability to integrate imitation and exploration into a continuum is important to understand the full spectrum of strategies that infants employ to solve problems. However, the ability to achieve this objective may be hampered by the inherent difficulty of quantifying imitation and exploration within a single objective and continuous scale. Research in this area has largely been accomplished through behavioral coding schemes and human raters. To do this, coders make qualitative judgments about whether a subject has imitated or explored, as well as the kind of exploratory strategy generated. In this way, participant behavior is coded and coerced into a discrete category structure. In order to investigate imitation and micro-exploration along a continuum, one must move beyond behavioral coding.

Fortunately, motion capture technology presents an avenue to generate continuous, objective measures of infants’ motor responses in order to quantify infants’ problem-solving approaches along an imitation-exploration continuum. Indeed, there is a rich history of using motion capture technology in developmental research to assess early motor, perceptual, and cognitive development ( Thelen et al., 1996 ; Adolph et al., 2000 ; Berger and Adolph, 2003 ; Claxton et al., 2003 ; McCarty and Keen, 2005 ; Gill et al., 2009 ; Gottwald and Gredebäck, 2015 ; Jung et al., 2015 ; Fragaszy et al., 2016 ; Gottwald et al., 2017 , 2019 ; Ingvarsdóttir and Balkenius, 2020 ). Advancements in artificial intelligence have expanded access to motion capture by creating free, online programs for post hoc analysis such as frame difference (e.g., Paxton and Dale, 2013 ) and computer vision methods (e.g., Ossmy et al., 2020 ; Cao et al., 2021 ). While these computer vision methods have existed for the last decade, they have not been broadly employed in the field of developmental psychology and are not yet in the toolbox of most developmental researchers.

Here, we focus particularly on DeepLabCut (DLC) which allows users to train a neural network to track motion in up to three dimensions. DLC relies on a specialized algorithm which is pre-trained ( Deng et al., 2009 ) such that DLC’s neural network only requires a small number of frames for training and can manage lower resolution footage ( Mathis et al., 2018 ; Cronin et al., 2019 ). As such, DLC is suitable for use with small samples but provides quality comparable to even commercial systems ( Sturman et al., 2020 ; Vonstad et al., 2020 ). Further, DLC is incredibly versatile and is even able to track multiple, distinct individuals ( Mathis et al., 2018 , 2020 ). Thus, once trained, a researcher can utilize DLC with diverse data sets and variables of interest. Finally, the software is open-source, and its use has rapidly expanded across disciplinary lines in the last 3 years (for a scoping meta-analysis, see Table 1 ). The open-source nature of the program has stimulated an online community, with researchers introducing specialized packages (e.g., Fiker et al., 2020 ; Forys et al., 2020 ). As a field, developmental psychology has a history of active contribution to open-source projects, with many researchers releasing specialized packages in programming languages for others’ use (e.g., Burke, 2019 ; Kominsky, 2019 ; Sanchez et al., 2019 ). As such, while developmental psychologists seem largely unaware of this technology, they are well-positioned to benefit from the rich and accurate behavioral data generated by DLC, as well as to contribute to the larger DLC community.

A breakdown of peer-reviewed studies that have used DeepLabCut, organized by field of study, between 2018 and 2021.

In order to identify the scope of DLC in different fields, we gathered publications that used DLC by using PsycINFO and the first 15 pages of Google Scholar with the search term “DeepLabCut.” This analysis revealed 30 peer-reviewed papers that used DLC since its inception in 2018. Of these 30 papers, zero were in the field of developmental psychology. While DLC is a state-of-the-art software and is widely acknowledged in other fields such as neuroscience ( Fried et al., 2020 ), developmental psychology has not yet taken advantage of this software.

The goal of the current paper was to apply DLC to archival videos ( Lucca et al., 2020 ) to capture infants’ problem-solving approaches to a challenging problem. In the original study, Lucca et al. (2020) provided 18-month-old infants with a modeled solution to a means-end problem: infants watched an adult experimenter pull a rope that was attached to an out-of-reach transparent box containing a toy, in order to bring the box and toy within reach. Infants saw one of three demonstrations that varied in terms of effort and success. In the Easy condition, the experimenter pulled the rope, and the box immediately came within reach, allowing her to retrieve the toy. In the Hard condition, the experimenter pulled the rope five times. On the first four pulls, the box did not move despite the experimenter’s efforts. On the fifth pull, the box slowly began to move until it was completely brought into reach, allowing her to retrieve the toy. The Impossible condition demonstration was similar to the Hard condition, except that the experimenter never succeeded in moving the box and thus was unable to retrieve the toy. After observing the demonstration, infants were presented with an impossible test trial in which the toy was surreptitiously affixed to the table. This cycle was repeated three times, and the researchers measured how long infants engaged in pulling the rope to retrieve the toy, as well as negative affect, maximum pulling force, help-seeking, and hints required during a subsequent recovery trial (designed to test supported needed on a new iteration of the task).

Lucca et al. (2020) found that the effort and success of the adult model and accumulating firsthand experience with failure jointly influenced how long infants attempted to solve the problem, as well as several measures of performance. For instance, trying time dramatically decreased across trials in the Easy condition as infants experienced greater firsthand failure. Here, the success of the experimenter model suggested that infants should succeed quickly by employing the experimenter’s approach. As such, infants may have inferred that they did not have adequate skill to solve the problem. Similarly, in the Impossible condition, trying time also dramatically decreased across trials, but also started off relatively low. In this case, the experimenter’s failure, coupled with firsthand failure across trials, may have led infants to infer that the task was simply impossible. On the other hand, in the Hard condition, infants’ efforts remained relatively stable across trials. In this case, infants’ inferences about the problem were presumably influenced by both sources of information. The experimenter demonstration suggested that the problem was solvable but difficult, requiring infants to try for sufficiently long to succeed. Thus, the firsthand failure infants experienced was not surprising or demotivating, leading to continued trying despite failure. Together these findings indicated that the effort and success of the adult model, along with accumulating firsthand experience with failure, influence how long infants try to solve a given problem.

Thus, the current study had three objectives. First, we investigated how two manipulated factors, the effort and success of an adult model’s problem-solving solution and firsthand experience with problem-solving failure, influenced the degree to which infants adopt imitative versus exploratory approaches. Second, we looked at how individual differences in other performance measures on the task, such as infants’ negative affect, maximum pulling force, help-seeking, and trying time predicted infants’ exploration. Finally, we were interested in if imitative versus exploratory approaches predicted motivation on a functioning version of the task.

To address our three objectives, we trained DLC to track the coordinates of the rope handle the infants pulled during the problem-solving task. Specifically, we considered imitation in this context to have two components: (1) visible similarity to the approach employed by the experimenter, and (2) consistency of employment across time. Thus, we examined how model success and firsthand experience with failure influenced the degree of infants’ imitative similarity to the experimenter (i.e., the extent to which infants copied the experimenter model), as well as the variability in their attempted solutions (i.e., how much infants varied the location of their attempts). Imitative similarity was measured using the displacement of rope pulling in the x- and y- axes relative to imitative pulling, and variability was measured using each participant’s standard deviation of spatial displacement. Within the context of these variables, a decidedly imitative problem-solving approach would be marked by high imitative similarity and low variability, while a decidedly exploratory problem-solving approach would be marked by low imitative similarity and high variability as multiple, novel solutions would be tested.

Regarding our first research question, it is plausible that we would find a pattern similar to Lucca et al. (2020) , wherein infants would respond to the effort and success of the adult model, and their firsthand failure. A successful model (Easy condition) suggests that infants should imitate the solution for similar success, consistent with prior work showing that adults and children tend to favor imitating the solutions of others when others are successful ( Schulz et al., 2008 ; Rendell et al., 2010 ; Wisdom and Goldstone, 2011 ; Reindl and Tennie, 2018 ). On the other hand, when the model fails (Impossible condition), infants may be more likely to explore because they think imitation is unlikely to solve the problem. Indeed, children and adults also increase rates of exploration when modeled examples are lower quality or less reliable ( Rook and van Knippenberg, 2011 ; Carr et al., 2015 ). When the adult shows it is difficult but possible to solve the problem (Hard condition), infants’ responses may fall between these two possibilities.

However, it may be the case that infants are influenced mostly by their firsthand experiences with failure, given that infants uniformly experience firsthand failure in all conditions and trials. Prior work has indicated that children increase exploration when the success of outcomes is unclear or surprising ( Schulz and Bonawitz, 2007 ; Gweon and Schulz, 2008 ; Stahl and Feigenson, 2015 ; Bridgers et al., 2019 ). Thus, given infants’ consistent experience with failure during the test trials, we expected that as a group, infants would explore solutions different from the experimenter, and that greater experience with failure (within trials and across trials) would decrease imitation, as continued failure would suggest imitation was not fruitful.

In order to address the second research question, we investigated whether negative affect, maximum pulling force, help-seeking, and trying time predicted infants’ imitative versus exploratory approaches. It is possible infants’ affective responses may drive exploratory approaches, as infants may be more likely to abandon modeled solutions when frustrated. Similarly, infants may be more likely to adopt exploratory approaches when they have exerted maximal force when pulling the rope, compared to when they have only used minimal force. Addressing whether help-seeking predicted exploratory approaches will shed light on the extent to which the use of micro-exploration is predicted by the adoption of qualitatively distinct approaches. Furthermore, investigating whether trying time predicts exploratory approaches will inform whether these two metrics of performance signal conceptually related phenomena (i.e., different forms of persistence) or distinct phenomena.

Finally, we investigated whether exploratory approaches during test trials predicted hints needed during recovery trials when the task was solvable. While imitative and exploratory approaches are both means to remain engaged on the rope-pulling task, infants may generate different expectations through engagement in each approach. If a decidedly imitative approach is adopted, infants will uniformly experience failure every time they employ their method. This experience would likely lead to low expectations that the method will succeed the next time it is employed. On the other hand, each exploratory strategy infants test presents a possibility of success, even if small. Thus, infants who try a variety of strategies may require less support on a new iteration of the task.

Materials and Methods

Participants.

Participant videos from Lucca et al. (2020) were repurposed for this study. In the original study, 96 full-term, typically developing 18-month-olds (38 females, mean age = 18.50 months, range = 17.67–19.30 months) participated. Participants had previously signed up to partake in studies through a university database and were recruited through this database for this study. Participants were parent-reported as White ( n = 69), Asian ( n = 3), Hispanic ( n = 2), mixed race ( n = 21), or declined to report ( n = 1). The sample size was limited to that of the original study.

Motor Skills Checklist

In order to ensure our results were not constrained by individual differences in motor coordination, a measure of gross motor development was administered. Parents were given a 24-item motor ability checklist ( Loucks and Sommerville, 2013 ) that was a variation of the Bayley Scales of Motor Development ( Bayley, 2006 ). Questions pertained to infant’s motor abilities and were organized in chronological order of developmental milestones (e.g., “Can your child sit alone while playing with a toy?,” “Does your child attempt to walk?,” “Can your child stand on one foot with help?”). The highest consecutive item parents checked served as a measure of motor development.

Lucca et al.’s (2020) procedure consisted of three components: (1) a warm-up to familiarize the infants to their new environment, (2) demonstration-test trials: the experimenter first tried to retrieve an out-of-reach toy, then the infant was given the opportunity to retrieve the out-of-reach toy (this cycle was repeated three times with three different toys), and (3) a recovery trial. A more detailed description of the methods can be found in the original publication ( Lucca et al., 2020 ); here we highlight the most important components for the current study.

During the demonstration-test trials, caregivers were seated and wearing occluding eyeglasses while infants sat on their caregiver’s lap. In the demonstration phase, the infant observed the experimenter attempt to retrieve an out-of-reach toy in a transparent container by pulling on a rope that was attached to the container. Infants were assigned to one of three conditions. In the Easy condition, the experimenter easily retrieved the toy by pulling on the rope. In the Hard condition, the infant saw the experimenter struggle (she pulled the rope five times, and the box did not move), and eventually succeed at retrieving the toy by pulling on the rope. In the Impossible condition, the infant saw the experimenter try to pull the rope to retrieve the toy the same number of times as in the Hard condition, but she did not succeed.

During the test phase, infants were presented with the same toy in a container, attached to a rope. Unbeknownst to infants, the apparatus had been replaced with an identical looking version such that the container was stuck to the tabletop making the problem impossible to solve. Each trial ended after 120 s total had passed, or if the infant had not touched the rope for 15 s. The demonstration-test sequence was repeated three times, with three different toys. We analyzed the first 20 s of each trial for two reasons. First, as we wanted to adhere closely to the original methods. Second, as trials were variable in length and we believed it was important to have an equal amount of data from each participant for inferential purposes (i.e., data from 120 s would likely be non-representative as it would only reflect the most active infants). As such, our sample would experience rapid attrition if other cut-offs were used (e.g., only 74% of participants had trials which each lasted at least 30 s; see Table 2 ).

Participant attrition in the Lucca et al. (2020) sample using different cut-offs for trial lengths.

The percentage of participants whose trials each lasted a minimum length rapidly declines after 20 s.

Finally, infants participated in the recovery trial in order to observe infants’ expectations of task success after the demonstration-test trials. Infants were again faced with a toy in a clear container attached to a rope; this time the apparatus was functional.

We focused on select variables coded by Lucca et al. (2020) ; namely, time spent trying and maximum pulling force. Additionally, data were collected on help-seeking behaviors, and affect. During the recovery trial, the number of hints were recorded.

Time Spent Trying

A primary coder watched each participant video and recorded the number of seconds the infant spent trying. An infant was classified as trying if they pulled the rope and looked directly at the toy immediately prior to, during, or after pulling. Behaviors such as swinging the rope side-to-side without making eye contact with the toy, or throwing the rope were classified as off-task behaviors, and therefore, not coded. A secondary coder independently double-coded 100% of the videos, establishing high reliability ( ICC = 0.95, p < 0.001). The trying time data was not normally distributed, therefore the data were square root transformed for analyses of trying time.

Maximum Pulling Force

The strength of trying was quantified using a 5 kg S-type load cell discretely connected to the toy. The load cell measured each infant’s pull in pounds per square inch (PSI) and recorded continuous force data on a connected laptop. Maximum PSI was extracted during the first 20 s of each test trial. The force data was not normally distributed, therefore the data were also square root transformed for analyses of force.

Help-Seeking Behaviors

A primary coder watched each participant video and tallied the number of help-seeking behaviors displayed during the test trials. Help-seeking behaviors were defined as (1) reaching to the target object, or (2) points toward the target object or experimenter. Since parents were instructed to wear occluding eyeglasses, behavior directed toward the caregiver objectively could not be informative in this task, thus these behaviors were not coded as help-seeking. A secondary coder independently double-coded 100% of the videos, establishing strong reliability ( ICC = 0.93, p < 0.001). For analyses, a composite help-seeking measure was created by summing both reaching and pointing behavior which occurred during each trial.

Participant affect was coded during bouts of trying, using still frames sampled at every 15 frames (i.e., every 510 ms) during trying time. Coders watched close-up recording on each participant’s face and coded emotional reactions using a coding scheme adapted from Repacholi et al. (2016) . Coding of positive and negative affect was performed separately, therefore in very rare instances infants could be coded as displaying both negative and positive affect during a single frame. Positive affect was coded if infants displayed characteristic features of a smile (e.g., upturning of the mouth, cheek elevation, raised brows). A secondary coder independently double-coded 50% of the videos for positive affect, establishing high reliability ( ICC = 0.97, p < 0.001). Negative affect was coded if infants displayed characteristic features of frustration or disgust (e.g., down turning of the mouth, furrowed brows, wrinkled nose). A secondary coder independently double-coded 50% of the videos for negative affect, establishing high reliability ( ICC = 0.96, p < 0.001). The total number of frames during a trial that the infant displayed negative affect was used in analyses.

Number of Hints Needed During Recovery Trial

The number of hints the infant required from the experimenter to complete the task during the recovery trial were coded. Unlike test trials, task success was possible during recovery. Therefore, hints required was used as a proxy to assess infants’ expectations of task success (i.e., more hints would relate to greater expectations of failure). The number of hints provided by the experimenter was strictly a function of the amount of time passed, as hints were provided at fixed intervals if infants did not solve the task independently. Thus, hints did not reflect the infants’ behavior or help-seeking. A secondary coder independently double-coded 50% of the videos for hints required during recovery, establishing high reliability ( ICC = 0.96, p < 0.001).

DeepLabCut Coding and Processing

As with our other variables, participant videos were trimmed to the first 20 s of each trial to match the hand-coding scheme employed by Lucca et al. (2020) and to ensure trials had equal data. However, given the variability in trial lengths, we also controlled for the trial length in our models to account for differences in overall time trying between participants. To this end, a human coder classified the length of trials to the nearest second. A secondary coder independently double-coded 25% of the videos for trial length, establishing high reliability ( ICC = 0.98, p < 0.001).

In order to quantify infants’ motion through space, DeepLabCut (DLC), a markerless pose estimation software, was applied to generate data on the rope coordinates for each participant in the x - and y -axes. Data were not collected in the z -axis as this is where pulling by the experimenter model occurred; as such, motion in the z -axis was considered imitative, rather than exploratory. The coordinates in the x - and y -axes were measured in units of pixels and represented the displacement of the rope relative to the origin (i.e., the top left corner of the camera view). Coordinates were generated at a rate of one coordinate pair per video frame (i.e., 30 times per second).

Our goal was to train an artificial neural network (ANN) to identify and track the rope handle through space. The first step was to hand-label frames with our points of interest to create training and test data sets that would be used to train the ANN. Estimation accuracy of a network is improved when trained to track more than one point ( Mathis et al., 2018 ). As such, we trained the network to track three points on the rope: the beginning of the rope handle, the middle of the rope handle, and the end of the rope handle (see Figure 1 ). However, analyses were conducted using the beginning of the handle, where it attached to the rope. After observing labeled participant videos, this point was the least likely of the three to be occluded by the infants’ hands, and thus, was the most reliable. DLC boasts < 5-pixel error when trained on 100 hand-labeled frames ( Nath et al., 2019 ). In order to minimize the pixel error on our data set, we labeled 200 frames from 10 participant videos. We chose 10 participant videos that represented the diversity of the sample both in terms participant demographics (e.g., participant race, participant gender), and in terms of perceptual features (e.g., shirt color) to ensure the training could be applied to the versatile range of participants present in Lucca et al.’s (2020) sample. Then, 200 frames that featured infants in a variety of positions were manually selected from the 10 participant videos.

(A) A still from a participant video showing markers generated by DLC after training the neural network. The three parts of the rope labeled and tracked were: the base of the rope handle (blue), the middle of the rope handle (green), and the end of the rope handle (red). (B) A graphical representation of the coordinates extracted from DLC. Additionally, we have uploaded a video of one of this participant’s test trials with computed marker overlay. Video playback is in real time and can be found here: https://osf.io/5z74k/ .

Using the recommended neural network, ResNet-50 ( Nath et al., 2019 ), we trained the network on 200,000 iterations of the training set. The trained network had a mean training error of 2.01 pixels, and a mean test error of 3.07 pixels (less than a quarter of a cm). We found this mean error size suitable for our work, thus we did not generate additional iterations of training and the remainder of the participant videos were analyzed using this network. For a detailed user guide, including instructions on creating a training data set, training the network, and evaluating the trained network, please see Nath et al. (2019) .

Assessing DeepLabCut’s Precision

To assess the precision of DLC’s labeling capacity, we had two human coders evaluate the labels generated by DLC. We randomly selected 25% of participants and then randomly selected 20 frames from each participant for evaluation (as 20 frames per participant were used in our training set). We found that on 90% of frames, DLC reported that it had detected the rope handle accurately; on 97% of those frames, human coders agreed that it was correctly labeled. For comparison, Sturman et al. (2020) found DLC was 86 ± 3% accurate compared to human annotated frames, and this outperformed commercial solutions.

Assessing DeepLabCut’s Validity

Once data was extracted from DLC, it was utilized to construct several measures of exploration (see “Results” section). Before conducting analyses, we wanted to verify that our measures of exploration were not merely a reflection of low-level motor phenomena. To this end, behavioral coding was performed by human raters to identify times when infants were engaged in playing and unproductive movements (i.e., times when the rope was being moved but was not taut). Because infant’s attempts were generally stochastic, shifting rapidly from one behavior to another, coding was performed on the level of 5-s intervals to allow for consistent classification between human raters. Two coders were assigned approximately half the sample each and marked how many intervals displayed unproductive movement in each trial for each participant. Thus, infants could score up to four intervals as unproductive per trial. In addition to coding assignments, approximately 25% of data was double coded and interrater reliability was moderately high ( ICC = 0.83, p < 0.001).

To understand whether our measures of exploration inadvertently captured incidental movement, rather than concerted trying, we performed Pearson correlations between our trial-level measures of imitative similarity and variability with the number of intervals engaged in unproductive movements. Indeed, we did not observe a correlation between either average imitative similarity ( r = −0.03, p = 0.57) or overall variability ( r = −0.02, p = 0.68) and our human-generated measure of unproductive movement. Thus, we did not find evidence that our measures of exploration reflected off-task behaviors or play. This verification provided us with increased confidence of the construct validity of our measures of similarity and variability as exploratory problem-solving strategies.

Effects of Firsthand Experience and Model Success on Infants’ Imitative Similarity

In all the demonstrations, infants witnessed the experimenter modeling straight back pulling of the rope. Our first goal was to understand whether infants’ trying attempts were similar to the demonstration of the experimenter or whether infants altered the angle of their pulling along the x- and y- axes. To this end, we produced measures to capture divergence from imitation by centering participants’ raw displacement values in each axis relative to imitative (i.e., straight back) pulling. As not all participants engaged in imitative pulling, we were unable to center each participant’s attempts relative to their own imitation. However, data from all participants who engaged in imitative pulling ( n = 78) were utilized to generate average imitative estimates. A given pull was defined as imitative if the rope handle did not go beyond the shoulders in either axis, and if the infant was properly seated in their parents’ lap (i.e., not straining or bouncing). These video clips were run through the neural network to obtain an average x- value (458.29 pixels; 35.25 cm from the left of the camera frame) and an average y- value (347.79 pixels; 26.75 cm from the top of the camera frame) for imitative pulling. These values were subtracted from infants’ raw displacement values for each axis. Because we valued divergence from imitation in both directions (i.e., right and left, up and down), the absolute value of each deviation value was then taken.

Once these values were calculated, we performed two one-sample t -tests to compare the displacement values in each axis to imitation (i.e., 0) to understand whether infants’ pulling attempts differed significantly from the experimenter. To make use of the rich data produced by DLC, each t -test considered 60 points per participant (20 coordinate pairs per trial for each of the three trials), excluding outliers. 1 In each of the conditions, infants experienced failure once they attempted to solve the means-end problem on their own. Thus, we expected that infants as a group would generate new strategies to improve upon the strategy modeled by the experimenter. Pulling attempts in both the x- axis [ M = 191.01 pixels/14.69 cm, SE = 1.63 pixels, t (5670) = 117.09, p < 0.001] and the y- axis [ M = 154.08 pixels/11.85 cm, SE = 1.16 pixels, t (5751) = 133.30, p < 0.001] differed significantly from imitation. Thus, infants’ attempts differed significantly from the experimenter in each axis. We also sought to understand whether pulling attempts differed between the two axes, thus we additionally performed a paired-sample t -test to understand whether there was greater deviation in one axis than the other. Indeed, infants’ pulling attempts in the x- axis deviated from imitation to a significantly greater extent than in the y -axis [ M diff = 37.36 pixels/2.87 cm, t (5669) = 18.67, p < 0.001]. Thus, infants did not merely replicate the actions of the experimenter and their attempts appeared to differ to a greater extent in the x- axis than the y- axis.

Our next goal was to understand how infants’ imitative similarity was influenced by the effort and success of the adult model and firsthand experience with failure. To this end, two measures were constructed using the absolute values from the x- and y- axes: (1) a difference score to allow us to understand if infants systematically varied the axis of their exploration, made by subtracting values in the y- axis from the x- axis, and (2) an additive score representing overall imitative similarity by summing, then reverse-scoring, the scores for interpretability. Thus, for the difference score, positive values indicate greater deviation from imitation in the x- axis than the y- axis, and for the imitative similarity measure, a score of 0 indicated imitative pulling in both axes and greater negative values represent greater exploration (see Figure 2 ). Once these measures were calculated, linear mixed effects models were built to predict changes in the two measures, respectively. In each model, participants were entered as random effects and the main effects of condition, trial number, and time within the trial (in seconds) were entered as predictors. Further, individual variation in overall trial length and motor skill may lead to differences in infants’ experiences trying in this task. Therefore, we also entered the main effects of overall trial length and motor skill as covariates to control for these effects. As we expected that greater experience with failure (both within trials and across trials) would decrease the utility of imitation, we additionally checked for an interaction between trial number and time within the trial. Finally, as condition was a categorical variable with three categories, we used the Easy condition as a baseline in accordance with Lucca et al. (2020) , though it is worth noting that the pattern of results is the same regardless of specified baseline condition.

Imitative similarity plotted as (A) an additive score combining variation from imitation in the x - and y -axes and (B) a difference score subtracting variation from imitation in the y -axis from the x -axis. Each graph is plotted by time, divided by condition and trial number. In the case of the additive score, greater values represent greater imitation, while in the case of the difference score, greater values represent greater variation in the x -axis relative to the y -axis.

In the case of our difference score, we did not expect to find systematic variability as there was no information provided by the experimenter or across time which would suggest exploration in one axis would be more effective than in the other. Indeed, there were no significant main effects of condition, time within trial, nor an interaction between trial number and time (all p’ s > 0.39). However, there was an effect of trial such that infants’ pulling attempts differed from imitation to a greater extent in the x- axis than the y- axis in later trials [ t (5602) = 2.27, p = 0.02, β = 8.89, SE = 3.92]. Thus, infants appeared to explore locations that were more disparate from the experimenter particularly in the x- axis across trials. This result may be due to the physical limitations of the study design, wherein infants sat in their caregiver’s lap and were less able to move vertically than horizontally. Critically, there was not a significant effect of motor skill on the difference score ( p = 0.96).

On the other hand, we thought that our measure of imitative similarity could be sensitive to the effort and success of the adult model, as infants received varying information about the success of the modeled solution, and to firsthand evidence, as failure would suggest a necessity for strategy diversification. Our model of imitative similarity revealed a significant main effect of trial such that infants’ attempts became more similar to the experimenter over trials [ t (5497) = 2.14, p = 0.03, β = 8.09, SE = 3.78] and a main effect of time such that infants’ attempts became more imitative as trials progressed [ t (5475) = 2.51, p = 0.01, β = 1.63, SE = 0.65], as well as a significant interaction between trial number and time such that on later trials, infants pulling attempts diverged more from imitation over time [ t (5475) = −3.08, p = 0.002, β = −0.93, SE = 0.30]. As before, we did not observe an effect of motor skill in our model of imitative similarity ( p = 0.22). It is worth noting that the effects in this model were relatively small, and that our prior analyses revealed infants’ pulling attempts were overall significantly different from the experimenter in both axes. Thus, though infants’ pulling attempts became more imitative over time, these attempts were still overall dissimilar to the experimenter. Finally, we did not observe any effects of condition on imitative similarity (both p ’s > 0.78). Thus, imitative similarity seemed to respond more to information gained through firsthand experience than from the adult model.

Effects of Firsthand Experience and Model Effort and Success on Infants’ Variability

Our analyses of imitative similarity allowed us to understand whether the locations of infants’ pulling attempts varied significantly from the experimenter and how they varied over time. However, in the face of continued failure, it is both sensible to divest from imitation and also to test multiple locations and solutions as each new attempt fails. Thus, our next goal was to complement our understanding of exploration by evaluating the variability in infants’ pulling attempts. To index spatial variability, the coordinates returned from DLC for each participant and each trial were used to calculate standard deviations of displacement in both axes. Because standard deviation is highly dependent on the mean of a given time interval, we calculated two variability scores: (1) a per-second variability score, representing the average standard deviation of movement in the x- and y- axes during the previous second, which responded to the local means of displacement in the previous second, and (2) an overall variability score, representing the average standard deviations of displacement in the x- and y- axes during the trial, which responded to the global means of displacement over the entire trial (see Figure 3 ). Because of skew in the per-second variability score and for consistency between measures, the measures used in analyses were square root transformed.

Variability plotted (A) using a per-second score to represent variability in real-time and (B) using an overall score to represent the variability created across the entire trial, divided by condition and trial number. For each score, greater values represent greater variability and exploration.

To understand how per-second variability was affected by the effort and success of the adult model, and firsthand experience with failure, a mixed effects model with the same specifications as the previous models was constructed. Participants were entered as random effects and the main effects of condition, trial number, and time within the trial (in seconds) were entered as predictors, the main effects of trial length and motor skill as covariates, as well as the interaction between trial number and time. As before, we expected that the varying success of the adult model between conditions could have an effect on variability. Likewise, we expected that firsthand evidence could have an effect, though we did not have specific hypotheses as to whether per-second variability would decrease, as failure may encourage lesser overall engagement, or increase, as failure may also potentiate exploration. This model revealed only trending effects of time such that per-second variability decreased over time [ t (5479) = −1.84, p = 0.07, β = −0.03, SE = 0.02], and a trending interaction between trial and time [ t (5479) = −1.89, p = 0.06, β = −0.02, SE = 0.01], such that per-second variability decreased to a greater extent on later trials. There were no effects of condition nor trial number (all p’ s > 0.24). Likewise, we did not observe an effect of motor skill on per-second variability ( p = 0.35). Thus, as infants experienced greater firsthand failure, they exhibited less real-time variability, but we did not find evidence of an effect of the effort and success of the adult model.

On the other hand, to understand how overall variability varied as a function of condition and trial number, a linear mixed effects model was built to predict overall variability. In this case, we hypothesized that overall variability should increase across trials as greater firsthand experience with failure should suggest that previously tested solutions would not succeed. Participants were entered as random effects and the main effects of trial number and condition were entered as predictors. We also entered the main effects of trial length and motor skill into the model as covariates. As before, we used the Easy condition as a baseline, though it is worth noting the pattern of results was the same regardless of baseline. We found a main effect of trial number, such that spatial variability increased across trials [ t (222) = 13.35, p < 0.001, β = 2.71, SE = 0.20], but there were no significant effects of condition (both p’ s > 0.43). Therefore, while infants’ spatial variability responded to firsthand failure across trials, we did not find evidence that it was also sensitive to the effort and success of the adult model. As in our other models, motor skill did not have a significant effect on overall variability ( p = 0.74). This analysis of overall variability revealed a markedly different pattern than our analysis of per-second variability. We discuss the potential explanations and implications of these results in the Section “Discussion.”

Predicting Individual Differences in Exploration

Our second analytic goal was to understand how individual differences in performance measures predicted infants’ exploration, in order to better understand the processes that lead to exploration. The distributions of many of our performance measures exhibited substantial positive skew. While we transformed these variables as necessary to reduce skewness (e.g., trying time, maximum force, overall variability), we additionally employed 20% percentage-bend correlations to increase the robustness of analyses predicting exploration utilizing negative affect, maximum pulling force, help-seeking, and trying time, respectively. Pearson correlations may lack robustness with this type of data, as small shifts in marginal distributions or outliers can lead to substantial variations in correlation estimates ( Wilcox, 1994 ). Thus, utilizing 20% percentage-bend correlations allowed our analyses to have greater robustness against the skew exhibited in our performance measures. We conceptually treated each performance measure as a predictor of imitative similarity and the square root of overall variability, respectively. However, as we did not have specific hypotheses about the direction of the effects, these analyses were all exploratory and correlational.

We first looked to see how the performance measures related to imitative similarity. Increases in maximum pulling force were related to decreases in imitative similarity (ρ pb = −0.16, p = 0.03). Thus, infants who utilized greater maximum pulling force tended to diverge more from imitation. However, there were no other trending or significant relationships observed between imitative similarity and the performance measures (all p’ s > 0.28; see Figure 4 ). We next performed individual difference analyses of spatial variability (see Figure 5 ). Regarding force, we found that increases in maximum pulling force were associated with greater overall variability (ρ pb = 0.22, p = 0.003). Therefore, infants who utilized greater maximum pulling force tended to generate greater spatial variability. We also found that increases in trying time were associated with lower spatial variability (ρ pb = −0.27, p < 0.001). Lastly, there was a trending relationship with affect and variability. We found that increased negative affect tended to be associated with greater overall variability (ρ pb = 0.13, p = 0.08). Thus, infants who were more frustrated may have generated greater spatial variability. Finally, we did not find evidence of a relationship between help-seeking and overall variability (ρ pb = 0.11, p = 0.13).

Relationship between performance measures and average imitative similarity: (A) maximum pulling force, (B) trying time, (C) negative affect, (D) help-seeking, and (E) hints during recovery. The shaded region along the line of best fit represents standard error.

Relationship between performance measures and overall spatial variability: (A) maximum pulling force, (B) trying time, (C) negative affect, (D) help-seeking, and (E) hints during recovery. The shaded region along the line of best fit represents standard error.

Predicting Differences in Expectations of Task Success

Finally, we conducted 20% percentage-bend correlations to investigate the relationship between expectations of task success (i.e., the number of hints infants needed on the recovery trial) and imitative similarity and spatial variability, respectively. We hypothesized that infants who explored more in preceding test trials would require less support during the new iteration of the task, as each new strategy employed would present a new opportunity for success. Since there was only one measure of hints required during the recovery trial for each participant, we averaged the standard deviation of spatial displacement across the three trials, as well as the additive imitative similarity scores, for analyses. There was not a significant relationship between hints required during the recovery trial and imitative similarity ( p = 0.38). However, hints required and overall variability were moderately, negatively correlated (ρ pb = −0.37, p < 0.001) such that infants who had higher average overall variability during the test trials required fewer hints during the recovery trials. Importantly, our measures of spatial variability and hints required during the recovery trial were independently collected. Since spatial variability was measured prior to the recovery trial, it seems that spatial variability while problem-solving predicted the number of hints required in the recovery trial.

Insights Gained About Infants’ Problem-Solving Strategies

This paper’s primary conceptual objective was to investigate the influence of the effort and success of an adult model, and firsthand experience with failure on infants’ problem-solving approaches by quantifying the extent to which these attempts deviated from modeled solutions. To this end, we considered multifaceted components of infants’ problem-solving approaches by applying DLC to generate objective, high-quality data: imitative similarity and spatial variability. Our findings revealed that these exploratory facets of problem-solving were relatively immune to social input (i.e., the effort and success of an adult model) but responded to firsthand failure across and within trials. Thus, although imitative similarity and spatial variability were influenced by some of the same factors that influence the time spent problem-solving (see Lucca et al., 2020 ), focusing on these new measures of exploration yielded new information about the nature of infants’ problem-solving approaches.

By investigating imitative similarity, we were able to assess the extent to which infants’ pulling behaviors deviated from the modeled solution. This process revealed that infants’ pulling behaviors were significantly different from the experimenter model they observed. Thus, when given an unsolvable task, infants as a group generated solutions which were unique from the experimenter by testing new locations. Imitative similarity also varied across time; within trials, infants’ approaches tended to become slightly more imitative as they experienced greater failure, except on later trials, wherein their approaches became less imitative over time. In this task, exploration is useful in that the experimenter’s solution demonstrably fails when attempted. In early trials, infants may test different solutions then converge toward the experimenter’s solution once they experience failure with exploration. On the other hand, on later trials, infants may increase exploration after repeated experience failing using the modeled solution. These results suggest that infants’ problem-solving approaches respond to firsthand experience with failure.

Likewise, we were able to investigate the variety exhibited in infants’ problem-solving approaches by measuring variability, rather than just overall similarity. Our spatial variability findings differed depending on the timescale utilized for analysis. While per-second variability decreased both within and between trials, overall variability actually increased between trials. These results can be interpreted as complementary, as standard deviation is highly dependent upon the mean of a given time interval. As such, if infants spent several seconds testing a given location or strategy (i.e., high similarity to the mean of each second), but also tested several disparate locations across the entire trial (i.e., lower similarity to the overall mean), they would demonstrate low per-second variability but high overall variability. Thus, the explanation most consistent with our collection of findings may be that infants persisted for longer in each location they tested as they experienced greater firsthand failure but tested a wider variety of locations throughout the entirety of the trials. Subsequently, spatial variability during test trials predicted recovery trial performance. Infants who produced greater variability during test trials received fewer hints during recovery, requiring less support in the new iteration of the task. Thus, it seems that spatial variability predicted support needed during later recovery trials, suggesting that children who explored more had higher expectations of task success.

Of course, alternate explanations could exist for these results. Most concerningly, our measures of imitative similarity and variability could merely reflect incoordination. However, we find this interpretation quite unlikely because we controlled for motor skill within each of our models. If indeed our measures were merely a reflection of a lack of coordination, we would expect that lower motor skill would be related to each measure. However, we did not observe any significant effects of motor skill on imitative similarity or spatial variability. Likewise, our human coding of unproductive movement was not correlated with imitative similarity or variability. In light of these findings, we find the most consistent explanation is that our results reflect nuanced adjustments to problem-solving approach as infants experienced failure. These adjustments may be deliberate or implicit but are observable in infants’ behavior regardless.

While these results display similarities to Lucca et al. (2020) , they also indicate departures. In the original study, infants’ trying time responded both to the effort and success of the adult model, and to firsthand experience with failure. Thus, both studies indicated an effect of firsthand experience such that infants’ problem-solving approaches changed with increased failure, but we did not find evidence for an effect of social input. This is surprising given that similar work also suggests that infants infer appropriate strategies based on social input (e.g., Gweon and Schulz, 2011 ) and that the demonstrations provided different information about the solution’s efficacy. For example, while the Impossible condition cues that the modeled solution is ineffective, the Hard condition cues that the modeled solution will work eventually. As such, our results point to a potential disassociation between the duration of problem-solving and the approach adopted during problem-solving. It may be the case that exploration represents a more implicit component of problem-solving and responds to firsthand evidence (i.e., failure) but does not become consciously integrated across domains like trying time.

Utility of Applying DeepLabCut

Importantly, this project also sought to illustrate the feasibility and utility of implementing DLC in the analysis of archival data. By identifying a motoric proxy for a cognitive phenomenon (i.e., exploration) we were able to apply computer vision post hoc to a previously collected data set to reveal novel insights about problem-solving. This case study provides one example of DLC’s application, but the fine-grained data that DLC produces could also be used in more sophisticated computational models and statistical techniques, much like linguistic corpora have been utilized (e.g., Redington et al., 1998 ; Yang, 2013 ; Meylan et al., 2017 ; Bergey et al., 2021 ). Importantly, DLC is particularly useful when in-person data collection is impossible. DLC can utilize archival data which is an invaluable tool ( Gordon et al., 2015 ), and gives researchers access to high-quality or even rare data (e.g., data from samples which are not Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic; see Rad et al., 2018 ; Syed et al., 2018 ). However, archival data is often collected to answer specific questions and, consequently, the stimulus design may not easily lend itself to new questions. In these cases, DLC provides researchers with open-access tools to answer additional questions that are otherwise very difficult or time-consuming for human coding, extending the lifecycle of existing archival data as in the case of our data. Thus, the advantages of DLC are pertinent for archival research both when in-person data collection is and is not possible.

Implications for Theories of Problem-Solving and Related Phenomena

Classic work demonstrates that young infants have perseverative tendencies, wherein they will continue to apply previously successful solutions to solve problems even when they are no longer effective. Infants’ A-not-B task performance classically illustrates this phenomenon: after a 10-s delay, even 12-month-olds demonstrated perseverative errors by continuing to search in the original location an object was hidden instead of its current location ( Diamond, 1985 ). Although perseveration on this particular task diminishes across the second year of life ( Lockman and Pick, 1984 ; McKenzie and Bigelow, 1986 ; Aguiar and Baillargeon, 1999 ), perseveration more broadly construed persists into at least the preschool years in various motor-based tasks ( Schutte and Spencer, 2002 ; Mash et al., 2003 ; Sharon and DeLoache, 2003 ; DeLoache et al., 2004 ; Smitsman and Cox, 2008 ; Schmuckler, 2013 ). In contrast to these findings, within the context of our study, 18-month-olds demonstrated relative flexibility, testing solutions unique from the adult model, testing a greater variety of solutions across trials, and varying imitative similarity based on trial number. These findings suggest that perseverative tendencies may vary both with the nature of the task and infants’ experiences during the task. Overall, our study juxtaposes previous work on perseveration by showcasing infants’ ability to generate productive responses in the face of failure.

Tendencies toward imitation versus exploration can also be understood through the explore-exploit tradeoff, a common framework describing the inherent tension between exploiting known solutions for rewards and taking time to explore better solutions ( Mehlhorn et al., 2015 ). Within this framework, imitation can be understood as exploitation, as infants can conserve mental resources while gaining the benefits of a known solution. Conversely, exploration may produce better solutions but may come at the expense of efficiency, as generating new solutions requires trial-and-error. Longitudinal comparisons have revealed that children tend to explore to a greater extent than adults, choosing to gather information rather than rely on exploiting known effects, with this tendency reducing over development ( Gopnik et al., 2015 , 2017 ; Sumner et al., 2019 ; Gopnik, 2020 ). However, this research has generally been done with children who are preschool-age or older, due to the cognitive demands of the tasks employed. Our findings demonstrate a ready tendency to explore novel solutions in infants, suggesting that this tendency may be present from an even younger age. Future work could adopt similar paradigms to allow for a full developmental comparison beginning in infancy.

Previous work from this perspective has also differentiated exploration into two subsections: directed and random exploration ( Meder et al., 2021 ; Wilson et al., 2021 ). Whereas directed exploration serves to sample the areas of greatest uncertainty in a problem space, random exploration simply generates variability. Importantly, both forms of exploration are posed as adaptive, as directed exploration allows for the inspection of features which are likely to produce rewards, but random exploration allows for the discovery of less obvious features which may also be useful. Critically, our methodology did not differentiate between directed and random exploration, as deviation and variability could represent both random, implicit micro-explorations and qualitatively distinct strategies. Thus, future work may adopt methods that elucidate this distinction.

Our findings regarding exploration may also be suited to a larger literature characterizing children’s intuitions about effort exertion and problem solving as fundamentally rational. Effort is costly, requiring metabolic resources and creating inherent opportunity costs. As such, children as young as 6 months old expect others to utilize the most efficient paths possible to obtain their goals ( Brandone and Wellman, 2009 ; Scott and Baillargeon, 2013 ; Skerry et al., 2013 ; Liu and Spelke, 2017 ). The naïve utility calculus integrates these intuitions into a framework explaining how children take advantage of the utility of others’ actions to infer a wide variety of information including desires, preferences, and prosocial tendencies ( Jara-Ettinger et al., 2015a , b , 2016 ). Recent research has begun to elaborate how children also display effort efficiency in their own actions ( Leonard et al., 2020 ; Lucca et al., 2020 ; Rett and Walker, 2020 ). The results presented here are consistent with this larger framework, demonstrating that infants engaged in several exploratory behaviors which increased the utility of their actions. Infants did not merely copy the approach of the experimenter when they did not experience success, but rather deviated from the demonstration. As infants were confronted with their own failure, they also generally increased their exploration, increasing their deviation from imitation and trying a greater number of exploratory strategies. In other words, infants’ approaches responded to information about the productivity of imitation, as well as the productivity of each strategy that they employed. Further, greater exploration related to greater expectations of task success. As infants tested new methods, their expectations of success may have been buffered through failure as there is a possibility that each untested strategy could lead to success. While these results are still speculative, they suggest that infants may engage with problems in nuanced ways to maximize probabilities of success rather than merely giving up or perseverating.

Limitations

The primary limitation of this study is the correlational nature of our data. As with any archival research, if the questions under investigation pertain to variables that were not directly manipulated in the original study, researchers are limited in making causal assertions about their data. In the case of our study, we were only able to make inferential claims about variables which were collected or manipulated independently (i.e., adult modeling, trial number, and recovery trial performance) but further work will be required to make definitive conclusions about the relations observed between other variables, particularly the role of exploration within a larger motivational framework as described in our individual difference analyses. However, correlational work serves as an important exploratory space for generating new research questions and as such, the efficiency of DLC makes it an ideal option for researchers who are endeavoring to test the feasibility or theoretical validity of a research question before investing the time designing an appropriate paradigm, collecting data, and processing data (either in-person, or online).

Future Directions and Conclusion

This work provides rich theoretical grounds for future research through its correlational findings. In addition to the directions identified above, we would recommend a further investigation of other facets of exploration and the developmental trajectories of exploratory tendencies. Here, we considered two potential facets of exploration, demonstrating that these two facets responded to firsthand experience with failure. Future work should also consider which other facets may comprise a full constellation of exploratory problem-solving behavior beyond imitative similarity and variability. Likewise, if the measures elaborated in this paper reflect exploration, they raise further questions about the developmental trajectory of these abilities ( Muentener et al., 2018 ). Finally, our correlational analyses of individual differences in spatial variability and other facets of performance raise productive possibilities for empirical investigation and replication. Exploration may be one component of an interplay between failure and problem-solving. As such, it may explain divergence between learners, in which failure results in divestment for some but growth and learning for others. This interpretation is corroborated by our recovery results, which suggest that greater exploration during problem-solving leads to greater expectations of task success. Perhaps encouraging children who do not naturally produce large exploratory variability to explore will buffer motivational losses.

Data Availability Statement

Ethics statement.

Written informed consent was obtained from the individual(s), and minor(s)’ legal guardian/next of kin, for the publication of any potentially identifiable images or data included in this article.

Author Contributions

HS, MR, and JS made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the work. HS implemented DeepLabCut and coordinated data processing. MR performed all data analyses. MR and JS provided critical oversight and feedback of the work. HS and MR wrote the manuscript. JS provided critical feedback on the manuscript. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Kelsey Lucca and Rachel Horton for their work that has made this project possible, as well as Ece Yucer and Grace Zheng for their coding. We would also like to thank the families and infants that participated in this work.

1 In all analyses, outliers which were more than 2.5 SD from the mean were removed using pairwise deletion.

Funding for this research came from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Research fund to JS (John R. Evans Leaders Fund, Award #38740).

Supplementary Material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.705108/full#supplementary-material

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10 Ways to Strengthen Your Preschooler’s Problem-Solving Skills

As an adult, you make many decisions throughout your day without even thinking twice about some– from setting up the coffee machine at home to avoiding the long line at the drive-thru that can make you late to work to having a difficult but necessary conversation with your partner about finances. These are just a few examples of problem-solving skills and how you adapt to the situations around you and use your skills to exist on personal, professional, and social levels. 

While some problem-solving skills are innate, your ability to access a situation and take a course of action is based on the fact that when you were a child, the adults around you taught you problem-solving skills. Our Raleigh early-childhood development center is sharing our best advice for anyone looking to strengthen their pre-schoolers problem-solving skills. 

What is Problem Solving in Early Childhood?

Problem-solving refers to the ability to find a solution to a problem. For preschool-aged children, this can be difficult to learn if not modeled for them through the appropriate ways to react to the issues they face. 

For instance, if two children are playing with a toy and one pushes the other in an effort to take the toy, this is clearly an inappropriate way to react to the problem. Furthermore, screaming or yelling for the child to give them the toy is also not a proper way to solve the issue. To model mature and proper problem-solving skills, adults around the child should be practicing the concept of sharing, patience, and communication while avoiding physical and emotional reactions when they don’t get what they want.

When the child learns that they can ask the other child, “Can I play with the toy next?” or understand the concept that another child was playing with the toy first, they are exhibiting the ability to problem solve. 

Why is it Important to Develop Problem Solving Skills in Early Childhood?

Children aged 3 to 5 are developmentally experiencing growth in the following areas: 

• Cognitive 
• Emotional 
• Language 
• Sensory 
• Motor 

Because this time for preschoolers is so substantial to their intellectual, emotional, and social development, the world around them can seem overwhelming, unfair, intimidating, and even confusing. By modeling and teaching problem-solving skills to preschoolers , they can learn how to react logically, think creatively, communicate their needs, and assess how best to react to a situation at hand. 

How Can You Teach Problem Solving Skills to Your Children?

It is the responsibility of the adults who raise and teach children to provide kids with opportunities to strengthen their problem-solving skills in early childhood. If you are a parent, guardian, childcare provider, or early-childhood educator, it’s important to consider the best strategies for helping little ones adapt to the world around them and learn problem-solving skills. And remember, it can be frustrating when things do not work out as expected for anyone at any age, particularly for preschool-aged children who are just learning to adapt to their surroundings. 

When teaching your preschool-aged child how to problem solve, consider these four steps that are used in early-childhood classrooms : 

• Identify the problem
• Brainstorm solutions to the problem
• Choose and implement one of the solutions
• Evaluate how that solution resolved the problem

Following this four-step guideline can help the adults in a preschooler’s life address how a child acquires problem-solving techniques to help them navigate through the difficult and everyday situations that arise. 

When teaching problem-solving, focus on developing these key skills that relate to problem-solving: 

• Lateral thinking
• Decision-making
• Communication
• Persistence
• Negotiation
• Logical thinking
• Analytical thinking

10 Problem-Solving Activities for Preschoolers

You know that you want to guide your child through developing and strengthening strategies for problem-solving, but where do you begin? Our early-childhood development school is sharing some of our favorite ways to incorporate problem-solving activities into your life so that you can teach your child to grow on a personal and social level. 

#1 – Use Everyday Moments

You do not need a textbook or outline of how to teach your preschooler problem-solving. Simply using everyday moments to demonstrate problem-solving techniques is more useful than any “how to” book or homework assignment can teach your child. 

Going to the grocery store, driving in the car, making dinner at home, and cleaning the house are all everyday opportunities to present your child with decisions related to problem-solving. Having your child put ingredients away in the pantry while you cook, asking your child what aisle at the supermarket they think you can find a particular item, or seeing that there is a mess of toys and supplies and directing the child to initiate where they should be placed prior to starting a new activity are ways to integrate problem-solving into everyday moments. 

#2 – Look to the Child for the Solution

As your child grows up, they will not always have you by their side to solve each and every problem that arises. From issues with friends, future relationships, and future careers, the child you raise will one day become an independent adult who needs to problem-solve on their own. 

Asking children to weigh in for solutions to problems as they arise is one way to get them thinking critically early on in life. When a child is taught to not only assess an obstacle but to trust their own decision-making abilities to resolve a problem, they will be better equipped for success as they get older. 

#3 – Solve Mathematical Problems

Mathematics is a great way to engage children at an early age in problem-solving and solution-making activities. Math is logical and non-emotional, having very clear set rules and boundaries with a single solution is one prime example of problem-solving. When children are given age-appropriate mathematical problems and math word problems, they are given opportunities to troubleshoot and follow an order of operation that leads to a solution.

#4 – Ask Open-Ended Questions

As adults, we often find that the most convenient way to get through the day when caring for a preschooler is to complete tasks for them so that we can get on with our busy day. However, it’s important to pause and present your child with the opportunity to find their own solutions to problems they are faced with by using open-ended questions. 

For instance, your child cannot find their favorite pair of shoes. Rather than tear the house apart on your own looking for them, present the child with a question: “Where did you last wear those shoes?” or “When did you last see your shoes?” This requires your child to consider where they last may have placed them. Additionally, a question like, “If we can’t find those shoes right now, you’ll need to choose a different pair to wear so we aren’t late.” guides them toward finding an alternative solution to the problem. 

Giving children the opportunity to find their own solutions to issues that arise by asking open-ended questions equips them with problem-solving skills they will need throughout life when things do not always go as planned. 

#5 – Puzzles and Board Games

Puzzles and board games, much like math equations, allow children to use their cognitive problem-solving abilities to complete tasks in a fun and unique way. Pre-schoolers are often drawn to images and visual learning components as well as interactive play. Putting puzzles together allows for pattern recognition, while board games allow for interactive problem-solving techniques to be utilized through a set of rules. Incorporating puzzles and games into the lives of children are excellent ways to get them to think critically and find solutions that offer immediate results. 

#6 – Read Books and Tell Stories

Books and storytelling are always exceptional ways to build vocabulary and introduce kids to characters and situations outside of their own. When children are given the opportunity to relate to characters and situations, and then address how those characters can react and engage in their conflicts and interpersonal relationships, it not only fosters imagination and creativity but also problem-solving skills. 

#7 – Center Emotions

As adults we understand that while reacting emotionally to a situation is sometimes natural, it does not get us very far when it comes to solving a problem. Children should be taught how to center those emotions, without shame or guilt by providing an alternative to emotional responses. This is often in the form of learning communication and language. 

If your son’s best friend hurt his feelings, he should not be made to feel that he shouldn’t feel how he is feeling. Having your feelings hurt, particularly by a friend, is, well, hurtful, and there should be no shame attached to that feeling. However, when it comes to addressing those hurt feelings to the friend, it would be inappropriate to shout, “I hate you!” or “I don’t want to be your friend anymore!” Rather, providing your preschool-aged child with words and phrases for when their feelings are hurt is essential to emotional and social development. 

Teaching your son to tell his friend, “It hurts my feelings when you say that” or “I get sad when you are mean to me” are great ways to help children not only process their emotional feelings but express them in appropriate ways that lead to a resolution. 

#8 – Model Problem-Solving Behaviors

Children look to the adults in their lives for how to handle the problems they face in the world. If your child sees you politely ask a waiter to return a plate of food that was incorrectly served, they will learn that proper communication, respect, and patience lead to resolution. In contrast, if a child sees their parents speak rudely and blame a waiter for an incorrect order, they will learn that emotional reactions are the way to address problems. As a parent and caretaker, it is your responsibility to use mistakes, obstacles, and hardships as learning opportunities passed on to your preschool-aged children, demonstrating first-hand that non-emotional responses, kindness, and communication are the keys to getting most issues resolved. 

#9 – Break Down Problems into Chunks

As an adult, one of the ways to get through major projects at work is to set up a schedule that breaks down a large-scale project into smaller portions. Using this technique in childhood education and development is a successful way to teach children how doing one small task can lead to an overall greater, larger picture in the long run. Since a large task can seem overwhelming or even impossible, breaking it down into smaller, easily achievable pieces that will eventually lead to the full, complete picture is a wonderful way to help children of any age, but particularly preschool-aged, tackle large issues without feeling the weight of the big picture.

#10 – Utilize Natural Curiosities and Interests 

Using natural, organic opportunities for learning and problem-solving is always one of the best ways to foster creativity as well as logical and analytical thinking. All children are naturally drawn to some interest– whether it’s unicorns, dinosaurs, airplanes, trucks, or the color blue… every child has something that they become naturally drawn to, often to the surprise of their parents. 

For example, maybe every time your daughter sees the mailman drop off the mail, she is fascinated. Maybe her face lit up with interest and excitement to check what was left in the mailbox today. This is an opportunity to ask questions that lead to analytical thinking and problem-solving. Inquiring, “what does the mail carrier drop off at other houses?” or teaching the concept of writing a letter to grandma and how it goes through the mail can continue to foster interests while teaching logical steps, planning, and problem-solving techniques. 

Enroll Your Child in an Interactive Preschool Care System 

It’s no secret that when a child is at preschool age they are naturally curious and soak up all the information around them. By teaching your child problem-solving skills, they are better equipped to handle the everyday struggles the world has to face. However, the professionals at our preschool development center understand that busy working schedules, multiple children, and life’s responsibilities do not always make it easy for parents to dedicate time to fostering and strengthening problem-solving skills in their children. 

If you have a preschool-aged child who will benefit from emotional, social, and personal development related to problem-solving, contact Primary Beginnings to enroll your child in our 5-star preschool program in Raleigh. 

Contact us today at 919-790-6888 for our Spring Forest Rd. location or 919-785-0303 for our North Hills Dr. location, or fill out our contact form below. 

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Problem-Solving

Learning & Cognitive Skills

8 to 11 months

Sorting & Matching, Stacking, Executive Function, Concentration

From tackling a complex project at work to figuring out how to manage your busy schedule, every day you use problem-solving skills like critical thinking, reasoning, and creativity. How did you learn these skills? Just as your child will: through exploration and play. Support their problem-solving skills through activities that let them independently try new things, learn from their mistakes, and test out different ways of thinking.

In this article:

What is problem-solving?

What are examples of problem-solving skills, when do children develop problem-solving skills , why are problem-solving skills important in child development.

• Problem-solving games & activities for babies and toddlers

Problem-solving and frustration tolerance

Developmental concerns with problem-solving.

Problem-solving is the process by which your child spots a problem and comes up with a solution to overcome it. Your child uses problem-solving skills in all sorts of contexts, from figuring out how to get a ball out of a cup to interacting with a child who took their toy. 

Children don’t inherently understand different approaches to solving problems—these skills develop gradually over time, starting in the earliest days of life. As your child gains experience, tests out strategies, plays with various materials, and watches people around them, they learn how to problem-solve. 

Think about strategies you might use to tackle a project at work—for example, creating an outline, breaking the project into steps, or delegating tasks. With your help, your child will develop problem-solving skills like these:

• Breaking a large problem into smaller steps
• Persevering through challenges or setbacks
• Using creativity to think “outside the box” about different solutions
• Being resourceful by using available items as tools to reach a goal 
• Taking the initiative to try a possible solution and see if it works
• Seeking help when you get stuck
• Using compromise or negotiation to help resolve a conflict
• Using critical thinking to discover what the next step should be

As early as 8 to 11 months, you may see the earliest signs of your child’s problem-solving skills at work. If you hide a toy under a blanket or basket, for example, they may use basic problem-solving to try to uncover it. 

As a toddler, your child will grow more experienced with different types of playthings and the challenges they offer. They’ll also develop more focus and patience to work through problems on their own. Support their emerging problem-solving skills by observing their efforts—without stepping in right away to help. It’s tempting to intervene when you see your toddler struggle to fit the pieces of a puzzle, align blocks so they won’t fall, or get a stuck car out of the Race & Chase Ramp . Banging, rotating, failing, and trying again are all important parts of the process. Your toddler gains more problem-solving experience with every attempt.

RELATED: Subtle signs of your toddler’s developing focus

By 3 years of age, your child will have more skills to help them solve a problem. They’ve learned how to communicate and follow directions. They also have more control over their emotions and their body. Not only are they ready to solve more complex puzzles and games, they’re  learning how to solve social problems, like working through conflict and negotiating with peers during play.

If your child is accustomed to tackling problems, they’re more likely to at least attempt to get the cup they need off the high shelf, or try to buckle those tricky sandal straps. Practicing problem-solving can help your child overcome challenges, try flexible ways of thinking, and become more confident and independent in the process.  

Problem-solving skills are also crucial to your child’s cognitive development. They encourage your child’s brain to make new connections and process information in new ways. This is why so many of the best games, toys, and activities for young children stress some element of problem-solving, critical thinking, or creativity. 

Your child can develop better social skills when they practice problem-solving, too: Understanding how to resolve conflicts and compromise with peers is a crucial problem-solving skill they’ll take with them into preschool and beyond.

Problem-solving activities & games

You don’t need elaborate planning or fancy equipment to help your child develop these skills. Many problem-solving activities for kids can be incorporated into daily life or during playtime.

Problem-solving activities for babies

It will be years before your baby is ready for advanced problem-solving skills, like compromising with others and project planning. For now, they’ll experiment with different ways to solve simple problems, showing initiative, perseverance, and creativity. Here are a few activities that help spark your baby’s problem-solving skills.

Reaching for a toy: Setting a goal is the very first step in problem-solving. Once your baby can sit independently, place toys one at a time in front of them, behind them, beside them, between their legs, or on a nearby shelf. This allows them to practice setting a goal—get the toy!—and making a plan to achieve it. 

Emptying a container: Dumping objects out of containers sounds like a mess, but it’s a valuable skill for babies to learn. Place a Wood Ball in a Nesting Stacking Drip Drop Cup and show your baby how to tip over the cup to empty it. Then, put the ball back into the cup and let your baby figure out how to get the ball out of the container on their own. 

Finding hidden objects: Your baby practices problem-solving with the Sliding Top Box every time they work to figure out how to slide the top to reveal the ball inside. This also builds fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

Posting: The Wooden Peg Drop lets your baby experiment with “posting,” or fitting an object into its container, a much-loved fine motor activity. The tab release is an engaging problem-solving task for your baby, as they discover how to press down to release the pegs from their slots.

Explore playthings that encourage problem-solving

The Thinker Play Kit

The Thinker Play Kit encourages your 11 – 12 month old baby’s curiosity as they start solving problems, working on hand strength and investigating everything in their path.

Problem-solving activities for toddlers

At 12 to 18 months, your toddler’s problem-solving skills are still taking shape. But you may begin to see them work to figure out more complex problems, like pulling toys around obstacles or getting objects “unstuck.” Encourage your toddler through play with activities that challenge their creative thinking.

Object interactions: What happens when you push a squishy ball through a small opening? How does a bendy thing react when it hits something hard? Understanding how different objects interact helps your child learn to use tools for problem-solving. 

As you play with your toddler, demonstrate different ways playthings can interact. Two blocks can be banged together, stacked, or lined up side by side. The insects from the Fuzzy Bug Shrub can be stuck to the outside of the shrub or put inside. Give your child pieces from different playthings and see how they can make them interact. Perhaps the balls from the Slide and Seek Ball Run and the rings from the Flexible Wooden Stacker can interact in some new, fun way?

Asking questions : Once your toddler learns how to push the Carrots through the Carrot Lid for the Coin Bank, the question becomes how to get them out. Ask your toddler simple questions to spark their problem-solving skills: “Where did the carrots go?” or “How can we get them out?” Encourage your child to explore the Coin Bank and give them time to discover a solution on their own.

Simple challenges: Your toddler may be ready for some problem-solving challenges with their playthings. For example, when your toddler can pick up a toy in each hand, offer a third toy and see if they can figure out how to carry all three at once. Or place parts of a toy—like the rings for the Flexible Wooden Stacker—in different locations around the room, so your child needs to plan how to retrieve the pieces. Pack as many Quilted Critters as will fit in The Lockbox  and let your toddler discover how to get them out. This type of challenge may seem simple, but your child has to problem-solve how to navigate their hand into the box to pull out the Critters. 

Cause and effect: Your toddler may discover how to pull on a string attached to a toy to make it move. They understand that the toy and the string are linked, and use simple problem-solving skills to test—and re-test—what happens when they move the string differently. This type of problem-solving can be supported by pull toys such as The Pull Pup . As your toddler encounters different obstacles—like the corner of the couch—with The Pull Pup, they’ll have to problem-solve to keep the toy moving.

RELATED: Pull toys are classic for a reason

Puzzles are a classic childhood problem-solving activity for good reason. Your child learns  how things fit together, how to orient and rotate objects, and how to predict which shape might fit a particular space. Puzzles come in such a wide variety of difficulty levels, shapes, sizes, and formats, there’s a puzzle that’s right for almost every stage of development. 

Lovevery co-founder Jessica Rolph explains how Lovevery puzzles are designed to progress with your child’s problem-solving and fine motor skills:

Babies can begin exploring simple one-piece puzzles around 6 to 8 months of age. Puzzles that have round slots and easy-to-hold pieces with knobs, like the First Puzzle , are ideal for this age. Around 13 to 15 months of age, they can try simple puzzles with several pieces in the same shape, like the Circle of Friends Puzzle .

By 18 months, your toddler is probably ready to work with puzzle shapes that are geometric, animal, or organic, like the Community Garden Puzzle . This reinforces your toddler’s newfound understanding that different shapes fit in different places. As they progress, they may start to enjoy stacking and nesting puzzles, like the 3D Geo Shapes Puzzle . This type of puzzle requires problem-solving on a new level, since your child may have to turn the shapes in different directions to orient and place them correctly.

As your toddler approaches their second birthday, they may be ready for classic jigsaw puzzles. Puzzles with large pieces that are easy for your toddler to hold, like the Chunky Wooden Jigsaw Puzzle , are a great place to start. At this age, your toddler may also find 3D puzzles, like the Wooden Posting Stand , an engaging problem-solving challenge. Since the dowels are different diameters, your child will likely use trial and error to determine which size fits in the correct slot. At first, you may have to guide them a bit: Point out that the dowels need to go in straight in order to fit.

How to encourage puzzle play for active toddlers

Depending on your toddler’s temperament, they may love to sit quietly and work on a puzzle—or they may be constantly on the move. Highly active toddlers may seem like they never sit still long enough to complete an activity. Here are a few ways to combine their love of movement with puzzle play:

• Play “hide-and-seek” with toys (or puzzle pieces) by placing them on top of furniture that’s safe to cruise along or climb on.
• Place puzzle pieces in different places around the room, so they have to retrieve them one by one to solve the puzzle. 
• Place the puzzle pieces on stairs or in different rooms so your toddler has to walk or climb to find them.

Stacking toys

Stacking toys such as blocks or rings engage babies and toddlers in a challenging form of problem-solving play. Your child’s skills are put to the test as they plan where to place each item, work to balance their stack, and wrestle with gravity to keep the stack from toppling.  

You can introduce your baby to stacking play around 9 to 10 months with playthings that are easy to work with, like the Nesting Stacking Drip Drop Cups . Stacking takes coordination, precision, and patience, and if they try to stack items that are too difficult to keep upright, they may become frustrated and give up. 

You can also make basic blocks easier to stack by using a larger item, like the Little Grip Canister Set , as a base. Demonstrate how to stack a block on top of the canister, then knock the tower down. Hand a block to your toddler and allow them to try stacking and knocking it down. As their movements become more controlled and purposeful, introduce another block to stack.  

Stacking a tower with the pegs from the Wooden Stacking Pegboard is a fun way to introduce goal-setting, an important aspect of problem-solving. The pegs nest together securely, allowing your toddler to build a higher, more stable tower than they could create with regular blocks. You can gently suggest a goal for your child—“Can we stack it higher?”—and see if they’re ready for the challenge. Then, sit and support them as they try to solve any problems that arise: “Is the tower too tall? Can we make it wider so it won’t fall so easily?”

Hide-and-seek

The classic childhood game of hide-and-seek offers your toddler many problem-solving opportunities. Your child has to use reasoning to figure out what would be a good hiding spot. They also use the process of elimination when they think about where they have and haven’t looked. They might even use creative thinking skills to discover a new place to hide.

The game doesn’t always have to involve you and your child hiding. When your child is around 12 months, you can introduce them to the concept using toys or other objects. Hide a small ball in one of two identical containers that you can’t see through, like upside-down cups. Make sure your child sees you put the ball under one of the containers, then mix them up. Lift the empty container to show your toddler that the ball isn’t inside and say, “Where is the ball?” If your toddler looks at the other container, say, “Yes! The ball is under this one.” Let your toddler lift the second container to find the ball. 

Your toddler might enjoy a game of hide-and-seek with The Lockbox . Hide a small toy, like one of the Quilted Critters or a small ball, inside The Lockbox. This activity challenges your toddler’s problem-solving skills on two levels: figuring out how to unlock the different mechanisms to open the doors, and feeling around inside to discover what’s hidden. Add another layer of fun to the challenge by letting your child try to guess the object just by touching it—no peeking.

Using tools to solve problems

Around 17 to 24 months of age, your child may begin using tools to solve simple problems. For example, if you ask your child to pick up their toys, their hands may become full quickly. You can model how to load toys into a bucket or bag to carry them to another spot. This might seem like an obvious choice, but the ability to use a tool to make a task easier or solve a problem is an important cognitive skill.

Here are a few ways you and your toddler can explore using tools to solve a problem:

• Show your child how to make a “shirt bowl” by using the upturned edge of their shirt as a cradle to hold toys or playthings.
• If a toy gets stuck behind the sofa, model how you can use a broomstick to push the toy to a place where you can reach it.
• Provide a child-size stool that your child can use to reach the sink or counter.

The Transfer Tweezers are a simple tool that your toddler can use to pick up other items besides the Felt Stars . They could try picking up the animals from the Quilted Critter Set or other child-safe items. Whenever you model how to use tools in everyday life, your child learns to think about new and different ways to solve problems.

Pretend play

Pretend play supports your child’s problem-solving skills in many ways. Research suggests that children’s pretend play is linked to different types of problem-solving and creativity. For example, one study showed that pretend play with peers was linked to better divergent problem-solving—meaning that children were able to “think outside the box” to solve problems. 

Pretend play is also a safe place for children to recreate—and practice solving—problems they’ve seen in their lives. Your 2- to 3-year-old may reenact an everyday challenge—for example, one doll might take away another doll’s toy. As practice for real-world problem-solving, you can then help them talk through how the dolls might solve their issue together

Pretend play may help children be more creative and open to new ideas. In pretend play, children put together play scenarios, act on them, and develop creative solutions. A 3- or 4-year-old child might be ready to explore creative problem-solving through pretend play that uses their playthings in new ways. Help your child start with an idea: “What do you want to pretend to be or recreate — a favorite storybook scene or someone from real life like a doctor or server at a restaurant?” Then encourage them to look for playthings they can use to pretend. Maybe a block can be a car or the beads from the Threadable Bead Set serve as “cups” in your child’s pretend restaurant. As your child gains practice with creative pretend play, they may start to form elaborate fantasy worlds.

Even if you don’t think of yourself as creative, you can model creative thinking by showing your child how a toy can be used in many different ways. Research finds that parents who model “out of the box” ways to play can encourage creative thinking and problem-solving in their children, starting in toddlerhood.

It can be difficult for young children to manage their frustration, but giving your child opportunities to solve problems on their own helps build both confidence and frustration tolerance . Research suggests that the ability to set goals and persist in them through challenges—sometimes called “grit”—is linked to school and career success. Here’s how you can play an important role in helping your child develop problem-solving persistence.

Model persistence. You know your toddler closely observes everything you do 🙃 A 2017 study shows that young children who watch their parents persist in their own challenge were more likely to show persistence themselves. Allow your toddler to see you attempting an activity, failing, and talking yourself through trying again. While playing with blocks, try stacking a few off balance so they fall. Notice aloud what went wrong and continue to narrate as you move slowly to carefully stack the blocks again.

Give them time. A little frustration can go a long way toward learning. It can take enormous restraint not to point out where to put the puzzle piece or how to slot the peg in place—but try to give them time to problem-solve on their own. You’re helping them feel capable and confident when faced with new challenges.

RELATED:  11 ways to build your toddler’s frustration tolerance

Ask questions to encourage new strategies. If your toddler gets frustrated with a problem, encourage their problem-solving process by asking questions: “Are you trying to race the car down the ramp but it got stuck? Is the car too long to go down sideways?” This may help your child refocus their attention on their goal instead of what they have already unsuccessfully tried. With a little time and creative problem-solving, your child may figure it out on their own.

Problem-solving skills are just one component of your child’s overall cognitive development. By around 12 months of age, you should see signs that your child is attempting to solve simple problems, like looking for a toy under a blanket. By about 30 months, your child may show slightly more advanced problem-solving skills, like using a stool to reach a high counter. Their attempts might not always be successful at this age, but the fact that they’re trying shows they’re thinking through different options. If you don’t see signs of your child trying to solve problems in these ways, talk to your pediatrician about your concerns. They can assess your child’s overall development and answer any questions.

Posted in: 7 - 8 Months , 9 - 10 Months , 11 - 12 Months , 13 - 15 Months , 16 - 18 Months , 19 - 21 Months , 22 - 24 Months , 25 - 27 Months , 28 - 30 Months , Learning & Cognitive Skills , Cause and Effect , Problem Solving , Cognitive Development , STEM , Independent Play , Puzzles , Child Development , Learning & Cognitive Skills

Meet the Experts

Learn more about the lovevery child development experts who created this story..

Research & Resources

Alan, S., Boneva, T., & Ertac, S. (2019). Ever failed, try again, succeed better: Results from a randomized educational intervention on grit . The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 134 (3), 1121-1162.

Bergen, D. (2002). The role of pretend play in children’s cognitive development . Early Childhood Research & Practice , 4(1), n1.

Bruner, J. S. (1973). Organization of early skilled action . Child Development , 1-11.

Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit: perseverance and passion for long-term goals . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92 (6), 1087.

Hoicka, E., Mowat, R., Kirkwood, J., Kerr, T., Carberry, M., & Bijvoet‐van den Berg, S. (2016). One‐year‐olds think creatively, just like their parents . Child Development , 87 (4), 1099-1105.

Keen, R. (2011). The development of problem solving in young children: A critical cognitive skill. Annual Review of Psychology , 62 , 1-21.

Mullineaux, P. Y., & Dilalla, L. F. (2009). Preschool pretend play behaviors and early adolescent creativity . The Journal of Creative Behavior , 43(1), 41-57.

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Keep reading

16 - 18 Months

Puzzling over puzzles—what the progression looks like

Puzzles build fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and problem-solving strategies. Here is the progression of puzzle solving for babies and toddlers.

13 - 15 Months

Toddler independent play tips

When your toddler plays on their own, they develop concentration, problem-solving, and autonomy. Read these 4 tips for for supporting independent play.

19 - 21 Months

22 - 24 Months

11 ways to build your toddler’s frustration tolerance 

Help your toddler work through feelings of disappointment, sadness, and frustration when their skills don't quite match their ambitions.

How Do I Teach My Child to Be a Problem Solver?

Problem-solving by definition is “the process of finding solutions to difficult or complex issues.” Henry Kaiser states, “Problems are only opportunities in work clothes.”

How do we turn problems into opportunities so our children become problem solvers? Children learn best through modeled behavior, which is then practiced through play and everyday tasks. Consider puzzles; when children are young we give them puzzles that are simple. They match the shape with the matching cut out. Then as they get older and their fine motor skills develop, you give them puzzles with 12-24 pieces and are interlocking. They use their skills to learn to put these shapes together to create a picture. As your child learns to solve those puzzles they will be able to complete puzzles with smaller pieces and an increased piece count.

7 ways to teach your child to problem solve

• Give your child space. Allow them to make mistakes and encourage them to try again. Resist the urge to fix or do it for them.
• Make sure their play includes imagination; building forts, building with blocks, obstacle courses. These activities will naturally require problem solving.
• Making decisions is key to problem solving. Start with a simple choice for younger children. For example: “Do you want to wear the blue shirt or the red shirt?”
• Use stories to inspire, as well as model, problem solving skills
• Step by step do-it-yourself projects are a great place to model problem solving skills. Ask your child questions along the way.
• Identify problems, work with your child to break the problems down into manageable parts, make a list of the tasks needed to resolve the problem. Practice brainstorming and sharing ideas. Ask your child what they think about the problem and encourage them to find a solution on their own.
• Let them discover how things work, ask questions like, “How would you make this better?” Encourage curiosity – “Why do you think it happens this way?”
• Researching Skills
• Data Collections
• Data Analytics
• Team Working
• Emotional Intelligence
• Risk Management
• Decision Making
• Presentation Skills

We can develop great problem-solving experts by having them learn and practice problem solving from kindergarten to high school graduation. We need to teach hands-on statistically based problem solving with innovative solutions that solve technical and non-technical problems. Michael Arnold TEDxGreenville

Where can I find activities that teach Problem Solving?

Rachel & the TreeSchoolers Signs and Science Learning System  incorporates the best elements of Schoolhouse Rock, Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street to deliver a well-rounded preschool science curriculum for ages 2-6. This Science Learning System:

• lets your child go to preschool with Rachel from Signing Time!
• actively engages children in learning
• teaches values like kindness, teamwork and sharing

The Rachel & the TreeSchoolers Science in Action Series give you fun science experiments that require problem solving skills. These activities are great for Preschool & Elementary students.

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How to Teach Kids Better Problem Solving | Michael Arnold | TEDxGreenville Problem Solving in Early Childhood Classrooms. by Joan Britz ERIC Digest. What Is Problem Solving?  by Mind Tools Content Team 10 ways to teach your children to be problem solvers All Pro DAD Five ways to foster a hunger for innovation in children by entrepreneur.com Abode Stock Photos  135600578, 189083202, 116737944

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The Importance of Problem Solving and How to Teach it to Kids

Teach your kids to be brilliant problem solvers so they can shine.

We get so lost as parents with all the demands to do more for our children—get better grades, excel at extracurricular activities, have good relationships—that we may be overlooking one of the essential skills they need: problem-solving.

More: A Parent’s Guide to Conscious Discipline

In a Harvard Business Review study about the skills that influence a leader's success, problem-solving ranked third out of 16.

Whether you want your child to get into an Ivy League school, have great relationships, or to be able to take care of the thousands of frustrating tasks that come with adulting, don't miss this significant super-power that helps them succeed.

Our kids face challenges daily when it comes to navigating sibling conflict, a tough math question, or negative peer pressure. Our job as parents or teachers is not to solve everything for them —it is to teach them how to solve things themselves. Using their brains in this way is the crucial ability needed to become confident, smart, and successful individuals.

And the bonus for you is this: instead of giving up or getting frustrated when they encounter a challenge, kids with problem-solving skills manage their emotions, think creatively and learn persistence.

With my children (I have eight), they often pushed back on me for turning the situation back on them to solve, but with some gentle nudging, the application of many tools, and some intriguing conversations, my kids are unbeatable.

Here are some of the best, research-based practices to help your child learn problem-solving so they can build smarter brains and shine in the world:

Don’t have time to read now? Pin it for later:

1. Model Effective Problem-Solving

When you encounter a challenge, think out loud about your mental processes to solve difficulties. Showing your children how you address issues can be done numerous times a day with the tangible and intangible obstacles we all face.

2. Ask for Advice

Ask your kids for advice when you are struggling with something. Your authenticity teaches them that it's common to make mistakes and face challenges.

When you let them know that their ideas are valued, they'll gain the confidence to attempt solving problems on their own.

3. Don't Provide The Answer—Ask More Questions

By not providing a solution, you are helping them to strengthen their mental muscles to come up with their ideas.

At the same time, the task may be too big for them to cognitively understand. Break it down into small steps, and either offer multiple solutions from which they can choose, or ask them leading questions that help them reach the answers themselves.

4. Be Open-Minded

This particular point is critical in building healthy relationships. Reliable partners can hold their values and opinions while also seeing the other's perspective. And then integrate disparate views into a solution.

Teach them to continually ask, "What is left out of my understanding here?"

High-performing teams in business strive for diversity—new points of view and fresh perspectives to allow for more creative solutions. Children need to be able to assess a problem outside of immediate, apparent details, and be open to taking risks to find a better, more innovative approach. Be willing to take on a new perspective.

5. Go Out and Play

It may seem counter-intuitive, but problems get solved during play according to research.

See why independent play is vital for raising empowered children here .

Have you ever banged around an idea in your head with no solution? If so, it's time to get out of your mind and out to play.

Tech companies understand this strategy (I know, I worked at one), by supplying refreshing snacks and ping pong tables and napping pods. And while they have deadlines to meet, they don't micromanage the thinking of their employees.

Offer many activities that will take your child’s mind off of the problem so they can refuel and approach things from a fresh perspective.

Let them see you fail, learn, and try again. Show your child a willingness to make mistakes. When they are solving something, as tricky as it may be, allow your child to struggle, sometimes fail and ultimately learn from experiencing consequences.

Problems are a part of life. They grow us to reach our highest potential. Every problem is there not to make your child miserable, but to lead them closer to their dreams.

Tami Green, America’s most respected life coach, has received magical endorsements by experts from Baylor University and the past president of the American Psychiatric Association. She received her coaching certification from Oprah's enchanting life coach, Dr. Martha Beck. She is a brilliant coach who has helped thousands achieve an exhilarated life through her coaching, classes, and conferences. To see more tips like these, visit her website and join her self-help community here .

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Child cognitive development is a fascinating and complex process that entails the growth of a child’s mental abilities, including their ability to think, learn, and solve problems. This development occurs through a series of stages that can vary among individuals. As children progress through these stages, their cognitive abilities and skills are continuously shaped by a myriad of factors such as genetics, environment, and experiences. Understanding the nuances of child cognitive development is essential for parents, educators, and professionals alike, as it provides valuable insight into supporting the growth of the child’s intellect and overall well-being.

Throughout the developmental process, language and communication play a vital role in fostering a child’s cognitive abilities . As children acquire language skills, they also develop their capacity for abstract thought, reasoning, and problem-solving. It is crucial for parents and caregivers to be mindful of potential developmental delays, as early intervention can greatly benefit the child’s cognitive development. By providing stimulating environments, nurturing relationships, and embracing diverse learning opportunities, adults can actively foster healthy cognitive development in children.

Key Takeaways

• Child cognitive development involves the growth of mental abilities and occurs through various stages.
• Language and communication are significant factors in cognitive development , shaping a child’s ability for abstract thought and problem-solving.
• Early intervention and supportive environments can play a crucial role in fostering healthy cognitive development in children.

Child Cognitive Development Stages

Child cognitive development is a crucial aspect of a child’s growth and involves the progression of their thinking, learning, and problem-solving abilities. Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget developed a widely recognized theory that identifies four major stages of cognitive development in children.

Sensorimotor Stage

The Sensorimotor Stage occurs from birth to about 2 years old. During this stage, infants and newborns learn to coordinate their senses (sight, sound, touch, etc.) with their motor abilities. Their understanding of the world begins to develop through their physical interactions and experiences. Some key milestones in this stage include object permanence, which is the understanding that an object still exists even when it’s not visible, and the development of intentional actions.

Preoperational Stage

The Preoperational Stage takes place between the ages of 2 and 7 years old. In this stage, children start to think symbolically, and their language capabilities rapidly expand. They also develop the ability to use mental images, words, and gestures to represent the world around them. However, their thinking is largely egocentric, which means they struggle to see things from other people’s perspectives. During this stage, children start to engage in pretend play and begin to grasp the concept of conservation, recognizing that certain properties of objects (such as quantity or volume) remain the same even if their appearance changes.

Concrete Operational Stage

The Concrete Operational Stage occurs between the ages of 7 and 12 years old. At this stage, children’s cognitive development progresses to more logical and organized ways of thinking. They can now consider multiple aspects of a problem and better understand the relationship between cause and effect . Furthermore, children become more adept at understanding other people’s viewpoints, and they can perform basic mathematical operations and understand the principles of classification and seriation.

Formal Operational Stage

Lastly, the Formal Operational Stage typically begins around 12 years old and extends into adulthood. In this stage, children develop the capacity for abstract thinking and can consider hypothetical situations and complex reasoning. They can also perform advanced problem-solving and engage in systematic scientific inquiry. This stage allows individuals to think about abstract concepts, their own thought processes, and understand the world in deeper, more nuanced ways.

By understanding these stages of cognitive development, you can better appreciate the complex growth process that children undergo as their cognitive abilities transform and expand throughout their childhood.

Key Factors in Cognitive Development

Genetics and brain development.

Genetics play a crucial role in determining a child’s cognitive development. A child’s brain development is heavily influenced by genetic factors, which also determine their cognitive potential , abilities, and skills. It is important to understand that a child’s genes do not solely dictate their cognitive development – various environmental and experiential factors contribute to shaping their cognitive abilities as they grow and learn.

Environmental Influences

The environment in which a child grows up has a significant impact on their cognitive development. Exposure to various experiences is essential for a child to develop essential cognitive skills such as problem-solving, communication, and critical thinking. Factors that can have a negative impact on cognitive development include exposure to toxins, extreme stress, trauma, abuse, and addiction issues, such as alcoholism in the family.

Nutrition and Health

Maintaining good nutrition and health is vital for a child’s cognitive development. Adequate nutrition is essential for the proper growth and functioning of the brain . Key micronutrients that contribute to cognitive development include iron, zinc, and vitamins A, C, D, and B-complex vitamins. Additionally, a child’s overall health, including physical fitness and immunity, ensures they have the energy and resources to engage in learning activities and achieve cognitive milestones effectively .

Emotional and Social Factors

Emotional well-being and social relationships can also greatly impact a child’s cognitive development. A supportive, nurturing, and emotionally healthy environment allows children to focus on learning and building cognitive skills. Children’s emotions and stress levels can impact their ability to learn and process new information. Additionally, positive social interactions help children develop important cognitive skills such as empathy, communication, and collaboration.

In summary, cognitive development in children is influenced by various factors, including genetics, environmental influences, nutrition, health, and emotional and social factors. Considering these factors can help parents, educators, and policymakers create suitable environments and interventions for promoting optimal child development.

Language and Communication Development

Language skills and milestones.

Children’s language development is a crucial aspect of their cognitive growth. They begin to acquire language skills by listening and imitating sounds they hear from their environment. As they grow, they start to understand words and form simple sentences.

• Infants (0-12 months): Babbling, cooing, and imitating sounds are common during this stage. They can also identify their name by the end of their first year. Facial expressions play a vital role during this period, as babies learn to respond to emotions.
• Toddlers (1-3 years): They rapidly learn new words and form simple sentences. They engage more in spoken communication, constantly exploring their language environment.
• Preschoolers (3-5 years): Children expand their vocabulary, improve grammar, and begin participating in more complex conversations.

It’s essential to monitor children’s language development and inform their pediatrician if any delays or concerns arise.

Nonverbal Communication

Nonverbal communication contributes significantly to children’s cognitive development. They learn to interpret body language, facial expressions, and gestures long before they can speak. Examples of nonverbal communication in children include:

• Eye contact: Maintaining eye contact while interacting helps children understand emotions and enhances communication.
• Gestures: Pointing, waving goodbye, or using hand signs provide alternative ways for children to communicate their needs and feelings.
• Body language: Posture, body orientation, and movement give clues about a child’s emotions and intentions.

Teaching children to understand and use nonverbal communication supports their cognitive and social development.

Parent and Caregiver Interaction

Supportive interaction from parents and caregivers plays a crucial role in children’s language and communication development. These interactions can improve children’s language skills and overall cognitive abilities . Some ways parents and caregivers can foster language development are:

• Reading together: From an early age, reading books to children enhance their vocabulary and listening skills.
• Encouraging communication: Ask open-ended questions and engage them in conversations to build their speaking skills.
• Using rich vocabulary: Expose children to a variety of words and phrases, promoting language growth and understanding.

By actively engaging in children’s language and communication development, parents and caregivers can nurture cognitive, emotional, and social growth.

Cognitive Abilities and Skills

Cognitive abilities are the mental skills that children develop as they grow. These skills are essential for learning, adapting, and thriving in modern society. In this section, we will discuss various aspects of cognitive development, including reasoning and problem-solving, attention and memory, decision-making and executive function, as well as academic and cognitive milestones.

Reasoning and Problem Solving

Reasoning is the ability to think logically and make sense of the world around us. It’s essential for a child’s cognitive development, as it enables them to understand the concept of object permanence , recognize patterns, and classify objects. Problem-solving skills involve using these reasoning abilities to find solutions to challenges they encounter in daily life .

Children develop essential skills like:

• Logical reasoning : The ability to deduce conclusions from available information.
• Perception: Understanding how objects relate to one another in their environment.
• Schemes: Organizing thoughts and experiences into mental categories.

Attention and Memory

Attention refers to a child’s ability to focus on specific tasks, objects, or information, while memory involves retaining and recalling information. These cognitive abilities play a critical role in children’s learning and academic performance . Working memory is a vital component of learning, as it allows children to hold and manipulate information in their minds while solving problems and engaging with new tasks.

• Attention: Focuses on relevant tasks and information while ignoring distractions.
• Memory: Retains and retrieves information when needed.

Decision-Making and Executive Function

Decision-making is the process of making choices among various alternatives, while executive function refers to the higher-order cognitive processes that enable children to plan, organize, and adapt in complex situations. Executive function encompasses components such as:

• Inhibition: Self-control and the ability to resist impulses.
• Cognitive flexibility: Adapting to new information or changing circumstances.
• Planning: Setting goals and devising strategies to achieve them.

Academic and Cognitive Milestones

Children’s cognitive development is closely linked to their academic achievement. As they grow, they achieve milestones in various cognitive domains that form the foundation for their future learning. Some of these milestones include:

• Language skills: Developing vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure.
• Reading and mathematics: Acquiring the ability to read and comprehend text, as well as understanding basic mathematical concepts and operations.
• Scientific thinking: Developing an understanding of cause-and-effect relationships and forming hypotheses.

Healthy cognitive development is essential for a child’s success in school and life. By understanding and supporting the development of their cognitive abilities, we can help children unlock their full potential and prepare them for a lifetime of learning and growth.

Developmental Delays and Early Intervention

Identifying developmental delays.

Developmental delays in children can be identified by monitoring their progress in reaching cognitive, linguistic, physical, and social milestones. Parents and caregivers should be aware of developmental milestones that are generally expected to be achieved by children at different ages, such as 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 9 months, 18 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years, and 5 years. Utilizing resources such as the “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” program can help parents and caregivers recognize signs of delay early in a child’s life.

Resources and Support for Parents

There are numerous resources available for parents and caregivers to find information on developmental milestones and to learn about potential developmental delays, including:

• Learn the Signs. Act Early : A CDC initiative that provides pdf checklists of milestones and resources for identifying delays.
• Parental support groups : Local and online communities dedicated to providing resources and fostering connections between families experiencing similar challenges.

Professional Evaluations and Intervention Strategies

If parents or caregivers suspect a developmental delay, it is crucial to consult with healthcare professionals or specialists who can conduct validated assessments of the child’s cognitive and developmental abilities. Early intervention strategies, such as the ones used in broad-based early intervention programs , have shown significant positive impacts on children with developmental delays to improve cognitive development and outcomes.

Professional evaluations may include:

• Pediatricians : Primary healthcare providers who can monitor a child’s development and recommend further assessments when needed.
• Speech and language therapists : Professionals who assist children with language and communication deficits.
• Occupational therapists : Experts in helping children develop or improve on physical and motor skills, as well as social and cognitive abilities.

Depending on the severity and nature of the delays, interventions may involve:

• Individualized support : Tailored programs or therapy sessions specifically developed for the child’s needs.
• Group sessions : Opportunities for children to learn from and interact with other children experiencing similar challenges.
• Family involvement : Parents and caregivers learning support strategies to help the child in their daily life.

Fostering Healthy Cognitive Development

Play and learning opportunities.

Encouraging play is crucial for fostering healthy cognitive development in children . Provide a variety of age-appropriate games, puzzles, and creative activities that engage their senses and stimulate curiosity. For example, introduce building blocks and math games for problem-solving skills, and crossword puzzles to improve vocabulary and reasoning abilities.

Playing with others also helps children develop social skills and better understand facial expressions and emotions. Provide opportunities for cooperative play, where kids can work together to achieve a common goal, and open-ended play with no specific rules to boost creativity.

Supportive Home Environment

A nurturing and secure home environment encourages healthy cognitive growth. Be responsive to your child’s needs and interests, involving them in everyday activities and providing positive reinforcement. Pay attention to their emotional well-being and create a space where they feel safe to ask questions and explore their surroundings.

Promoting Independence and Decision-Making

Support independence by allowing children to make decisions about their playtime, activities, and daily routines. Encourage them to take age-appropriate responsibilities and make choices that contribute to self-confidence and autonomy. Model problem-solving strategies and give them opportunities to practice these skills during play, while also guiding them when necessary.

Healthy Lifestyle Habits

Promote a well-rounded lifestyle, including:

• Sleep : Ensure children get adequate and quality sleep by establishing a consistent bedtime routine.
• Hydration : Teach the importance of staying hydrated by offering water frequently, especially during play and physical activities.
• Screen time : Limit exposure to electronic devices and promote alternative activities for toddlers and older kids.
• Physical activity : Encourage children to engage in active play and exercise to support neural development and overall health .

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the key stages of child cognitive development.

Child cognitive development can be divided into several key stages based on Piaget’s theory of cognitive development . These stages include the sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years), preoperational stage (2-7 years), concrete operational stage (7-11 years), and formal operational stage (11 years and beyond). Every stage represents a unique period of cognitive growth, marked by the development of new skills, thought processes, and understanding of the world.

What factors influence cognitive development in children?

Several factors contribute to individual differences in child cognitive development, such as genetic and environmental factors. Socioeconomic status, access to quality education, early home environment, and parental involvement all play a significant role in determining cognitive growth. In addition, children’s exposure to diverse learning experiences, adequate nutrition, and mental health also influence overall cognitive performance .

How do cognitive skills vary during early childhood?

Cognitive skills in early childhood evolve as children progress through various stages . During the sensorimotor stage, infants develop fundamental skills such as object permanence. The preoperational stage is characterized by the development of symbolic thought, language, and imaginative play. Children then enter the concrete operational stage, acquiring the ability to think logically and solve problems. Finally, in the formal operational stage, children develop abstract reasoning abilities, complex problem-solving skills and metacognitive awareness.

What are common examples of cognitive development?

Examples of cognitive development include the acquisition of language and vocabulary, the development of problem-solving skills, and the ability to engage in logical reasoning. Additionally, memory, attention, and spatial awareness are essential aspects of cognitive development. Children may demonstrate these skills through activities like puzzle-solving, reading, and mathematics.

How do cognitive development theories explain children’s learning?

Piaget’s cognitive development theory suggests that children learn through active exploration, constructing knowledge based on their experiences and interactions with the world. In contrast, Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory emphasizes the role of social interaction and cultural context in learning. Both theories imply that cognitive development is a dynamic and evolving process, influenced by various environmental and psychological factors.

Why is it essential to support cognitive development in early childhood?

Supporting cognitive development in early childhood is critical because it lays a strong foundation for future academic achievement, social-emotional development, and lifelong learning. By providing children with diverse and enriching experiences, caregivers and educators can optimize cognitive growth and prepare children to face the challenges of today’s complex world. Fostering cognitive development early on helps children develop resilience, adaptability, and critical thinking skills essential for personal and professional success.

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How to Teach Problem-Solving Skills to Children and Preteens

• By Ashley Cullins

Whether it’s a toy-related conflict, a tough math equation, or negative peer pressure, kids of ALL ages face problems and challenges on a daily basis.

As parents or teachers, we can’t always be there to solve every problem for our children. In fact, this isn’t our job. Our job is to TEACH our children how to solve problems by themselves . This way, they can become confident , independent, and successful individuals.

Instead of giving up or getting frustrated when they encounter a challenge, kids with problem-solving skills manage their emotions, think creatively, and persist until they find a solution. Naturally, these abilities go hand-in-hand with a  growth mindset .

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our FREE Your Words Matter Volume 2 Kit . With these 10 one-page parenting guides, you will know exactly how to speak to your child to help them stand up for themselves, be more confident, and develop a growth mindset.

So HOW do you teach problem-solving skills to kids?

Well, it depends on their age . As cognitive abilities and the size of the child’s challenges grow/evolve over time, so should your approach to teaching problem-solving skills.

Read on to learn key strategies for teaching problem-solving to kids, as well as some age-by-age ideas and activities.

3 General Strategies to Teach Problem-Solving at Any Age

1. model effective problem-solving .

When YOU encounter a challenge, do a “think-aloud” for the benefit of your child. MODEL how to apply the same problem-solving skills you’ve been working on together, giving the real-world examples that she can implement in her own life.

At the same time, show your child a willingness to make mistakes . Everyone encounters problems, and that’s okay. Sometimes the first solution you try won’t work, and that’s okay too!  

When you model problem-solving, explain that there are some things that are out of our control. As we're solving a problem at hand we should focus on the things we CAN actually control.

You and your child can listen to Episode 35  of the Big Life Kids Podcast to learn about focusing on what you can control.

2. Ask for Advice

Ask your kids for advice when you have a problem. This teaches them that it’s common to make mistakes and face challenges. It also gives them the opportunity to practice problem-solving skills.

Plus, when you indicate that their ideas are valued ,  they’ll gain the confidence to attempt solving problems on their own.

3. Don’t Provide “The Answer”

As difficult as it may be, allow your child to struggle, sometimes fail , and ultimately LEARN  from experiencing consequences.

Now, let’s take a look at some age-specific strategies and activities. The ages listed below are general guidelines, feel free to choose any strategies or activities that you feel will work for YOUR child.

Use Emotion Coaching

To step into a problem-solving mindset, young children need to first learn to  manage their emotions . After all, it’s difficult for a small child to logically consider solutions to a problem if he’s mid-tantrum.

One way to accomplish this is by using the  emotion coaching process  outlined by John Gottman.

First,  teach your kids that ALL emotions are acceptable. There are NO “bad” emotions. Even seemingly negative emotions like anger, sadness, and frustration can teach us valuable lessons. What matters is how we  respond  to these emotions.

Second,   follow this process:

• Step One: Naming and validating emotions.  When your child is upset, help her process the way she’s feeling. Say something like,  “I understand that you’re upset because Jessica is playing with the toy you wanted.”
• Step Two:   Processing  emotions.  Guide your child to her  calming space. If she doesn't have one, it's a good idea to create one.  Let her calm her body and process her emotions so she can problem-solve, learn, and grow. 
• Step Three: Problem Solving.  Brainstorm solutions with your child, doing more   LISTENING   than talking during the conversation. This allows your child to practice her problem-solving skills, and she’s more likely to actually implement the solutions she came up with herself.

Say, “Show Me the Hard Part”

When your child struggles or feels frustrated, try a technique suggested by mom and parenting blogger Lauren Tamm . Simply say, “Show me the hard part.”

This helps your child identify the ROOT   of the problem, making it less intimidating and easier to solve.

Repeat back what your child says,  “So you’re saying…”

Once you both understand the real problem, prompt your child to come up with solutions . “There must be some way you can fix that…” or  “There must be something you can do…”

Now that your child has identified “the hard part,” she’ll likely be able to come up with a solution. If not, help her brainstorm some ideas. You may try asking the question, “If you DID  know, what would you think?” and see what she comes up with.

Problem-Solve with Creative Play

Allow your child to choose activities and games based on her  interests . Free play provides plenty of opportunities to navigate and creatively solve problems.

Children often learn best through play. Playing with items like blocks, simple puzzles, and dress-up clothes can teach your child the process of problem-solving.

Even while playing, your child thinks critically:  Where does this puzzle piece fit? What does this do? I want to dress up as a queen. What should I wear?   Where did I put my tiara? Is it under the couch?

Problem-Solve with Storybooks

Read age-appropriate stories featuring characters who experience problems, such as:

• Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy by Jacky Davis: The story of two friends who want to play together but can’t find a game to agree on. After taking turns making suggestions, they arrive at a game they both want to play: Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy.
• The Curious George Series by Margaret and H.E. Rey: A curious little monkey gets into and out of dilemmas, teaching kids to find solutions to problems of their own.
• Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber: Ira’s thrilled to have a sleepover at his friend Reggie’s house. But there’s one problem: Should he or should he not bring his teddy bear? It may seem small, but this is the type of early social problem your child might relate to.

Connect these experiences to similar events in your child’s own life, and ASK your child HOW the characters in these stories could solve their problems. Encourage a variety of solutions, and discuss the possible outcomes of each.

This is a form of dialogue reading , or actively ENGAGING   your child in the reading experience. Interacting with the text instead of passively listening can “turbocharge” the development of literacy skills such as comprehension in preschool-aged children.

By asking questions about the characters’ challenges, you can also give your child’s problem-solving abilities a boost.

You can even have your child role-play the problem and potential solutions to reinforce the lesson.  

For book suggestions, refer to our Top 85 Growth Mindset Books for Children & Adults list.

Teach the Problem-Solving Steps

Come up with a simple problem-solving process for your child, one that you can consistently implement. For example, you might try the following five steps:

• Step 1: What am I feeling?  Help your child understand what she’s feeling in the moment (frustration, anger, curiosity, disappointment, excitement, etc.)  Noticing and naming emotions will diffuse  their charge and give your child a chance to take a step back.
• Step 2: What’s the problem?  Guide your child to identify the specific problem. In most cases, help her take responsibility for what happened rather than pointing fingers. For instance, instead of, “Joey got me in trouble at recess,” your child might say, “I got in trouble at recess for arguing with Joey.”
• Step 3:   What are the solutions?  Encourage your child to come up with as many solutions as possible. At this point, they don’t even need to be “good” solutions. They’re just brainstorming here, not yet evaluating the ideas they’ve generated.
• Step 4: What would happen if…? What would happen if your child attempted each of these solutions? Is the solution safe and fair? How will it make others feel? You can also try role-playing at this step. It’s important for your child to consider BOTH  positive and negative consequences of her actions.
• Step 5: Which one will I try?  Ask your child to pick one or more solutions to try. If the solution didn't work, discuss WHY and move on to another one. Encourage your child to keep trying until the problem is solved. 

Consistently practice these steps so that they become second nature, and model solving problems of your own the same way.  It's a good idea to   reflect :   What worked? What didn’t? What can you do differently next time?

Problem-Solve with Craft Materials

Crafting is another form of play that can teach kids to solve problems creatively.

Provide your child with markers, modeling clay, cardboard boxes, tape, paper, etc. They’ll come up with all sorts of interesting creations and inventive games with these simple materials.

These “open-ended toys” don’t have a “right way to play,” allowing your child to get creative and generate ideas independently .

Ask Open-Ended Questions

Asking open-ended questions improves a child’s ability to think critically and creatively, ultimately making them better problem-solvers. Examples of open-ended questions include:

• How could we work together to solve this?
• How did you work it out? or How do you know that?
• Tell me about what you built, made, or created.
• What do you think will happen next?
• What do you think would happen if…?
• What did you learn?
• What was easy? What was hard?
• What would you do differently next time?

Open-ended questions have no right answer and can’t be answered with a simple “Yes” or “No.”

You can ask open-ended questions even when your child isn’t currently solving a problem to help her practice her thinking skills, which will come in handy when she does have a problem to solve.

If you need some tips on how to encourage a growth mindset in your child, don't forget to download our FREE Your Words Matter Volume 2 Kit .

Break Down Problems into Chunks

This strategy is a more advanced version of “Show me the hard part.”

The bigger your child gets, the bigger her problems get too. When your child is facing a challenge that seems overwhelming or insurmountable, encourage her to break it into smaller, more manageable chunks.

For instance, let’s say your child has a poor grade in history class. Why is the grade so low? What are the causes of this problem?

As usual, LISTEN as your child brainstorms, asking open-ended questions to help if she gets stuck.

If the low grade is the result of missing assignments, perhaps your child can make a list of these assignments and tackle them one at a time. Or if tests are the issue, what’s causing your child to struggle on exams?

Perhaps she’s distracted by friends in the class, has trouble asking for help, and doesn’t spend enough time studying at home. Once you’ve identified these “chunks,” help your child tackle them one at a time until the problem is solved.

Show “ The Broken Escalator Video ”

Discuss the importance of embracing challenges and solving problems independently with the “broken escalator video.”

In the video, an escalator unexpectedly breaks. The people on the escalator are “stuck” and yelling for help. At this age, it’s likely that your child will find the video funny and immediately offer a solution: “Just walk! Get off the escalator!”

Tell your child that this is a simple example of how people sometimes act in difficult situations. Ask, “Why do you think they didn’t get off the escalator?” (they didn’t know how, they were waiting for help, etc.)

Sometimes, your child might feel “stuck” when facing problems. They may stop and ask for help before even attempting to find a solution. Encourage your child to embrace challenges and work through problems instead.

Problem-Solve with Prompts

Provide your child or a group of children with materials such as straws, cotton balls, yarn, clothespins, tape, paper clips, sticky notes, Popsicle sticks, etc.

With just these materials, challenge your kids to solve unusual problems like:

• Make a leprechaun trap
• Create a jump ramp for cars
• Design your own game with rules
• Make a device for two people to communicate with one another

This is a fun way to practice critical thinking and creative problem-solving. Most likely, it will take multiple attempts to find a solution that works, which can apply to just about any aspect of life.

Make Them Work for It

When your child asks for a new toy, technology, or clothes, have her make a plan to obtain the desired item herself. Not only will your child have to brainstorm and evaluate solutions, but she’ll also gain confidence .

Ask your child HOW she can earn the money for the item that she wants, and encourage her as she works toward her goal .

Put It on Paper

Have your child write out their problems on paper and brainstorm some potential solutions.

But now, she takes this process a step further: After attempting each solution, which succeeded? Which were unsuccessful? Why ?

This helps your child reflect on various outcomes, learning what works and what doesn’t. The lessons she learns here will be useful when she encounters similar problems in the future.

Play Chess Together

Learning to play chess is a great way for kids to learn problem-solving AND build their brains at the same time. It requires players to use critical thinking, creativity, analysis of the board, recognize patterns, and more. There are online versions of the game, books on how to play, videos, and other resources. Don’t know how to play? Learn with your teen to connect and problem solve together!

Have Them Learn To Code

Our teens and tweens are already tech-savvy and can use their skills to solve problems by learning to code. Coding promotes creativity, logic, planning, and persistence . There are many great tools and online or in-person programs that can boost your child’s coding skills.

Encourage to Start a Meaningful Project

This project has to be meaningful to your teen, for example starting a YouTube channel. Your teen will practice problem-solving skills as they’re figuring out how to grow their audience, how to have their videos discovered, and much more. 

In the Big Life Journal - Teen Edition , there’s a section that guides them through planning their YouTube channel and beginning the problem-solving process.

Apply the SODAS Method

Looking for a game plan that your teen can employ when faced with a problem? The SODAS method can be used for big or small problems. Just remember this simple acronym and follow these ideas:

• D isadvantages
• A dvantages

Encourage to Join Problem-Solving Groups

Does your teen enjoy solving problems in a team? Have them join a group or club that helps them hone their skills in a variety of settings--from science and robotics to debating and international affairs. Some examples of groups include: 

• Odyssey of the Mind
• Debate team
• Science Olympiad

Looking for additional resources?  The Bestseller’s Bundle includes our three most popular printable kits packed with science-based activities, guides, and crafts for children. Our Growth Mindset Kit, Resilience Kit, and Challenges Kit work together as a comprehensive system designed specifically for children ages 5-11.

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25 thoughts on “ How to Teach Problem-Solving Skills to Children and Preteens ”

I love, love, love the point about emotional coaching. It’s so important to identify how children are feeling about a problem and then approach the solutions accordingly.

Thank you for putting this together. I wrote an article on problem-solving specifically from the point of view of developing a STEM aptitude in kids, if you like to check it out – https://kidpillar.com/how-to-teach-problem-solving-to-your-kids-5-8-years/

I feel that these techniques will work for my kid.. Worthy.. Thank you

I love you guys

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Pave the Way for Self-regulation and Problem-solving With Social-emotional Learning

Posted: April 3, 2024

Problem-solving is a social-emotional learning (SEL) skill children need for lifelong success. Effective problem-solving skills support children's ability to self-regulate, focus on tasks, think flexibly and creatively, work with others, and generate multiple ways to solve problems. When young children develop and build these skills, it positively impacts their interactions with others, grows their capacity to manage challenges, and boosts a sense of competence.

A group of school-age children are stacking plastic blocks with an educator.

The foundation for effective social problem-solving is grounded in self-regulation, or the ability to regulate emotions when interacting with others. It is easier to focus on one's feelings and the feelings and perspectives of others and to work cooperatively toward solutions when a child can self-regulate and calm down. Children develop self-regulation skills over time, with practice and with adult guidance. Equally important is how an adult models emotion regulation and co-regulation. 

"Caregivers play a key role in cultivating the development of emotion regulation through co-regulation, or the processes by which they provide external support or scaffolding as children navigate their emotional experiences" (Paley & Hajal, 2022, p. 1).

When adults model calm and self-regulated approaches to problem-solving, it shows children how to approach problems constructively. For example, an educator says, "I'm going to take a breath and calm down so I can think better." This model helps children see and hear a strategy to support self-regulation.

Problem-solving skills help children resolve conflicts and interact with others as partners and collaborators. Developing problem-solving skills helps children learn and grow empathy for others, stand up for themselves, and build resilience and competence to work through challenges in their world. 

Eight strategies to support problem-solving 

• Teach about emotions and use feeling words throughout the day. When children have more words to express themselves and their feelings, it is easier to address and talk about challenges when they arise. 
• Recognize and acknowledge children's feelings throughout the day. For example, when children enter the classroom during circle time, mealtime, and outside time, ask them how they feel. Always acknowledge children's feelings, both comfortable and uncomfortable, to support an understanding that all feelings are OK to experience.  
• Differentiate between feelings and behaviors. By differentiating feelings from behaviors, educators contribute to children’s understanding that all feelings are OK, but not all behaviors are OK. For example, an educator says, "It looks like you may be feeling mad because you want the red blocks, and Nila is playing with them. It's OK to feel mad but not OK to knock over your friend’s blocks."
• Support children's efforts to calm down. When children are self-regulated, they can think more clearly. For example, practice taking a breath with children as a self-regulation technique during calm moments. Then, when challenges arise, children have a strategy they have practiced many times and can use to calm down before problem-solving begins.  
• Encourage children's efforts to voice the problem and their feelings after they are calm. For example, when a challenge arises, encourage children to use the phrase, "The problem is_______, and I feel______." This process sets the stage to begin problem-solving.
• Acknowledge children's efforts to think about varied ways to solve problems. For example, an educator says, "It looks like you and Nila are trying to work out how to share the blocks. What do you think might work so you can both play with them? Do you have some other ideas about how you could share?"
• Champion children's efforts as they problem-solve. For example, "You and Nila thought about two ways you could share. One way is to divide the red blocks so you can each build, and the other is to build a tower together. Great thinking, friends!"
• Create opportunities for activities and play that offer problem-solving practice. For example, when children play together in the block area, it provides opportunities to negotiate plans for play and role-play, build perspective, talk about feelings, and share. The skills children learn during play, along with adult support, enhance children’s ability to solve more complex and challenging social problems and conflicts when they occur in and out of the early learning setting.

References: 

Paley, B., & Hajal, N. J. (2022). Conceptualizing emotion regulation and coregulation as family-level phenomena. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review ,  25 (1), 19-43.

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The 2 Skills You Need for a Great Life

Get inspired by others to unlock your true potential from within..

Posted April 4, 2024 | Reviewed by Ray Parker

• Self-regulating emotions and problem-solving are essential skills,
• Being mindful of these skills and keeping them sharp makes a huge difference in the quality of our lives.
• It helps to be inspired by those who remind us how to be calm and problem-solve.

I would happily debate with anyone that life comes down to these two crucial skills: 1. The ability to calm down and 2. problem-solving in the face of inevitable challenges. If you are reading this and feel like what I am saying is obvious, guess what? You are right.

Yet please consider the following:

• As you read these words, Bill is losing his cool with his kids and will later regret what he said.
• Kelly won't be going to work tomorrow because she just got fired for not being able to navigate work demands.
• Brian is now single (and wishes he wasn't) because he did not calm himself with his newfound ex-partner.
• Kim is using substances to self-soothe because healthy ways to do so are elusive to her.
• Sean blames others and the world as a whole for their disappointments and consequent dissatisfaction because of their inability to manage their emotions and problem-solve.

Now that we have looked at some examples of problematic coping, let's turn to draw inspiration from the experiences of people who exemplify healthy self-soothing and problem-solving.

Emily Focuses on Staying Calm When Facing Multiple Demands

Consider the story of Emily, a busy professional juggling multiple responsibilities at work and home. When faced with tight deadlines and mounting pressure, Emily has learned to incorporate mindfulness practices into her daily routine. By taking short breaks for meditation and deep breathing exercises, she manages to stay centered and composed even during the most stressful situations. This ability to calm down not only enhances her productivity but also fosters a positive work environment where she can effectively collaborate with her colleagues to tackle complex projects.

John Strategizes With Problem-Solving to Stay on Course

Similarly, let's look at the example of John, an entrepreneur who has encountered numerous setbacks on his path to success in his start-up company focused on solar applications in drone technology. Rather than allowing failures to deter him, John approaches each challenge as an opportunity for growth and innovation .

Through strategic problem-solving, he identifies the root causes of setbacks, adapts his strategies accordingly, and perseveres until he achieves his goals . By remaining resilient and resourceful in the face of adversity, John has built a thriving business and earned the respect of his peers in the industry.

Sarah Models Patience and Self-Regulation

Moreover, the intersection of calming down and problem-solving is evident in the story of Sarah, a devoted mother navigating the challenges of parenthood . When confronted with tantrums or conflicts among her children, Sarah relies on her ability to stay calm and composed.

By modeling patience and emotional regulation , she creates a harmonious environment where her children feel safe to express themselves and resolve conflicts amicably. Through open communication and collaborative problem-solving, Sarah fosters strong bonds within her family and instills valuable life skills in her children.

Alex Mobilizes His Community

Furthermore, consider the example of Alex, a community leader dedicated to advocating for social change regarding homelessness-related challenges in his city. In the face of systemic injustices and entrenched obstacles, Alex remains steadfast in his commitment to effecting positive change.

Through grassroots organizing and coalition-building, he mobilizes community members to address pressing issues such as poverty, inequality, and environmental degradation. By combining the power of collective action with strategic problem-solving, Alex empowers marginalized voices and catalyzes meaningful transformation within society.

Closing Thoughts

In each of these examples, you can see the transformative power of calming down and problem-solving in action. Whether it's navigating professional challenges, overcoming personal setbacks, fostering harmonious relationships, or driving social change, these skills are indispensable for a fulfilling and impactful life. By drawing inspiration from individuals like Emily, John, Sarah, and Alex, we can cultivate these skills within ourselves and embrace the journey toward personal growth and self-discovery.

Jeffrey Bernstein, Ph.D. , is a psychologist and the author of seven books, including 10 Days to a Less Defiant Child.

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15 Childhood Games That Unexpectedly Prepared Us for Adulthood

Posted: March 8, 2024 | Last updated: March 8, 2024

Childhood games aren’t just about fun and entertainment. They often teach valuable life lessons. From learning to cooperate with others to developing problem-solving skills, many childhood games offer valuable experiences that we carry into our grown-up lives. Let’s explore 15 childhood games that unexpectedly prepared us for adulthood.

Hide and Seek

Hide and Seek, a childhood favorite, offers more than just entertainment; it provides valuable lessons for adulthood. The game instills strategic thinking, as players must find clever hiding spots and stay out of sight. This teaches us the importance of planning and adapting to unforeseen challenges. Additionally, staying hidden requires patience and perseverance, essential traits when facing obstacles in adult life. 

Tag, a timeless childhood game, demands agility, quick thinking, and the ability to react swiftly to changing circumstances. As children, we learn to persevere and think on our feet, skills that prove invaluable in the fast-paced environment of adulthood. Tag teaches us the importance of resilience and adaptability, which help us navigate life’s challenges.

Simon Says, a classic childhood game, offers more than just entertainment. The game enhances our ability to follow instructions attentively and think quickly on our feet. These skills are crucial in professional settings where listening and responsiveness are highly valued. Additionally, Simon Says encourages discipline and focus, traits that are essential for success in adult life. 

Board Games (Monopoly, Scrabble, etc.)

Board games such as Monopoly and Scrabble teach strategic thinking, negotiation skills, and decision-making abilities, all essential for adult life. Monopoly, for example, teaches us about financial management and investment strategies, while Scrabble enhances our vocabulary and critical thinking skills. 

Puzzle Games

Puzzle games, whether jigsaw puzzles or Sudoku, offer more than a mental challenge. These games enhance our problem-solving abilities, patience, and persistence, which are essential for tackling complex challenges in adult life. Solving a puzzle requires focus, attention to detail, and the willingness to try different approaches, skills that prove invaluable in various professional and personal situations. 

Building Blocks (LEGO)

Building blocks like LEGO encourage creativity, spatial awareness, and the ability to envision and construct something from scratch. Through building with LEGO, children learn problem-solving skills as they experiment with different designs and solutions. Additionally, building blocks foster teamwork and collaboration, as children often work together to bring their ideas to life. 

Role-Playing Games (Pretend Play)

Role-playing games, or pretend play, through imagination, let children explore different roles and perspectives. They help foster empathy, communication skills, and the ability to work collaboratively with others. Pretend play encourages creativity and innovation, as children create scenarios and solve problems using their imagination. 

Sports (Soccer, Basketball, etc.)

Participating in sports like soccer and basketball provides more than physical exercise. Team sports teach us about leadership, cooperation, resilience, and the importance of discipline and dedication in achieving goals. Through sports, children learn to work together towards a common objective, overcoming challenges and celebrating victories as a team.

Climbing Trees

Climbing trees may seem like a simple childhood pastime, but as children navigate branches and heights, they develop physical strength, coordination, and risk-taking abilities. Climbing trees also fosters problem-solving skills as children carefully assess their surroundings and plan their ascent. These skills translate into adulthood, where confidence, assertiveness, and the willingness to take calculated risks are essential for personal and professional growth. 

Through dress-up, children explore creativity, self-expression, and confidence as they experiment with different outfits and personas. Dress-up games encourage imagination and role-play, fostering empathy and understanding of different perspectives. Children develop the foundation for effective communication and presentation skills that serve them well in their future endeavors by engaging in dress-up play.

Card Games (Uno, Poker, etc.)

Card games like Uno and Poker teach strategic thinking, probability assessment, and risk management. Card games also encourage social interaction and communication skills as players negotiate rules and strategies with one another. 

Memory Games (Memory, Concentration)

Memory games such as Memory and Concentration improve cognitive abilities, attention to detail, and information retention as players try to match pairs of cards or remember the location of hidden objects. Memory games also encourage focus and concentration, as players must stay attentive to the game board and recall information quickly.

Hopscotch, a classic outdoor game, teaches balance, coordination, and agility as players hop on one foot while navigating a series of squares. Hopscotch also encourages focus and concentration, as players must remember the sequence of squares and avoid stepping on lines. Adulthood requires skills like multitasking and managing competing priorities. This game teaches us to require balance, coordination, and the ability to focus on the task.

Telephone (Chinese Whispers)

Telephone, also known as Chinese Whispers, teaches the importance of clear communication and active listening, as players pass a message from one person to another, often resulting in miscommunication or distortion of the original message. Telephone encourages participants to pay attention to details and clarify information, skills essential for effective communication in adulthood. 

Building Forts

Building forts, whether with blankets and pillows indoors or sticks and branches outdoors, fosters creativity, resourcefulness, and teamwork as children collaborate to construct a shelter or hideout. Building forts also encourages adaptability, as children adjust their plans based on the materials available and the environment around them. 

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Supporting Creativity in Infants and Toddlers

Teacher Time: Supporting Creativity in Infants and Toddlers

Maria Alvarez: Hello, everyone. Welcome to Teacher Time. I am Maria Alvarez. Nice to see you again, Gail.

Gail Joseph: Yes, I'm Gail Joseph. It's nice to see you, too. We are both from the National Center on Early Childhood Development, Teaching and Learning, often shortened to just DTL. We're so excited to have you here with us today for our fourth infant-toddler episode of Teacher Time and our last episode of this season, which is hard to believe.

Maria: I know, but we'll be back next fall.

Gail: That is right, we'll be back.

Maria: I would like to call your attention to the Viewer's Guide, you will find it in the resource widget that Gail was mentioning. If you're new to Teacher Time, the viewer's guide is something made just for you. You can download the guide and use it throughout our time together like taking notes, reflecting and planning how you'll use the Teacher Time practices in your own setting. This month's Viewer Guide is full to the brim of reflections and printable resources that can be useful and information.

I think that's it. I think we're good with logistics. Let's get started.

We're so excited to be focusing this season of Teacher Time on supporting young child's – young children's creativity. Supporting creativity is also referred to as Approaches to Learning, which you may know is one of the domains in the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework, or ELOF , as we like to say.

Gail: That is right. So far this season, if you've been with us, you know that we have focused on emotional and behavioral self-regulation. Then we focused on cognitive self-regulation, which is also what we call executive function skills. Then we moved on to fostering initiative and curiosity. Today, we are focusing on creativity. We're going to dive a little bit deeper and learn about the creativity ELOF goals for infants and toddlers.

This subdomain, as you may know, is made up of two goals. First, the child uses creativity to increase understanding and learning. And second, the child shows imagination in play and interactions with others. Today, we're going to focus on the first goal, “child uses creativity in thinking to increase understanding and learning.” While we're going to focus on that first goal and creativity today, it's important to note that the development of both skills in goal one and goal two are very related. By supporting the development of creativity, children often also demonstrate imagination, innovation, problem solving, and social skills – very related.

Maria: Why is creativity important? We might have an idea in our heads, but let's turn to research and see, why is it important for children now and later on in life?

Researchers in this book called “Nurturing Creativity: An Essential Mindset for Young Children's Learning,” we know that experts, business leaders, and educators identify several skills and abilities that today's young children need now and in the future. Children need to be creative thinkers, flexible, and able to adjust to an increasingly complex world in a world that constantly changes; problem solvers; and able to generate innovative ideas. We live in a rapidly changing world – you might already know and live in – where flexibility and creative thinking is key to taking on new problems that arise, creating new solutions and different strategies for communication and collaboration, all of which young children can do sometimes more than us adults since children are still learning the rules of the world.

Creativity is also critical in celebrating each child's unique way of being, doing, and thinking. It's a core piece of who each child is and how each child expresses who they are. Finally, creative expression can help children cope and express their emotions. It's also important to remember that creative expression isn't limited just to the art-centered dramatic play. You can see creativity in all domains and all areas, so everyone is creative, and creativity can happen anywhere.

Gail: As we've been doing all season with Teacher Time, we're first going to turn attention to ourselves as adults. We like to think about, what can we do to foster our own creativity as an example so that we can foster the creativity of young children?

Did you know that everyone is creative? You might be out there saying, “Oh, I'm not creative, I can never be creative.” We probably – if you're like that, I know I've said that sometimes, you just have a narrow view of what creativity is, we know that everyone is creative. Creativity is a learned skill, which means we need to give ourselves time to practice being creative. It's not the case that some people are creative, and some people aren't. We're all creative. We just need to foster it.

We want to think about – and get your fingers ready to type into that purple Q&A widget – we want to think about how do you, as an adult, foster your creativity? Go ahead and answer your responses into the Q&A there.

While we're waiting for some responses in, Maria, I was thinking about this question for myself. Sometimes for me, I have to have a creative space. If I'm going to do my day-to-day work, I might be one place, but when I want to be able to think creatively about a lesson plan I’m doing, I'd love to sit someplace a bit different. That's one way of fostering creativity, is giving myself the right space and tools. What's something you do, Maria, to foster your creativity?

Maria: I think choosing to chase opportunities that are new and taking risks with things that are outside of my comfort zone, because that forces me to think outside of that box that sometimes I feel I'm inside too often and too long. Just taking those risks, especially when I feel like I'm in a safe and brave space.

Gail: I love that. That idea of getting a little bit discomforted in a way to get creative or getting yourself out of your rut. I also like to read across genres, or listen at – let me be honest, it's more likely that I'm listening across genres. I really like audiobooks, but I find that – some people are writing in, too, that that's something they do to foster their creativity. Some people take classes, some people – you get the idea that we're creative. We want to foster our own creativity so that we can foster young children's creativity as well.

Maria: That's right. I'm doing so through modeling.

Now that we have thought about how we support our own creativity and why it's important, let's think about what creativity looks like in infants and toddlers. Creative skills like imagination, communication, problem solving, innovation, and collaboration will develop throughout early childhood, and even adulthood, like me.

When children have support, the developmental progression can look like what's on this slide that you're seeing. By the way, did you know that this information is directly from the ELOF ? A link to the ELOF and the ELOF 2 GO, which is an app and mobile version of the ELOF , are in your Viewer's Guide. You can always go back, refer to that, and have the developmental progressions right at your fingertips.

Let's look at children between birth and nine months first. During this time, we see that infants use a variety of ways to interact with other people, and they might modify their expressions, actions, or behaviors best based on those responses to others. Like we see in the first picture, the infant is using a variety of ways to communicate with the adult. The infant is using body language, facial expression, and gaze. Of course, keep in mind that all children differ, so you might see some younger infants more able to interact and adapt their behaviors than older infants, or you might see differences day-to-day depending on how an infant is doing at school or at home. This is a guide to keep in mind as you interact with the infants and toddlers in your care.

Let's watch a video, as we love to see these videos. Let's watch a video of how an infant at a family childcare shows a variety of ways of communication skills and how they modify their actions based on how the teacher is engaging with him. And share, as you watch this video, share in the Q&A how you see the infant interacting with the adult, or write your notes on the Viewer's Guide. Let's watch.

[Video begins]

Teacher: I see them. Four big toes. There, big toe. Look at that. I think I see five toes here, too. One, two, three, four, five. You have 10 toes. Can I change your diaper now? I'll take that as a yes.

[Video ends]

Maria: So cute. Oh, my gosh, I see in the Q&A your thoughts are coming in. Eye contact, the shared attention was there. The vocalization, the tone is such great affect from the teacher as well. Even asking, “Can I change your diaper?” There's consent right there, right from the very beginning, too, what a safe space. Yeah, “Can I change your diaper?” I see all of those things, I see – gaze, becoming more vocal response. the infant really responded to the teacher once he asked, "Can I change your diaper now?” It was amazing to see.

Gail: Absolutely. Let's look at another age group. Between eight and 18 months, we see children start to find new things to do with familiar everyday objects, such as using a cooking pot for a hat or a spoon as a drumstick. Lots of things became drumsticks when I was with toddlers. Or like in the second picture, using a chair as not a chair, but as a push toy to get from one place to another. A box becomes anything for young children. This is something we see.

Let's watch the teacher and the children in this video, and then share in the Q&A, what you notice about how the child can find new things to do with familiar objects, and how does the teacher respond?

Teacher: I don't think I can, either. OK, who's on the phone? Hello?

Child: Hello.

Teacher: Oh, it's your mommy. Yeah, it's Mommy.

Child: Hello, Mommy.

Teacher: Tell Mommy we went to the park. Yeah, we're at the park.

Gail: Block becomes a phone. Love it. Some people are writing in some things, like they appreciate that the teacher has open ended materials. That's one of the ways that we can foster this creativity. Teacher actively engaged, responsive, warm. That was very fun to play along, definitely following the child's lead. How many blocks have we answered in our teaching careers? Many.

Maria: Many.

Gail: That's a good point, too, because while we see that over and over again, because we're working with the same age group, when a child does something for the first time, it is creative. Even if it's something that we've seen many children do in our experience, it's new and creative for that specific child, and we want to celebrate that.

Maria: Definitely. Around 16 to 36 months, close to when the child is getting ready to transition to preschool, children combine objects or materials in new and unexpected ways and show such delights in creating something new. As we see in this last picture on the slide deck, the child is in the black shirt is smiling and holding their hands together. It seems like they're so excited. I love it. Let's watch this interaction. Think about what you notice about the child's expressive creativity and expression and their response and write it on the Q&A.

Teacher: Can you say doggy? OK. Oh, I love it. That is such a good drawing. That is such a good drawing.

Maria: Maybe this was the first time this toddler drew circles like that or combined a black crayon with green paper. It's all new. They showed delight in their drawing and creation when they said, “Whoa.” I could see the satisfaction in their face when he paused, leaned back, and looked at his work. I also noticed that the toddler communicated their need for more space on the paper by gently moving the teacher's hand.

If you have been part of this webinar series, you know what this is. Let's get back to BASICS. These are a collection of strategies that can be used in any setting interacting with infants and toddlers. The BASICS are teaching practices that you can apply no matter what content you’re focusing on – math, literacy, social emotional skills – it is always important to use the BASICS, and it's always something so helpful, so useful to have. If you have watched our previous episodes, this is going to sound super familiar. If this is your first time with us, let me explain what the BASICS are.

Teacher Time BASICS are "B" for behavioral expectations in advance, "A" for attend to and encourage appropriate behavior, "S" for scaffold with cues and prompts, "I" for increased engagement, "C" for create or add challenge, and "S" for specific feedback. Today, we're going to provide some examples of how to apply the Teacher Time basics in ways that will foster and support young children's creativity.

Let me start with B, behavioral expectations in advance. Here are some examples of providing some behavioral expectations that are useful to have in advance and that support children's learning. When we support young children's creativity, we might think of open-ended, unstructured learning activities or impromptu art experiences, but it's also important to create an environment that is predictable, like we've mentioned in past series. This will help infants and toddlers understand what to expect and feel safe. Having stability in the environment is key to creating space where infants and toddlers feel comfortable taking risks and trying new things.

I know that when we take risks, we allow ourselves to be more creative and foster that. Taking risk is a huge part of learning and developing that creativity. It's important to provide behavioral expectations in advance, like, “We’re going to have a snack in about five minutes. I know it can be hard to wait. I need to cut up the fruit and clean the table, and then we can sit down to eat.” Or “We're going to try something new today. There is clay in the sensory table. It's okay if you're unsure about playing with it. Sometimes trying new things can be overwhelming. Or “If you start to feel frustrated, you can try taking a deep breath or ask a teacher for help.”

Gail: I love that one. It's so important, those behavioral expectations in advance, I think that's an important part, is that all of those things are proactive and advance.

We're to the A. The “A” in BASICS is for attend and encourage appropriate behavior. Like we mentioned earlier, creating an environment where children feel safe to take risks and try new things is at the core of developing and expressing creativity. If we don't feel safe, if we don't feel like we can take risks, then creativity really gets squashed. We want to keep that light burning for young children in terms of their creative spirit.

One way we can build this type of community is to respond to infants’ and toddlers’ creative problem solving, thinking, and expression with wholehearted acceptance. We can do this with encouragement, such as “You're trying so many different ways to get the Cheerios into your mouth." Or “Look at what you created.” Not only does this support the child's creativity, it also helps to foster a connection with a child. It's a nice little relationship builder as well.

We can also respond to a child's creative process with descriptive encouragement. We like those encouraging statements to be very descriptive. It might be something like, “I noticed you painting at the table. You were using the teal paint. First, you started smooshing the paint on the paper, and then you started covering your hands and wrists with paint.” Sounds very creative.

Being detailed in our encouragement shows that infant and toddler that we're invested in them and their work, and it provides the language that they can use to express their ideas, thoughts, and creations. You never know, they might start talking about smooshing paint because of what you said.

Remember your body language, your tone of voice, your smile – there's actual research that the more a teacher is smiling at a child, the more risks they take, in terms of curiosity and creativity, and those things are just as important as what you're saying. It's important to focus on the process and that effort that goes into creating. Not just the product, it’s focusing on what they're doing. The smooshing of the paint, the using all the paint, the thinking, the exploration, not just, “Oh, look at the pretty picture that you've done.”

We are going to watch a video of a teacher supporting an infant's creativity with encouragement. This is a great time to use your Viewer's Guide and write down your observations about the behaviors you see the teacher use that are encouraging.

Teacher: Oh, Alexandra, what are you going to do? You dropped your bells, and they're far from you? How are you going to get it? How are you going to get it? You’re just going to get your shoe, your feet? You're almost reaching it. You're almost there. Yes. A different choice. You're choosing the turtle. You're choosing the turtle.

Gail: I love that teacher. Right down there with the infants and toddlers.

Maria: Having questions.

Gail: The questions, asking so many great open-ended questions that foster creativity, like “What are you going to do?” Or “How are you going to get it?” Nice descriptive narration of what the child is doing. “Oh, you're making a different choice. You're using the turtle.” She really accepted that infant’s new ideas. She was just watching and – –

Maria: And narrating.

Gail: Narrating, which feels so validating. It's a great relationship builder with that infant, but also that warm and encouraging tone that I'm sure made that infant want to take a risk.

Maria: Exactly. That's the commonality that we've been seeing in all these videos. It's that warm affect. It's that warm tone that makes them feel safe and take those risks.

Let’s move on to “S” for scaffold with cues and prompts. This is a very important part of helping a child learn, because you're providing them with the scaffolds that they need to get to that next level. If you don't know what scaffolding is, if you've never heard it before, I'll tell you.

Scaffolding is how we help a child learn by providing them with just the right amount of assistance. That's the key part there. It's just the right amount of assistance to help push them to the next level or help them reach that next level. Scaffolding children's creativity can include things like asking those open-ended questions you saw that teacher asked in that previous video that helps them think about and reflect about what they're doing. For example, “Wow, you made up a game all on your own. Can you tell me about it or show me how to play?” Support that planning, or problem solving, or deep thinking by asking questions like, “What do you think is going to happen next?”

Sometimes people wonder, why would I ask such big questions to infants and toddlers? And the answer is, infants and toddlers come to expect what they know. The more they hear these questions, the more they can expect it. The more they hear the questions that scaffold their thinking, they will come to expect those kinds of questions, and eventually you'll start hearing some answers. You'll start hearing some one word, you'll start hearing some vocalization in response. You'll start seeing their behavior and their expressions come to light when you ask those open-ended questions. and they might not be able to answer the question.

They might not be able to answer the question. Don't worry, don't panic, because I know we've tried to panic when we ask questions and the kids are nothing, but they're thinking about it. They're processing, they're listening, and watch for those nonverbal cues. Watch for that body language, because they are responding to you in their own way.

Another way to scaffold is by modeling creative thinking, problem solving, and expression out loud. Those think-alouds are important. This might sound like, “Huh, I wonder how we can make the play dough dark green? Let’s see what happens when I add a few drops of this food color that’s green. And oh, look, I’m adding the food color. It’s turning light green. Hmm, but I wanted dark green. Let’s see, I wonder if I add some more, what will happen. And then, “You can see that it's turning dark green.”

Those wonderments, those things, those questions – modeling that, that's so important for children to see. That might include other statements, like “I noticed.” And “I wonder,” “I wonder” is one of my favorites. But “I noticed” or just thinking out loud, even if I'm thinking about my own things, I just think aloud sometimes, because that's an organic way of modeling it too for the children.

It can also be a time to talk about what it feels like to take risks, to try something new. Modeling creativity can look like making up voices or sound effects, or gestures. I do a lot of gestures. Maybe that's cultural, but I do a lot of gestures when reading or telling stories, using recycled items in a new way, and problem solving.

Gail: hat is so great. I love the little phrases you gave us too, like “I noticed,” “I wonder.” Sometimes I've seen in classrooms that teachers have those little phrases up around the room just as a reminder, like when I'm stuck on what to say. I love that.

Another way we can support creativity is to increase children's active engagement. That one is a captain obvious one, right? If we want children to be creative, we need them to have some active engagement. One strategy to increase active engagement is to provide open-ended materials that allowed children to use them in many ways, like we were talking about. Children start to use familiar things in novel ways, and they use novel things in new ways too. Providing open-ended materials allows infants and toddlers to decide how they're going to use the materials versus a prescribed way. This supports the child in exploring any way their mind can create to do it.

In these pictures, we see a range of open-ended materials. You see on one side that there are cups, shaker eggs on a clear plastic plate on a light table. On the other side, you can see a bunch of canning lids in a small tray. You can imagine all the different ways infants and toddlers can play with these items. There's no one way to play with them, so everything they do with them will be creative.

Of course, safety is always our number one priority. Before bringing in any loose parts, beginning any activity with loose parts or open-ended materials, it's absolutely critical essential, a must that we make sure that those are not going to be choking hazards, so checking all those items in those tubes and things to make sure before you bring them in. If they're not choking hazards, you can get creative with the materials that you bring in. And remember, creative teachers, creative adults, foster creative children.

Another sure way to increase active engagement is to rotate materials out. Research has found that children play longer when there are fewer toys available to them and that the novelty of new toys can boost creativity. There's a strategy you can use called a toy rotation plan where you inventory all the toys in your classroom or in your site, and you divide it into high preference, medium preference, low preference, and then you're always having a few of each of those categories available in the classroom, but not everything at once. When you rotate things through, it is a great way to increase and boost that active engagement.

If you want to learn more about strategies and that research that we just talked about, you can check out your Viewer's Guide and the Research on the Go podcast, which is fantastic.

Now let's hear from a teacher. I'm so excited about this video. Let's hear from a teacher who brought loose parts and open-ended materials into the classroom. As you're listening – I think it's close to three minutes. As you're listening, think about how she increased children's engagement and supported their creativity. You might want to jot ideas down in your Viewer's Guide, but you can also share what you are hearing in the Q&A.

Teacher: We decided to go with more of a loose parts philosophy as far as toys are concerned. Each classroom is geared to what the children are engaged in. I watched the children for a while, and then I decided to incorporate what their interests were into the rest of the classroom. Did you see this? I put out a Keurig carousel that would normally hold the Keurig cups, as more of an inserting tool. Last week, we were all about inserting. Now it's in and out. Now that they have the ability to remove the object, it's not just inserting. We've moved to that next step. I did the Keurig carousel in a variety of different size curlers. What are you going to do with the curlers? I want them to problem solve; I want them to figure out, “This doesn't fit. Well, what can fit?”

Yesterday, in fact, I took a picture with my iPad, because we document everything for our journeys of discovery, and they had put, one child had put a paint stir stick in their Keurig carousel, while another one was putting the curler, while another one was putting one of those plastic tubes. They were all working together with all different objects. It was my validation that yes, they are into this, this is engaging, I need to continue this.

Gail: I love everything on there.

Maria: I want to be in her classroom.

Gail: I know, or in her professional development. That's incredible. I'm thinking about garage sales, looking around my house for things to bring into the classroom, buying nothing pages, things like that. She was so creative with what she brought in, that really fostered it.

Maria: And intentional.

Gail: Very intentional I love the journey of discoveries and thinking about documenting those.

People are already typing things in, that the teacher brought in materials that support it. Somebody loves the Keurig container. I love that one, too.

Maria: That was so clever.

Gail: So clever. For days, you could probably play with that. Asked open-ended questions. “What are you going to do with the curlers?” Yes, that's key, those open-ended questions. Materials that support problem solving movement around the room, and the teacher's clearly very intentional, like you said, about everything that's going in there. It's not a random assortment, it's really thinking about what the next step in their creativity is going to be. Teachers can increase active engagement by adding in a light table, one of my favorite things in my classroom. So many infants and toddlers are fascinated by light play, and adults, too, I have to say.

Maria: [Inaudible] seen them in classrooms nowadays and in the science museums, they're getting more and more common.

Gail: Yes, they are. Have you seen an infant notice shadows for the first time? It's pretty fun. Or a toddler see different colored lights we cast in the room from colored cups and the windows. Light tables can spark creativity and allow children to take different perspectives on familiar objects. As we saw earlier, maybe you can set up clear colored objects on a light table or like in this picture; let the children bring items to the light table that they want to look at through the light. Bring in items from nature, building blocks or felt story pieces to the table. Things that are opaque, things that are translucent, you can just get creative, and this is a real treat.

We're going to show you – light tables can be pricey, but we're going to show you how you can make your own light table. This is our colleague DeEtta Simmons from the University of Washington showing us how to make a DIY light table.

DeEtta Simmons: Today we’re going to talk about light tables. On this side we have a light table that I purchased for $350, and over here we have one that I made for under $100. This light table was great, because it came all put together and was very easy to just plug it in and turn it on. It comes with a little remote. This was also not that difficult to make. What I did was I purchased some under cabinet LED lights. This set was great, because it comes with many different colors. It has more colors than the one that we purchased and it is just as bright, as you can see. What I did for this one is I purchased a plastic bin that had a flat top. I had to paint the inside of this container black so that the light wouldn't leak out. And then I used a – I set a cutting board inside and strung the lights throughout this container to make them even. I used a piece of tissue paper and a glue stick to attach the tissue paper to the top of the plastic container. And that was it. You plug it in and turn it on.

Light tables are great, because there's so many different activities you can do. A lot of times you think about it just for preschool, but here you can see I have some great materials that are safe for infants and toddlers to use on the light table. Another fun science activity is to have the kids collect nature items from outside and see how they look on the light table under different colors. I'm curious what you all will try with your light table. I hope you can post some pictures for us.

Maria: That's amazing.

Gail: Love it.

Maria: Now I want to make a light table for my own house.

Gail: Just a dining room. Wouldn't that be awesome, just a dining room table.

Maria: I am feeling challenged. I will take up that challenge.

Speaking about challenge, the letter “C” in BASICS, we create or add challenge. We can add challenge for children by adding a tinkering center, a creation station or sound garden, or any space that allows for open ended creation and messing around with materials.

Please make sure to check your Viewer's Guide for resources on messy play, which we mentioned last episode. You can find it in your resources in the Viewer's Guide with infants and toddlers.

Let's take a pulse check. How many of you have a tinkering center or creation station in your learning environment? Let's see that pulse check. Many of you have. hat's awesome. Maybe you decided to add an open-ended art center with toddler-safe materials like pictured on the left. It could include a large box for children to draw on, you can add puffballs or sticky foam shapes. Or maybe you created a sound garden on the playground like the picture on the right. With old pots and pans and spoons so infants and toddlers can create different sounds, maybe you can have a concert outside, songs of music. You can set up a space where children can be autonomous. Prepare to be amazed by watching them create it.

Gail: I love that sound garden. That is very creative. So wonderful.

Finally, the second “S” in BASICS is to provide specific feedback. This slide shows a few different ways to provide specific feedback while encouraging creativity and creating a safe space to take risks and try new things.

Remember that so much of what fostering creativity is about is creating that space, that ambiance of risk taking. We could say things like, for example, “I saw you wait for a turn at the easel. That's creating a nice, safe space. Waiting can be hard, and you did it.” I like to talk to children about their waiting muscles, because it takes strength to wait, so “Nice waiting muscles.” Or “You're making so many different sounds. It sounds like you're creating a song. Let's see if I can make those sounds, too.”

When providing feedback, remember to be descriptive and specific enough to be motivational and supportive while also allowing the child to be creative and act on their own ideas.

Another way to support creativity and deepen thinking, problem solving, and imagination is to connect children's play to their favorite songs or books. Like “Whoa, you are hopping around and around, that makes me think about the book we read the other day, ‘Come Along Daisy, ’ when Daisy was jumping on the lily pads.” Make the connection, provide wait time for the child to process, and observe how the child responds and if or how they adapt their play once you make that connection to something that was familiar to them, linking that new to the familiar.

Well, there you have it, BASICS, all about encouraging creativity for children in your care. But don't go, we've still got a lot more on today's episode.

Maria: Yes. Now for our segment, Small Change with Big Impact. Here we're going to highlight a curriculum modification or adaptation that can help a child who needs a little bit more assistance to fully participate in the learning environment for group routines and activities.

We mentioned, there are several ways to increase infant and toddlers’ creativity that relate to the environment. These included providing open-ended materials, adding a light table, which I'm totally adding to my house, or setting up a creation station. Sometimes children need environmental supports, like physical adjustments to the materials and space to promote a higher level of participation. This might look like a child having difficulty, maybe reaching the sensory bin that's on the table. A modification quickly that you could do is move that bin to the floor, like we see in this picture on this slide deck where the child might feel more comfortable, and it can access the bin and can participate fully. When you think about using the strategies of physical adjustments, we can consider perhaps changing the space, you could see that picture to the left, changing the space by changing the materials to be more supportive of where the children's skills are, like using adaptive scissors.

I remember I had some of these in my classroom where I could insert my fingers and the child could insert his or her fingers or their fingers, and we could both do the movements, and I could teach them how to cut at the same time. They felt equally independent and successful when they saw what they achieved, but it's giving them that small physical adjustment and modification to get to that successful feeling that they have at the end. Defining boundaries is another way, carpet squares on the floor for children to stand on while playing a group game.

Or, one of my favorites, adding visual cues, like pictures of different yoga poses so the children can have an idea of what to do in that space. You can observe a child and see how they engage in their learning environment. That observation can help you think about and reflect how to best support the child in feeling comfortable, in being – in fostering that creativity, and making those small modifications to create that big impact in the environment that would be the best for the child and most beneficial and would foster that creativity.

Gail: Those are such great, easy to implement – just like you said, small change, big impact. Easy-to-implement things that can support not only a child that needs a little extra support, but my guess is it's going to support a lot of children in the program or that you're visiting through home visits. It's great.

And now in this is our – one of our favorite sections, such an important section, Focus on Equity. In this segment, we lift up the value of equity and consider how we can make our teaching practices more equitable. We reflect on what it is that we're doing, and how we can be more equitable in our teaching approaches.

Today, we've talked about how children show us who they are uniquely, through their creativity. By supporting creativity, we get to see the child's identity, which includes their culture, their language, their race, their ability, and so much more. And different cultures value different forms of expression and creativity, which are displayed in their traditions, their celebrations, and everyday life. Some forms of creativity that are honored and valued by different cultures might include dance, music, oral style, oral storytelling. Let me say that again, food, dress, and many more.

Learning about a child's culture always starts with the family. Part of supporting a child's identity, belonging, and creativity is welcoming them and their family to your program. The first step is to ask the family questions about their cultural traditions and values. Another way you can welcome families is to invite them to bring pictures, books, toys, items from their culture into the learning environment or to come in and visit to share some of their stories, music, and more. It's very important to celebrate differences within as well as across cultures, and to showcase those differences in the learning environment for all children to see.

Finally, and this is very critical, be aware and mindful of your implicit biases towards certain cultures or traditions. Time to be aware of it, get honest with it, reflect on them, and ask yourself, why do I feel the way that I do. This can be uncomfortable, no doubt about it, but it's a very important step to ensuring that all children and families feel welcomed in the community. It can be helpful to reflect on your implicit biases with a trusted team member, finding somebody that you feel like, “OK, this is our safe zone. Let me talk through this with you, a colleague, a coach, or a supervisor.”

Maria: This is very near and dear to my heart. Being myself from Dominican Republic, coming into this country feeling welcomed by my colleagues in schools and Early Learning Centers, but also as a parent, being asked, where do I come from? What do my children celebrate? What languages do we speak? Inviting that into the classroom and showing everybody else their identities and who they are. The relationship that we foster with parents, the difference that I've seen in how children respond in the classroom and to me as a teacher when I have a strong relationship with their parents is significant, compared to not having a relationship and not asking about their backgrounds and identities and cultures and celebrating that.

I've seen a child grow tremendously, flourish so much more and faster when I have that strong bond with their parents or caregivers. That's so important to consider when you're going back to the classroom later or tomorrow.

Let's hear how one infant-toddler teacher creates a Culturally Responsive Classroom. While you're looking at this video, think about it, reflect, and write down your thoughts in the Viewer's Guide or maybe in the Q&A. Think about what you're listening to and think about what Gail said and reflect.

Teacher: Honestly, I think the thing that helped us the most in making a Culturally Responsive Classroom was during our home visits, talking with the parents specifically about what their culture is instead of assuming what their culture is. That was helpful, because that engaged the parents immediately into how they can help us in the classroom and to feel like they were a part of the classroom already right at the beginning. That engaged them immediately. It helps us to know, OK, these are the ways that we are going to respond, and these are the ways that we're going to set up our environment, and these are the ways that we're going to do things like singing songs in Spanish, and having all of our labels in English and in Spanish, and to encourage the kids to use English words and Spanish words. That's something that I think having parent involvement is helpful.

Maria: Take a moment now and reflect in your Viewer's Guide; think about how you support each child's culture and identity. In my case, I was saying that my son’s teachers sang a song in Spanish. Sometimes just a few words in Spanish helped. And he was immediately with a huge smile on his face because he recognizes the language and was able to crawl around and explore his environment as he felt like, “Oh, these people know me. I can do this. I feel good here.”

Think about how you support each child's culture and identity. What do you do to welcome families, their creativity, and celebrate their differences? How do you honor their cultural traditions? How do you display that? How do you honor their displays of creativity? Like we said, creativity looks different across different cultures. How do you honor the celebrations of everyday life for them? What would you like to do differently? What would you like to do more of?

Challenge yourself to think deeply about, where or when do your implicit biases show up? Remember, like that teacher said in the previous videos, maybe ask. Involve them instead of assuming would be a good way to start. If you're comfortable, you can share your ideas in the Q&A, and we'll try to push some ideas out for all to see.

Gail: I want to share this little example I heard of from a program that I love, where during the home visits, the teachers would ask the parents, the families, about the gift of their child's name. They would hear the story of the gift that they gave their child with their name. They wrote down the stories, and somebody in the program with lovely handwriting wrote the story of the child's name. They made a big display outside of the classroom, and it had different envelopes with different children's name on them. You could open the envelope and pull out and read about the story, the gift of their name.  So much about their culture, their family, what they valued. It was lovely. Loved that one.

Maria: Gosh, that's special.

Gail: It's now time for The Bookcase. The Bookcase is where we highlight books related to our episode’s theme. With the featured books, we always try and make the case. And the CASE is an acronym, as you can see there. When we think about books, it's just when you think about the CASE. It's about being intentional.

We've used that word a few times, being intentional about the books that we select to share with young children. "C" stands for connect. Can you think about a way that the book connects to the learning that you're supporting? For us, we're thinking about the way that the book content connects to the ELOF goals that we're supporting. "A" stands for advanced vocabulary, books are always great ways to find and support children learning advanced vocabulary words, especially when we think about an advanced word and pair it with something, a word that's familiar to the child or a definition that's familiar. "S" stands for supporting engagement during book reading, so that children are active participants in the book reading. "E" stands for extending the learning beyond the book. These might be fun activities or questions we can ask, things that we can plan that will help children make the connection to the content in the book. It's a way to repeat those advanced vocabulary words and build concept development.

Let's look at a few of the books on our bookcase. This time we are including, "Hey, Baby!” That one is super fun. Trying to give you a little like, whoo. "Hey, Baby! A Baby's Day in Doodles.” This is so much fun. Some of these books – it's like hard to tell if it's more exciting for the baby or the adult. But this, you will not run out of things to look at. There are bright beautiful photographs of this beautiful child and tons of doodles. You could go on and on and look through and find all the doodles. You could have the child find different items in the picture. You will have so much fun with that book.

The next one is by Julie Flett, "We All Play.” This is a lovely book, beautiful photos in it, very – a lovely nature-based book, and it includes the Cree names for each animal in the glossary. It's also a lovely book to support different language and culture.

The next one is "Daddy Calls Me Man" by Angela Johnson. Love this one. Looking at our time, so I'm going to go through these pretty quick. You can find more about these in the Viewer's Guide, let me say that, and I love this one. "The Life of Basquiat.” This is a bilingual picture book biography about Basquiat, the artist. I love this one. I love this artist and I love this book, being bilingual about – I love all these, thinking of these infants and toddlers being introduced to this brilliant artist.

The one that we're going to make the CASE with is a book called "What If...” – there we go. This is this lovely book called "What If…”. Trying to give you a good picture – written by Samantha Berger and illustrated by Mike Curato. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing that right, but Mike, if you're watching, make sure you tell me if I pronounced that right or no. I love this book. It is a love. First of all, I love the character’s beautiful purple hair. I'll read a couple pages so you can get the singsong bit of it. "With a pencil and paper, I write and draw art to create many stories that come from my heart. But what if that pencil one day disappeared? I'd fold up the paper ‘til stories appeared. And what if that paper was no longer there? I'd chisel the table and then carve the chair.”

Anyways, it goes on and on. Let me quickly make the CASE for you. Connection. In this story, the main character finds a way to create her story no matter what materials are available. The author reminds us that even when there is nothing, we always have our imagination, we can always use our creativity. Advanced vocabulary, plenty. I love some of the words in here. Words like disappeared, chisel, sketch, ignite, sculpt, and you can imagine as you read those words, you can ask children if they know what the words mean, you can encourage them to share definitions. Always remember to pair it with a child–friendly definition, something they already know. That's how we build those vocabulary skills.

You could support advance – support active engagement, clearly by asking open-ended questions, encouraging children to share their ideas of what they would create if they were building in the sand or playing with light and shadows, then extending the learning. “What If…” provides so many great options for you to get creativity going in your classroom. Pick a page and set up a small table with materials from that page and watch the children create. That's all you have to do, stand back and watch. For example, you could put out different types and of pieces of paper for the children to explore and create with. Dried leaves and flowers to use with play dough, that's pretty fun to do. You can put different items in front of the window or on that light table that we're probably all going to make now. DIY light table so that children can play in the shadows, there are so many possibilities. Get inspired by the pages. Let your imagination go. Let me also say that you see the photo there of the artist and illustrator. That's who you see in that picture.

Alright, Maria.

Maria: Yes. It's all about you, let's turn our attention to you. We do our best caregiving and teaching when we feel well ourselves. Engaging in self-care practices can help educators build greater social-emotional capacity to deal with some difficult times.

Here is one quick strategy that you can use to get back into that calm, Zen space. Stress and feeling out of control can have a huge impact on your creative capacity and those around you. I don't know if you've noticed. I've noticed that sometimes.

One tip is to try and focus on the areas of the situation or aspects of a situation, events, thoughts, or feelings that you do have control over. These areas could include, for example, your ability to prioritize work requirements and personal obligations, or your reactions to events and other people, your thoughts, your behaviors. Focusing on areas in your control can help you feel empowered and provide a sense of relief.

Maybe one of the toddlers you're caring for needs extra snuggles one day and wants to be held more than normal. This can feel a little overwhelming, because you have so many other children to attend to. But take a moment and reframe your thoughts. Focus on what might be happening for the toddler. Maybe they're up all night. Maybe they aren't feeling well or going through some different situation at home or transition.

Think about your feelings and how you can reframe your reaction to the behavior from stress or frustration to empathy and compassion for this toddler. Much of working with children is not in our control, and it can be helpful to take a deep breath like in the picture and pause and think about what you are in control of and how to reframe those aspects. In your Viewer's Guide for some – you can check out your Viewer's Guide for some of these resources. There's also a few other tips on how to handle stress. Super important.

Gail: So important.

I can't believe it. Just like that, we are out of time. We want to tell you that if you missed a Teacher Time webinar, if you're curious about the inclusion webinar series, we have got you covered. Go to PUSHPLAY DTL On Demand, where you can play recently viewed – our recently aired webinars at your convenience. We've made it easy to find exactly what you're looking for. The more views you have, the more customized experience you get. Just like any streaming service, we get to know what you're interested in and start suggesting more things along that line or that genre.

Make sure to bookmark that site, save it, but you can also find it on MyPeers, which is where you'll find the questions you've been asking that we haven't had time to get to. We will find you on MyPeers. You will find us talking about those questions on MyPeers.

One more thing – we're including certificates of completion, even when you watch on PUSHPLAY. Click on the link after the webinar and check it out, we've also included the link in the evaluation.

This is it for our season. It's been so fun, Maria, to be a co-host with you. Thanks to our producer Ryan, thanks to all of our support in the Q&A. Thanks to all of you for joining us. For those of you who have joined us every time, I want to hear about it, put it in the Q&A. If you've watched every Teacher Time with us, we want to celebrate you and know who you are.

Thanks for joining us. We're going to see you next season. One quick last thing, we want you to join us next season. We want to get a little bit of feedback. We have a little poll, just let us know. You can either put it in the Q&A or you can respond to the poll and let us know, what would you like to hear more about in Teacher Time next season? Would you like it to be social and emotional development, interactions, engaging environments, or would you like to focus on positive behavior supports?

Again, put this answer into the Q&A. Would you like us next season to focus on social emotional development, interactions, engaging environments, positive behavioral support? Give you some time. Put those in the Q&A, because we are going to use that to plan our next season. And with that, we want to say thank you and goodbye.

Maria: Gracias. [Speaking Spanish] Adios.

Infants and toddlers use creativity in every part of their lives — whether they're finding new things to do with familiar objects, making up novel sounds and words, or using their imagination in make-believe play. Creativity is the driving force! This Teacher Time episode focuses on Approaches to Learning. Learn more about creativity in infants and toddlers — how it supports understanding and learning about the world, and teaching practices that enhance their development.

Note: The evaluation, certificate, and engagement tools mentioned in the video were for the participants of the live webinar and are no longer available. For information about webinars that will be broadcast live soon, visit the Upcoming Events section.

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Resource Type: Video

National Centers: Early Childhood Development, Teaching and Learning

Age Group: Infants and Toddlers

Audience: Teachers and Caregivers

Series: Teacher Time

Last Updated: September 26, 2023

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