Creative thinking: helping children find more than one way

Many questions children meet at school have one right answer: 3 + 4 is 7. But many problems in life have several good answers: how to build a den, what to make for a friend's birthday, how to share three biscuits between four people. Creative thinking is the habit of looking for more than one way, and like other thinking skills, it grows with practice.

What creative thinking looks like

Creative thinking is often described through four signs:

Sign	What it means	Example
Many ideas	Coming up with lots of possibilities	Ten uses for a cardboard box
Different kinds of ideas	Ideas that go in different directions	A box as a boat, a hat, a drum, a house for a toy
Unusual ideas	Ideas few others would think of	A box as a time machine
Adding detail	Developing an idea further	The time machine has a lever, a clock and a snack drawer

Children don't need all four at once. Any of them is worth noticing.

Turning closed questions into open ones

Small changes in a question can invite more than one answer.

Closed question	Open question
"What colour is this?"	"What could we make with things of this colour?"
"Is this a circle?"	"How many circles can you find in this room?"
"What's 5 + 5?"	"What are all the ways to make 10?"
"Did you like the story?"	"How else could the story have ended?"
"Is this right?"	"Is there another way to do it?"

Games for finding many ideas

What else could it be? Hold up an everyday object, such as a paper cup. What else could it be? A hat, a telephone, a drum, a tiny flower pot.
Many ways across. How many different ways can you get from one side of the room to the other? Hopping, crawling, walking backwards, tiptoeing...
Build with limits. With ten blocks, who can build the tallest tower? With one sheet of paper, can you make a bridge that holds a toy car?
Finish the drawing. Draw a squiggle and ask your child to turn it into something. Then swap.
What if? "What if animals could talk?" "What if it rained upwards?" Follow the idea as far as it goes.
Invention mash-up. Pick two objects, such as an umbrella and a bicycle, and invent something that combines them. What does it do? Who would use it?
Many answers in maths. "Find all the pairs of numbers that add up to 10." "How many different shapes can you make with four squares?"

How adults can make room for ideas

Collect first, choose later. Write down or say every idea before deciding which is best. Judging too soon stops ideas flowing.
Welcome silly ideas. A silly idea often leads to a good one, and laughing together keeps ideas coming.
Leave some time empty. Not every minute needs a plan. Open time and simple materials give children room to invent.
Ask "how else?" After the first idea, ask for another one, then another.
Show your own trying. Let your child see you try something, change it and try again.
Praise the process. "You tried three different ways" says more than "You're so creative".

Creative and careful together

Finding many ideas is one half. The other half is checking which ideas work. After a burst of ideas, choose one together and test it: does the bridge hold the car? Did the box boat float? Creative thinking and careful thinking work best side by side.

In short

Many problems in life have more than one good answer.
Creative thinking shows up as many ideas, different kinds of ideas, unusual ideas and added detail.
Open questions, "what else?" games and building with limits give children practice.
Collect ideas before judging them, then test the best ones together.