How to Enhance the Critical Thinking Skills of a Child?

Critical thinking is the ability to think reasonably and logically, evaluating the information with observation and experiences. It is the ability to involve in thoughtful and independent thinking. Essentially, it is about being an active learner rather than a passive recipient of information.

Critical thinking typically develops through brain teasers and mind games. You can train your child for mathematical and strategic games, which will help their brain growth. Platforms like Chess tournaments online provide an edge to the children and develop critical thinking skills in them.

Critical thinking is the foundation of all skills development in life. It is one of the most vital skills that children will need to succeed in life and the future. In this competitive era, children need to be able to do much more than believing in a fantasy world. They must have the ability to imagine, analyze, compare, evaluate information, make suggestions, and make higher-order thinking skills.

Here are Enlisted the Best Ways to Enhance the Critical Thinking Skills of a Child:

Encourage Kids to Ask Questions

Children are often curious about everything and repeatedly ask a question about what they observe and experience. Asking questions demonstrates that they have grasped the ability to recognize what they read and understood. Encouraging your child to ask and answer questions about what they have perceived is an excellent approach to help prepare them to think critically. It also enables them to exhibit their critical thinking skills.

Just answering the questions is inadequate. Also, allow your children to think differently and ask them a question to think critically.

For example:

What ideas do you have?

Tell me what you think about the particular situation?

What should we do now?

Respect their thoughts and ideas and encourage them to do more. A possible way of enhancing critical thinking is to ask as many questions as you can.

Give Responsibility

A child must learn to go out of their comfort zone and undertake responsibility and problems to look for solutions. Give the problems and responsibilities to engage them about how they will accomplish the task or solve problems. There is nothing more important for a child than his parents who trusted him with some responsibilities. Let them take on some responsibilities to learn about the life journey and inspire them to think through the next best strategy.

There are few instances about how and what children can do and act at an early age. You can let them tidy up their rooms, pack their school bags or make their lunches. Also, you can ask them to arrange their wardrobe or do their laundry, or take care of their younger sibling.

Assist them when necessary but also let them learn that they can accomplish the task imminent. It is a superior quality to develop the critical thinking skills of a child.

Puzzle Games and Riddles

“Critical thinking and curiosity are key to creativity” –Amala Akkineni

Puzzle games and riddles are the best way to boost your thinking capacity. It enhances the child’s problem-solving skills as they are challenged to think and generate strategies to decipher the given puzzles.

Ask some riddles to your children and exercise deciphering them together. It teaches your children to evaluate information. Puzzles like crosswords, brainteasers, think tanks, IQ-based problems, and riddles are exciting ways to kill time and provide children an excellent opportunity to work out their critical thinking strengths.

Given Enough Time for Free Play

Playing is the best form of learning and is essential for a child’s learning skills. While playing, a child enhances and learns certain critical thinking skill sets that might be difficult to acquire in passive learning. A child learns essential life lessons like corporation, integrity, management, and creativity through his playtime.

Playtime for a child is vital and never wasted as it helps him follow his observation and learning. Also, it gives children the confidence to solve their problems.

Develop Reading Habits in Children

 

Reading expands the thinking capacity of children and allows them to use imagination. Along with that, it helps develop critical thinking skills. It is the best promising way to associate with oneself and with the world out there.

Reading will enhance critical thinking and also give a better and deep understanding of the subject. The more a child reads, the more his brain captures information, circumstances, sentiments, stories, and characters.

Wrapping Up

Critical thinking will provide an essential edge to the children to develop the ability to make the right decision. Moreover, it will also help differentiate between right and wrong based on the skill to evaluate information.

By imparting critical thinking skills at an early stage of life, you teach your children how to explore the world around them.

Hope you found this article useful. Please leave your thoughts in the comments!