Flexible Thinking Activities for Kids of All Ages

Flexible thinking, or cognitive flexibility, is the ability to adjust one’s thinking and emotional responses as they encounter new situations. If your child has ever broken a pencil in class, actions as simple as sharpening it, borrowing another one, or using a pen already show flexible thinking. By introducing flexible thinking activities into your child’s daily routine, they’ll learn to adapt to changing circumstances, no matter how challenging.

In this article, you’ll discover fun and easy flexible thinking activities you can use to help your child pilot life’s inevitable ups and downs.

Flexible Thinking Activities for Preschoolers (3-5 Years)

Preschoolers often stick to the rules—change for them can be scary! Still, this age is the perfect time to learn about how rules change. Parents and teachers can use play to nurture cognitive flexibility. Here’s what you can do.

Pretend Play

Imaginative play is an excellent avenue for broadening a child’s perspectives. Provide dress-up clothes or give stuffed animals personalities. Let your child’s imagination run wild.

If they prefer structure, consider giving them “roles.” For example, you might roleplay running a flower shop together or working at a bakery.

Rule-Changing Games

Simple rule-changing games like Simon Says can exercise your child’s active listening skills. It also challenges them to inhibit impulses. However, you don’t want to make things too complicated. Keep Simon’s commands relatively simple, increasing difficulty as your child gets the hang of the game.

Other fun rule-changing games you can try include Red Light, Green Light, and Freeze Dance.

“What If” Scenarios

At preschool age, children are just graduating from “one-track” thinking. They’re more creative and inspired by the world around them. You can encourage further growth with simple “what if” scenarios.

For example, you might use it in everyday scenarios. “What if it rains today? How would we get to school?” Your child might recommend wearing a raincoat or taking an umbrella. They’ll soon understand that one problem can have multiple solutions.

Matching Games

With matching games, it’s easy to vary the rules and inspire kids to shift their approach. For example, if you’re using cards, you can ask children to sort them by suit, color, or number.

You can also use other familiar items, such as stuffed animals, blocks, or art materials. Just use playful and unexpected matches to keep your child engaged.

Open-Ended Art

There is no “right way” to do art, and children can start learning this at a young age. Through open-ended art, preschoolers feel more confident in natural experimentation. They might find that they prefer specific media or have a favorite subject to draw.

With open-ended art, there are no fixed outcomes, and children will learn that it’s okay to change direction.

Flexible Thinking Activities for Early Elementary (6-8 Years)

By early elementary years, children are used to basic task-switching and have better working memory and attention [*]. However, they may still struggle with unprompted changes. Here are a few activities you can try to further improve their flexible thinking.

Card Games

Now is a great time to introduce simple card games like UNO, where the rules change based on the cards you pull. Other matching card games, such as Go Fish, are great for exercising memory. You can even make the game more challenging by introducing new rules.

Opposite Rules

A fun way to encourage flexible thinking is to take a familiar game and switch it up. For example, if you’re playing Simon Says, you can ask your child to do the opposite of what Simon is telling them to do.

Reversing rules encourages children to break away from the instinct to apply old rules and become more receptive to new ones.

Creative Building

Open-ended toys, such as LEGOs, offer a spectrum of possibilities. Instead of following instructions, inspire your child to find multiple ways to build one thing. For example, you might ask them to find the best way to configure a bridge so it doesn’t fall down.

Over time, your child will learn the value of having a Plan B or adjusting their strategies to find a better solution.

Word Games

Word games encourage elementary-aged students to shift between meanings and perspectives. For example, if you’re playing I Spy, you might say something like “I spy something with legs.” This could refer to a chair, table, or family pet. These games encourage children to adapt their thinking instead of adhering to one rigid definition.

Mystery Bag

Fill a mystery bag with different objects, such as an action figure, a ball, a shirt, a hat, or whatever you can find at home. Have your child pull one object out at a time and tell a story about it. This fun storytelling game inspires quick thinking and adaptability.

Flexible Thinking Activities for Upper Elementary (9-12 Years)

As children become preteens, they are better at transitioning between tasks and maintain multiple goals [*]. Of course, there is always room to grow, especially as children become more self-reflective and curious. Here are some activities to try together.

Strategy Games

Now is a great time to introduce board games requiring strategy. Jenga is the perfect example, as it requires players to think about every logistical move. You can also teach your child classic strategy board games, such as chess or checkers.

Each of these games requires children to consider different strategies when they get stuck or have trouble meeting their goal.

Brain Teasers and Riddles

Brain teasers and riddles are powerful thinking tools for teenagers, as they push kids to go beyond linear thinking. They rely on words with double meanings, encouraging children to reach into their vocabulary banks and see something from a new perspective.

Brain teasers teach children to bend logic in safe and meaningful ways, also exercising their lateral thinking.

Improv Games

Improvisation exercises like the “Yes, And…” game encourage children to add to an endless stream of ideas while considering another person’s goals and ideas. It also pushes children to generate new possibilities from existing knowledge.

Open-Ended Challenges

As preteens, children understand that there is more than one way to solve a single problem, but there’s always room to apply this in different situations. For example, you might ask them to find five different ways to use a paperclip, three ways to solve a single math problem, or four ideas to stop a leak inside a raft.

Collaborative Drawing

As kids finish up their elementary years, they must learn to work with others. Have each child take turns adding an element to a single drawing until they create something coherent. This activity teaches children to reinterpret visuals.

Helping Kids Develop Flexible Thinking

Parents play a significant role in how children develop flexible thinking. Here’s what you can do to model and inspire flexibility:

• Involve your child in decisions: Invite children to suggest ideas for solving a shared problem or achieving a specific goal. For example, if your weekend plans get cancelled due to bad weather, ask them to suggest fun alternatives you can enjoy at home.
• Introduce options: Remind your child that there is more than one way to do something. Give them simple choices, such as what they want for breakfast, what book they’d like to read before bed, and what club they would like to participate in at school.
• Offer creative ways to experiment: Create an accessible “makerspace” at home and provide your child with open-ended materials like paper, cardboard, blocks, and other materials that can inspire their creative juices.
• Validate emotions: Change can be stressful, and it’s important to validate your child’s feelings. Empathy can go a long way in encouraging them to find a new, healthy solution.

The Bottom Line

Bouncing back from disappointment can be challenging! As children grow older, they develop flexible thinking skills that help them handle change. By engaging your child in creative activities, modeling flexible thinking yourself, and involving them in everyday decision-making, they can learn to self-regulate and move forward when things don’t go according to plan.

Looking for more ideas for building your child’s flexible thinking? Discover our collection of worksheets!

FAQs About Flexible Thinking

What are examples of flexible thinking?

Examples of flexible thinking include finding alternatives when plans change, trying again when not completing a task, managing uncertainties, and anticipating change.

At what age can flexible thinking skills be developed?

Children start developing flexible thinking skills in early childhood (between 3 and 5). At this age, they become familiar with rules and different perspectives.

Sources:

1. Klaus Oberauer. “Working Memory and Attention – A Conceptual Analysis and Review.” Journal of Cognition, 2019.
2. Backes EP, Bonnie RJ. “Adolescent Development.” National Academies of Sciences, 2019.