CREATIVE THINKING

There’s much more to science than just learning facts about photosynthesis and the boiling temperature of water. 

Science is all about asking questions, guessing why things are as they are (or ‘theorising’ to use the posh word) and working out how to test those guesses and see if they’re right. It’s also about trying things out, observing, collecting, comparing, noticing, categorising – plus scratching your head and discussing ideas with other people. All of which young children do without any encouragement.

Here are just a few activities that you can try with your child to develop their creative thinking skills:

• what’s the biggest Lego tower you can build? Does it make a difference if it’s got a broad base or a slender one? Does it make a difference what colour the bricks are?
  
  
• Where’s the best place to grow cress seeds? On a sunny window sill or in a dark cupboard? What happens if the cotton wool dries up?
  
  
• How far away can you hear the TV in your house? Can you hear it one room away? Or two? Or outside the house? Why do you think that is?
  
  
• Draw a line round the bath (with a wipe-off pen) then get into it. What happens to the water level? Can you explain why? While you’re there, try testing which objects float and which ones sink.
  
  
• What’s the biggest number of circles you can cut out of your playdough with a pastry cutter? Does it help if you roll the playdough very thin? Or if you make the circles very close to each other?
  
  
• What’s the best boat you can make out of a piece of plasticine? Try making different boat shapes out of the same piece of plasticine, and float the result in a tub of water. Load it up with paperclips (counting each one as you put it in.) Some shapes are more buoyant than others…
  
  
• If you’ve got two magnets that like to stick together, what’s the thickest thing you can hold between them, without them falling apart?

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