Construir un camión de juguete, encontrar la manera de salvar a un bebé que se encuentra en un incendio, parear letras, los preescolares enfrentan una amplia gama de problemas cuando juegan y, a veces, los inventan. Según se sugiere en estos Consejitos para Jugar, plantear problemas a los niños y permitir que ellos mismos encuentren la solución los ayuda a resolver mejor los problemas en el futuro.
Simple building playsets and building blocks present a tangible "problem" to preschoolers. "If I put this part here, will it work?" While playing, children develop patterns of thinking about fit, angles, gravity, size and space relationships, and cause and effect. Look for playsets that are open-ended, allowing children to rearrange parts at will until they are interested in putting together the pictured end result, like a realistic model of a vehicle. Similarly, block building will progress from generic structures to more realistic ones. Along the way, your child enjoys many self-challenges leading to the realization that, "To make this happen, I had to make that happen first."
In the preschool years, the peak time for imaginative play, children take their "scripts" to a deeper level, intrigued with creating problems for their characters and acting out solutions. Hero action figures and hero dress-up attire can help inspire complex stories such as firefighters, police or astronauts helping others or doing good deeds. When you introduce these types of toys and provide information about what they do, you help your child combine problem solving with rich, imaginative play.
Learning and literacy toys challenge your child to match or identify pictures, letters and words by making associations. For example, a child may need to seek out and match a letter or word close to its picture. The questions these toys pose are the same types of question-and-answer thinking we go through in daily life. If you observe that your child is a little frustrated or uncertain, ask, "Show me what you think comes next?" If your child is still uncertain, drop a little hint and encourage your child to try this or that. By leaving the final answer up to your child, you help your child practice valuable thinking skills.
Who would guess that sprinkler toys can actually give your child practice in problem solving? Children love trying to predict where and when the toy, hooked up to a garden hose, will spray next. The answer comes from close observation, anticipation and quick adaptation of one's physical responses, skills that help prepare children for sports. If children predict the sprinkler's seemingly random pattern, their reward is not getting sprayed. Providing surprise toys to children gives them a fun way to gain confidence in their ability to anticipate problems and think through solutions.
Ejemplos de juguetes que estimulan a los niños de tres y cuatro años a solucionar problemas:
Juguetes de construcción
Bloques para construir
Figuras de acción en situaciones de reto
Juguetes para parear y clasificar
Juguetes para aprender las formas, los colores, los números y las letras
Rompecabezas de piezas grandes
Juguetes para jugar con arena y agua
Libros del alfabeto
Juegos de mesa sencillos
Programas sencillos de computadora para el aprendizaje temprano
Simple building playsets and building blocks present a tangible "problem" to preschoolers. "If I put this part here, will it work?" While playing, children develop patterns of thinking about fit, angles, gravity, size and space relationships, and cause and effect. Look for playsets that are open-ended, allowing children to rearrange parts at will until they are interested in putting together the pictured end result, like a realistic model of a vehicle. Similarly, block building will progress from generic structures to more realistic ones. Along the way, your child enjoys many self-challenges leading to the realization that, "To make this happen, I had to make that happen first."
Learning and literacy toys challenge your child to match or identify pictures, letters and words by making associations. For example, a child may need to seek out and match a letter or word close to its picture. The questions these toys pose are the same types of question-and-answer thinking we go through in daily life. If you observe that your child is a little frustrated or uncertain, ask, "Show me what you think comes next?" If your child is still uncertain, drop a little hint and encourage your child to try this or that. By leaving the final answer up to your child, you help your child practice valuable thinking skills.
Who would guess that sprinkler toys can actually give your child practice in problem solving? Children love trying to predict where and when the toy, hooked up to a garden hose, will spray next. The answer comes from close observation, anticipation and quick adaptation of one's physical responses, skills that help prepare children for sports. If children predict the sprinkler's seemingly random pattern, their reward is not getting sprayed. Providing surprise toys to children gives them a fun way to gain confidence in their ability to anticipate problems and think through solutions.
