How to help a young child grow: unstructured play, and encouraging interesting questions

If you want your child to be a better thinker, encourage play. That easy? Almost.

In a new book, The Intellectual Lives of Children, Susan Engel argues that with digital information doubling on a regular basis, the ability to memorize will be less valued that the skill to think well. The best future performers will need the ability to find patterns, ask questions, and generate new ideas for problems that aren’t yet known.

Engel reports on recent scientific research on infants and young children that suggests we need to tap into their unbridled curiosity when they are very young. At age 3, toddlers will ask “why” questions – why the sun comes up, why trees have leaves, why the dog sleeps so much. Helping them think through those questions allows them to begin asking – and solving – harder problems later.

Also, the development of a keen mind demands time – time to explore, time to be bored and find ways to occupy the mind, and time to develop the resilience to wrestle with some question or project they pursue. Many of these questions come out of unplanned or organized play time.

Rather than in scheduled days full of activity, Engel contends that learning happens even during unstructured time and is absolutely necessary for future growth.

She also raises a question about how we evaluate learning. Instead of knowledge gained, what if we assessed growth by looking at whether children ask interesting questions? And whether they can articulate and solve difficult problems?

Bottom line: Engel says learning is not linear, and we need, as parents, teachers, mentors, to help children learn in new ways to develop valuable skills of asking, creating, and solving.

In a world where school is at home, perhaps parents need to give themselves grace and allow for those unexpected and unplanned times of learning.

Nancy Napier is a Boise State University distinguished professor. nnapier@boisestate.edu

This story was originally published February 9, 2021 at 5:00 AM.