Flexible thinking games for kids

Flexible thinking means switching between rules or seeing a problem in a new way — like when a teacher changes the task, a game changes its rules, or plan A doesn’t work and you need a plan B.

In Sort Switch your child sorts cards by colour, then by shape when the cue changes. In Trail Race they connect circles 1-2-3, then switch back and forth between numbers and letters. Both games adapt how often and how fast the rules change.

What the research says

In reviews of what helps children’s executive functions, Diamond and Ling (2016) found that practising switching tasks on a computer mainly improves those tasks and similar ones.

Schmidt and colleagues (2015) found that active games where children had to keep adapting to new rules helped switching more than plain exercise did. That is one reason Brain Garden also includes the Move & Think active break.

Sources:

• Diamond & Ling (2016), Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience: what improves executive functions
• Schmidt et al. (2015), Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology: cognitively engaging activity vs aerobic exercise

Try it at home, off-screen

• Sort your LEGO or socks by colour, then sort them again by size.
• Think of 3 different uses for a spoon.
• Play rock-paper-scissors where the loser wins.