Babies Developing Their Problem Solving Skills

Daisykins smallest problem solvers

All children at our Rugby Nursery are given the opportunity every day to play and explore, actively learn and to creatively and critically think. The Daisykins environment has been created and resourced with this in mind and has heavily influenced the decision to take a loose parts approach

Recently our babies have taken a keen interest in filling and emptying containers. The baby room has many loose parts just like the rest of the nursery and therefore have what should traditionally be a carrier bag basket on their wall. As with the loose parts approach just because this should traditionally be used for carrier bags does not mean it is limited to that use and so the babies enjoy using it to fill and empty through the various holes.

The joy of loose parts means that objects really can be used however a baby or child chooses. This increases and promotes imagination but also builds critical and creative thinkers who are armed ready to problem solve. These are skills that are essential to build in children so that in the future both at school and in adult life these can be improved and used towards achieving great things.

The babies in baby room took their interest of filling and emptying to the basket on the wall trying to fill it with a variety of objects. The babies spent a long time popping hair rollers easily through the holes, discovering the way they fit and by the end of the activity being able to quickly pop them straight in.

Some babies natural curiosity led them to want to explore and discover further by introducing new objects in to pile to fit in to the basket. One object was a small wooden brush, which was not as easy to pop through the holes as the hair rollers. The baby who picked this object spent a considerable amount of time, showing great determination and problem solving skills, trying to get the brush through the holes. After trying the brush in lots of different ways, he finally succeeded. He was incredibly proud of himself afterwards.

Given the time and space even the smallest of children can become the most amazing problem solvers. At here at Daisykins, we try to promote and nurture these innate skills daily.