18 Fun Problem Solving Activities for Preschoolers

Have you ever thought about fun problem solving activities for preschoolers?

Time to go to school is considered as the first serious step for a child. It is an important period not only for them, but for parents as well. Before they start learning about many new things, they should also be prepared to think logically and ‘out of the box’. Sometimes schools don’t support this openness in thinking, and therefore you as a parent should teach your child to think in that direction through games and having fun. This is not only helpful to them, but you can also learn about some strategies in thinking and develop new ways in Team Building Problem Solving Activities at your work.

Problems that occur the most in the age from 4 to 6 years could be divided into few categories. First ones are problems with food, known as feeding problems. The child still hasn’t developed the feeling of having proper meals during the day, because often they are used to being fed by their parents. The other issue could be that the child is either constantly hungry or so-called “picky eater”, which could further lead to behavioral problems.

Behavioral problems are the second category of preschool children’s issues. According to the research of Frances Gardner and Daniel S. Shaw “Behavioral problems of infancy and preschool children (0-5)”, behavioral problems also differ in gender. Boys are hyperactive and have more of a destructive nature, while girls are attention seekers and usually have more problems with fears than boys. Apart from those, preschoolers also could feel lonely, anxious, shy or in some cases even depressed.

The third category of problems is connected to cognitive intelligence. Those are task orientation, verbal facility, concentration, memory, and respond to unfamiliar. Usually, most of these problems are overcomed once the school starts and children learn to develop their own mechanisms, according to preschool educators and pedagogues. Nevertheless, there are many ways how to try to deal with your children’s issues before they go to school. In addition to interest your child, those approaches have to be creative in order to keep their attention and influence not only their behavior, but further thinking as well. The best way is to interest them through games.

In our research, we used many respectable sources as Bright Hub Education, Care, and Childhood Education, to name a few.  Our list was gathered by collecting the most frequently recommended fun problem solving activities for preschoolers. We hope that by reading it you may get inspired and create some of the new ideas on your own!

18. Mazes

Choose one day in a week that is just for creating a maze in your children’s room. You can make it out of pillows, toys or even chairs. It is important that you let your child find its own way through it, without any help. Also, the more complicated the maze, the more problem-solving motivation is developing in your child.

17. Memory games

According to child educators, this game is most useful for preschoolers in their problem-solving activities. It develops part of the brains that are essential for studying and also foster solving of problems by trying to remember. This game can be played in multiple ways. One of the examples is to draw animals on cartoon cards and then turn them over on the blank side. You flip just two cards at the time, and after your child has to remember the place of two same cards and find them.

16. Puzzles

Puzzles ranks 16th in our list of fun problem solving activities for preschoolers. It is one of the most known and accepted games among a big number of children. It develops patience, logic while at the same time they have fun by creating the picture they like. You can buy puzzle or create with your child one of your own.

15. Patterning

You can create a pattern out of any kind of object, and then ask your children to complete the pattern. After some time, they can create their own as well. Once they create the pattern you can see if they made one that is completely original and their own, or they leaned on your example.

14. Classification

Ask your children to classify their toys or books, or any other object in different groups. Groups can be divided by colors, shapes or similarities. They will develop the sense for grouping and making differences on many levels.

13. Hidden pictures

There are a lot of books with this game that you can buy. However, you can create it on your own as well. From any text (newspapers, book) you cut parts of images and let your child find matching parts for each image. Like this, they learn to explore all problem-solving possibilities in a fun way.

12. Estimation of numbers

We are continuing our list of fun problem solving activities for preschoolers with the game number 12 – by putting small objects such as blocks or toys, you can ask your children to presume how many objects are there. You can also make suggestions by asking approximate number and if it is true or not, or even close to their number.

11. Evaluation of problems

If your kids tell you they have a problem, you tell them to write any solutions that come to their mind and make a list of pros and cons for each of them. By doing it, children will probably come to their own solution to the problem.

10. Cards

Any card game will improve logical thinking and creative approaches to solving problems. You can invent your own games, or you could just play most common ones, depending on your taste.

9. Operation

This game that ranks 9th in our list of fun problem solving activities for preschoolers creates in a child a specific capacity for details. Moreover, as they operate the plastic man in the game, children also learn all important parts of the human body.

8. Laser web

Use strings to fulfill one room with the web out of any material that you can find in the house. Children, in teams, should find a way to get from one point to the other, by not touching the web. If someone from the team touches it, then they all have to start from the beginning. It is good for developing the feeling for teamwork.

7. Same and different

By showing different types of objects to your kid, he/she has to guess whether the objects come from the same or different group. In addition, you can add “similar” as well.

6. Connect the dots

We are continuing our list of fun problem solving activities for preschoolers with the activity number 6 – by connecting the dots children wonder what will be in the picture. They use their imagination, but also logic in putting dots and connecting them in right way.

5. Pantomime

In two or more groups of two, children try to explain to other group either movie, cartoon, series or character they’ve picked out. They cannot talk among themselves, but just try to explain it with gesticulation and mimics. It is a good activity for developing problem-solving skills, as they learn to use everything but words in order to explain themselves.

4. Group drawings

You divide one paper depending on the number of children that will draw. Then each child should draw one part of the human body, without not looking what the other drew. In the end, you unfold the paper and what comes out will show the difference or similarities in the imagination.

3. I spy

While you are in a waiting room at doctors, or when your child isn’t sleepy enough you can always play game “I spy with my little eye…”. You imagine one object from the room and you just say the first letter of it. Your child has to guess which object is it. In this way, kid develops mostly observation skills, which could be further very useful as a capacity for solving problems. And now, let’s see the top two entries in our list of fun problem solving activities for preschoolers.

2. Detective

You make up a crime, with all characters and different places of action. Your child has to figure out who is the murder by asking you questions and developing the story on its own. This game can be invented in this way, but you can also buy a game called “Poaro”. It is especially good for developing different mechanisms for problem solving.

1. Online games

Today there are a lot of fun problem solving activities for preschoolers that could be found on the internet as well. Either on mobile phone or computer, these games are useful if the child is introvert and feels more comfortable in playing alone. Some of the examples are “Treasure Hunt” or “Agatha Christie Death on the Nile”.