Discover how simple hands-on activities strengthen flexible thinking, creativity, and executive functions, helping children find different ways to learn and solve problems.
A few days ago, I experienced two very simple moments with my son that made me deeply reflect on how children learn.
The first happened when he came home from a holiday activity full of excitement. As soon as he walked through the door, before even telling me about his day, he made a request: — “Mom, can you buy those plastic strings?”
During the workshop, he had learned how to make keychains. He created a simple model and another one shaped like a helicopter. But there was one limitation: each child could only make two. When he arrived home, he wanted to continue creating.
We bought the strings, and throughout the afternoon, he stayed focused while creating new models. He tested different color combinations, took parts apart when he was not happy with the result, started again, and slowly each keychain became different from the previous one.
A few days later, another experience caught my attention. His school had created a collective challenge: making more than one thousand origami pieces. My son participated in the activity and learned the folding technique taught by his teachers. I thought the experience would end there.
But when he arrived home, he grabbed some sheets of paper and said: — “Mom, now I’m going to try making them in different sizes.”
I watched as he folded larger papers, then smaller ones, and eventually tiny miniature versions. Soon, our table was filled with origami creations of different sizes. The most fascinating part was when he decided to create a little family: there was a father, a mother, siblings, and miniature versions that, honestly, I would have found challenging to make myself.
At first glance, it looked like just an afternoon of crafts. But when I looked closer, I realized my son was doing much more than creating keychains and origami. He was planning, testing ideas, correcting mistakes, experimenting with new possibilities, and persisting through challenges.
This group of skills has an important name in neuroscience and education: cognitive flexibility.
Unfortunately, this is a skill that often goes unnoticed by adults. We usually focus on the final result — the finished keychain or the beautiful origami — but we forget to observe everything that happened during the process. And it is precisely this process that helps the developing brain grow.
Beyond Play: Learning Through Hands-On Experiences
When we think about learning, we often imagine books, notebooks, homework, and tests. However, research shows that many of the skills connected to academic success and life skills develop through practical experiences, especially when children manipulate objects, create solutions, and face small challenges.
These experiences are often called hands-on learning activities or activities using manipulative materials. These materials allow children to learn through their hands, senses, observation, and experimentation.
Unlike activities that have only one correct answer, open-ended materials offer countless possibilities. A simple sheet of paper can become a bird, a flower, or an entire family of origami creations. Plastic strings used for keychains can become a helicopter, a bracelet, a fish, or something completely new created from a child’s imagination.
This freedom is exactly what makes these activities so powerful. While creating, children learn that there can be different paths to reach a goal. And this may be one of the most valuable lessons they can carry throughout life.
What Is Cognitive Flexibility?
Cognitive flexibility is one of the brain’s key executive functions. In simple terms, it is the ability to change strategies when something does not work, adapt to new situations, consider different perspectives, and find more than one solution to a problem.
Imagine a child putting together a puzzle. They try to place a piece, but it does not fit. Instead of repeatedly forcing the same solution, they look for another possibility. This change in strategy is a simple example of cognitive flexibility in everyday life.
Children who develop cognitive flexibility often find it easier to:
What Is Rigid Thinking?
You may have noticed situations where a child always wants to follow the same route to school, becomes upset when the rules of a game change, or insists on solving a problem in exactly the same way, even when that strategy is not working.
These behaviors may be related to rigid thinking: difficulty adapting thoughts, behaviors, or strategies when situations change. All children experience moments of rigidity, especially because their brains are still developing. In a future Play Grow Minds article, we will explore rigid thinking in more depth. Today, our focus is on how we can strengthen flexibility in a positive and playful way at home.
Manipulative Materials That Encourage Flexible Thinking
When children receive open-ended materials, they stop being only followers of instructions and become creators. Instead of searching for a predetermined answer, they begin asking: “What can I create with this?”
1 — Plastic Strings for Keychains
Plastic strings require following sequences and controlling fine hand movements. When children encounter challenges, such as knots that are too tight or colors that do not create the result they imagined, they must adjust their approach and find new solutions. These small decisions strengthen planning, persistence, creativity, and cognitive flexibility.
2 — Origami (Paper Folding)
Origami strongly supports spatial awareness, attention, and working memory. When children decide to create larger or miniature origami pieces, they need to adjust their movements, pressure, and precision to achieve a different result. The activity encourages them to think: “What happens if I change the size?” “What can I do differently?”
3 — LEGO and Building Blocks
Unlike toys with only one possible purpose, building blocks offer endless possibilities. The same piece can become a window today and a wheel tomorrow. This teaches children that objects, ideas, and situations can have multiple meanings and uses.
4 — Other Open-Ended Resources
Tangram encourages children to change strategies while working with geometric shapes. Play dough allows them to transform ideas when the original plan changes. Recycled materials such as cardboard boxes, paper rolls, and craft sticks encourage creative thinking without limits.
Essential note: The material itself does not develop these skills in isolation. Real growth comes from the combination of hands-on materials, meaningful challenges, opportunities to solve problems, and thoughtful questions from the adult supporting the child.
How Parents Can Encourage Cognitive Flexibility During Activities
The role of the adult is one of the most important elements in this process. Small changes in the way we communicate and interact with children can help strengthen independence, problem-solving skills, and cognitive abilities.
Instead of correcting your child immediately or completing the task for them, encourage reflection with questions such as: “What do you think happened?” or “Is there another way we could try?”
Highlight effort, strategies, and persistence instead of focusing only on a perfect final result. Replace “That is beautiful!” with: “I noticed how you kept trying and changed your strategy.”
Help children understand that mistakes are a natural part of learning by encouraging the cycle of trying, observing, adjusting, and trying again.
📌 Practical Guide: Materials and Skills Developed
Below are some examples of manipulative materials that parents can easily introduce at home and the skills they can support:
☐ Creating keychains and bracelets
Fine motor skills and planning
☐ Creating different sizes and shapes
Memory and spatial awareness
☐ Open-ended building projects
Decision-making and logical thinking
☐ Representing ideas through creation
Imagination and adaptability
☐ Creating geometric figures
Visual reasoning and strategy
☐ Cardboard, sticks, bottle caps
Divergent and creative thinking
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to spend a lot of money on materials?
No. Some of the best learning tools are inexpensive or may already exist at home. Recycled materials, leftover paper, cardboard boxes, craft sticks, and simple household items can become powerful opportunities for creativity and problem-solving. The focus is not the price of the toy, but the freedom to explore and create.
When should I step in during my child’s activity?
Try not to intervene immediately. Allow your child some time to experience the challenge and think through possible solutions. If frustration appears or your child wants to give up, use guiding questions instead of providing the answer: “What else could you try?” “What could you change?” This helps children become active problem-solvers rather than dependent on adult solutions.
How do these activities prepare children for life beyond childhood?
When children learn to change strategies during play, they practice skills that will help them face real-life situations: adapting to changes, managing emotions, solving unexpected problems, and finding creative solutions. These are valuable abilities for school, relationships, work, and everyday life.
Final Thoughts
The goal is not to raise children who always find the perfect answer. The goal is to raise curious minds that feel confident exploring new possibilities when the original plan does not work.
When children move from simply following instructions to experimenting freely, meaningful learning and stronger cognitive connections naturally develop.
Looking back at those simple moments with my son, I realized that the value was never only in the finished keychains or the origami pieces. The true learning happened while he was creating.
It happened when he changed a design because something did not work. It happened when he wondered: “What if I make it smaller?” “What happens if I try a different way?”
A simple piece of plastic string and a sheet of paper became opportunities to develop creativity, persistence, independence, and flexible thinking. Sometimes, the most meaningful learning experiences begin with the simplest materials.
Rigid Thinking in Children: Understanding, Supporting, and Developing Greater Cognitive Flexibility
In the next article, we will explore rigid thinking in greater depth, including why some children struggle with changes, how this may appear in everyday situations, and how parents and educators can provide respectful and effective support.