by Hillary Miller and Marcy Tivol
| Recently, I had the pleasure of virtually meeting the two founders of Solving Fun, Hillary Miller and Marcy Tivol, and we are kindred spirits! I invited them to share about their passion for making problem-solving fun and the benefits of puzzling for academic and social-emotional learning. I’m excited to share that they accept submissions of kid-created puzzles, too. Find out more HERE. |
We are excited to share our expertise in games and education with Big Ideas for Little Scholars. Many people have asked us how we decided to walk away from our typical day-to-day careers to focus on creative problem-solving with kids. Here’s our story:
Solving Fun was the result of a five-year friendship. We met when Hillary was the principal at Marcy’s kids’ elementary school in Palo Alto, California. After many conversations about how to meet kids’ needs and get them excited about twisting their brains, learning, and going to school, we decided to work together to create opportunities for kids to do just that. In February 2020, Solving Fun was born somewhere in the spaces between Marcy’s kitchen table and the meeting rooms at Palo Alto, California’s Public Library.
Solving Fun focuses on creating puzzles, activities, and games that promote perseverance and creative problem-solving skills in kids. It was created with the deep belief that joyful challenges lead to engaged learning. While the puzzles aren’t all your typical Sudoku or crossword-style, there are a few of those mixed in.
We’ve introduced “Puzzle Pals” to help address the social-emotional challenges that come with learning and persevering during challenges. With names like Sue Doku, Al Gebra, Ana Gram, and Lexi Con, these characters bring fun to solving even the most difficult task.
We search for the best ways to encourage kids to love that feeling when they think deeply and creatively and ultimately find an answer. We’ve always gravitated toward puzzle-type activities to encourage that thinking because, deep down, we’ve known it is good for kids’ brains and hearts.
Here’s our take on…How Puzzles Benefit the Whole Child:
1. Puzzles Are a True Mental Workout. When kids solve puzzles*, they have to use nearly every part of their brains while solving. To be efficient, puzzles require the solvers to read and understand the goal, plan ahead, think critically, think creatively, and remember past experiences that have led to correct answers. If the puzzle is something active, it could also call for motor coordination. When completed in groups, puzzles require support with behavior and social-emotional regulation. This is a major workout for our kids’ brains, and a great opportunity to strengthen their ability to become flexible, deep thinkers.
2. Puzzles Can Improve EQ and IQ. Lots of research has been shared about increasing IQ scores. But with such easy access to information in today’s world, We’re most interested in making sure our kids grow up with skills to interact and collaborate with other people. Solving puzzles in pairs or small groups is a great way for kids to learn better collaboration and teamwork skills. Of course, kids need guidance to learn these skills, but puzzles are a perfect avenue to build them. Solving Fun’s Solving Guide shares some strategies to build lots of skills through puzzle solving.
3. Puzzles Improve Problem-Solving Skills. Adults analyze situations and make choices many times each day. We often know what to do without really thinking about it. How did we learn to do this? Lots of practice. Just like any activity, in order to strengthen skills, you have to practice. What better way than with a fun activity that has so many various benefits? By definition, puzzles are games that test ingenuity. In order to find the final answer to a puzzle, solvers have to understand the challenge, think through past experiences, apply various strategies, and persevere through to the end. Kids have to be problem solvers every step of the way in any puzzle they solve.
4. Puzzles Help to Build Strategies for Greater Attention to Detail. How many puzzles have you tried that seem so simple, until you realize there are sneaky details that make it super challenging? Those are often kids’ favorites. The trickier the better*. Those tricky pieces are what teaches kids’ brains to take the time to pay attention to details. Puzzles often include specific directions, hidden clues, and multiple steps. When kids’ find success with each of these, they are much more likely to notice those multiple steps and tricky directions in other places.
5. Puzzles Can Lower Stress Levels and Increase Perseverance, Focus, and Productivity. We have seen many students get lost in puzzles* within minutes of getting started. No matter the type of puzzle, all outside stress drifts away when they are focused on finding the right answer to a clue. Even when the puzzles are challenging, with practice and support, kids learn strategies to deal with frustration and persevere. Kids’ lives are often so busy that they often don’t sit down to engage in a task for more than a few minutes at a time. Giving them the opportunity to be away from a screen, try out a challenge, think deeply, and find success in that challenge will build their confidence and lead them to productivity and focus in other areas of their lives.
| *An important piece to this is that puzzles need to be the right challenge level for any solver. Anything entirely too easy or difficult is never fun. In order for puzzles to be a worthwhile activity, the solver needs to have the skills (and/or support) to be able to find the answer. |
For other ways to get your creative juices flowing and add creative problem solving to your everyday life, be sure to check out our blog and educators’ page. We have our favorite games for kids, creative cooking activities, even hints on how to make chores more fun for kids. Most importantly, we love hearing from you and your students. We encourage kids to create their own puzzles and have a kids blog written by and created just for them.