5 Activities For Fostering Creativity And
Critical Thinking In Your Preschooler
TEXT Sean Aiken
A s the father of a young
observations and ask your child how they
child and the founding
apply to specific actions. What clothes
Head of School at BASIS
do we need today if it is snowing? What
Independent McLean in
activities can we safely play outside?
Tysons, VA, I know firsthand how often
up for success?” The key to laying the
PRACTICE WRITING IN DIFFERENT
MEDIUMS foundation for academic success is to
Let’s be honest, 4-year-olds like getting
ensure that preschoolers’ young, active
messy. “Put out a bowl of sugar and
minds are soaking up as much as possible.

encourage them to practice writing
We want our kids to possess a joyful love
numbers and letters, then have them try
of learning, and the best place to start is to
in shaving cream and rice. This helps
expose their natural curiosity to as many
students develop fine motor skills and is,
kinds of thinking as possible.

of course, a ton of fun,” says Kate. “How
parents ask themselves, “Is my child set
does your finger feel when you move it
Any good preschool will inspire and
challenge your young learner, but there
are many different ways to enhance their
capacity to think critically and harness
their creativity at home. I recently talked
with Kate Briscoe, director of the Early
Learning Program at our sister school,
BASIS Independent Brooklyn, who shared
five creative, easy activities for parents to
do at home with preschoolers to keep the
learning juices flowing:
MAKE CHECKING THE WEATHER A
FAMILY RITUAL
When checking the weather becomes
a regular routine with your child, you
begin establishing any number of critical
through the sugar rather than the shaving
COOK WITH YOUR CHILD
There are so many learning experiences
to be had through cooking: Measuring
accurately with utensils of different
sizes, working on numeracy and literacy,
taste testing different foods for salty and
sweet flavors and hypothesizing what
happens when cookies are left in the oven
too long (and why). Not only can you
foster healthy food choices, but you plant
images into your child’s memory that will
help them quickly grasp states of matter,
energy conversions and algebra later on.

“If the recipe says we need three eggs, and
we only have one, how many do we need
to buy at the store?”
cream or rice? What do you notice about
(smooth and cool shaving cream versus
TURN HOUSEHOLD OBJECTS INTO
PHYSICS EXPERIMENTS
bumpy rice versus grainy sugar)? Why
You’d be surprised at how many different
does the shaving cream keep its shape?”
physics properties can be demonstrated
Remember your compare and contrast
with a yard stick and a few different
essays in college? Same thing, but much
balls. Show your preschooler how tilting
gooier. the yardstick creates different slopes
the texture of the different materials
and affects how far balls will roll. What
TURN BATH TIME INTO A SINK OR
FLOAT EXPERIMENT
Kate shares, “At bath time, talk about
which toys sink or float. How many
objects can you put onto a floating toy
before it sinks? Bonus points to the
happens when you roll a marble versus
a ping-pong ball? What happens when
you roll the ball on a rug versus a smooth
surface? Speed, acceleration, friction,
inertia – these concepts aren’t scary the
way they seem in most high schools, and
your preschooler can prove it to you!
thinking skills: Categorization, cause and
parents who use terms like buoyancy
effect, variable conditions – the list goes
and gravity!” And I know some of us
on. “Keep a colorful chart to track and
remember the old Letterman skit “Will
recognize days when the temperature gets
It Float?,” so more adventurous parents
colder and warmer and discuss why that
may want to extend the game to other
might be happening. Is there a connection
household items. Old veggies sitting
between clouds and weather? Are there
in your crisper? Dad’s sandals? (Fair
clouds on sunny days? What about when
now Northern VA offer a world-acclaimed, liberal
warning, if you play this game frequently,
it is raining?” Kate says. Take these
arts, STEM-focused course of study. Learn more at
keep track of your cell phone!)
mclean.basisindependent.com. 20 February 2016 washingtonFAMILY.com
Sean Aiken is the founding Head of School of BASIS
Independent McLean, a new preschool-grade 12
independent school located at 8000 Jones Branch
Drive in Tysons Corner, VA. BASIS Independent
Schools, located in New York City, Silicon Valley and




washingtonFAMILY.com February 2016 21