Books for Raising Critical Thinkers

September 22, 2016

Providing an environment that stimulates creativity and innovation is one of the things we are most passionate about here at DCM. Creative and innovative processes support problem solving, critical thinking, persistence, curiosity, and imagination, all of which are cognitive capacities that are critical to a child’s success throughout the lifespan. That being said, when I stumbled upon this post on Red Tricycle Eureka! Discover 13 Books that Inspire Innovation, I couldn’t wait to share it with you. The list begins with one of my most favorite books, Rosie Revere, Engineer. One of the things I like best about this particular story is the fact that, on more than one occasion, Rosie fails. This story really highlights what it is to be persistent and how this pays off in the end. We talk a lot about persistence here at DCM and I think that it is so important not only to present children with opportunities to fail and persist, but also to engage them in conversation on the topic. Another book included in the post that I adore is one that I have blogged about in the past, Not A Box. You can see that post here.

I encourage you to add all of these books to your reading list. All of these books have the ability to let your imagination run wild and present opportunities for a deeper level discussion with children of a variety of ages. Read them yourself prior to reading them with your child. Let the ideas percolate in your mind and think about what interests you about the stories. This will be a good starting point for a conversation with your child.

Other good discussion starters include questions such as
Why do you think she/he did ….?
What do you think would have happened if…?
What would you do if…?

I would love to hear your reactions to these books or about your conversations with your little ones. You can comment here, on our Facebook page or find us on twitter.