It can be defined as “the brain’s ability to adapt our behaviour and thinking to the surrounding environment, especially when faced with situations that are new, unexpected, or constantly changing.”
Children gradually change their behaviour and adapt it according to their surroundings, which supports their independence and ability to adjust.
However, not all children adapt in the same way. This is linked to a very important cognitive skill: mental flexibility, a skill just like language, attention, or motor abilities.
This ability has its own path of development and brain maturation, and it can be trained from an early age through simple daily actions, exercises, and activities.
How can we encourage mental flexibility?
Here are some ideas you can try on a daily basis:
– Offer them new activities, challenges, and family plans, such as a child-friendly escape room.
– Encourage reading and/or writing, as both are excellent tools for boosting imagination. Read stories or books that interest them, and use story-creation games or writing prompts.
– Play games that involve thinking of different uses for the same object. This kind of activity develops originality by encouraging children to think “beyond” what they already know—beyond the obvious or traditional uses.
– Move things around. Simply having to search for objects in new places, or seeing a familiar environment changed, can help develop mental flexibility.
Advantages of developing mental flexibility
-It helps them adapt to change and new situations.
-It enables them to see different dimensions of the same reality.
-It helps them adjust their behaviour, attitude, and thinking to each situation.
-It supports their ability to make connections or associations between things.
-It allows them to find different solutions to the same problem.
-It helps them tolerate mistakes, changes of plans, and unexpected situations.
–It stimulates their imagination.
“Playing leads to imagination; the more imagination, the greater the mental flexibility.”
