Developing flexible minds in children can be tricky. We know that having flexible mindsets in schools, homes, and the community is an essential social skill. But how do we develop these in youth? One great way is with books. Find 6 different book suggestions below for this very task.
Flexible Mindset Definition
In case you aren’t quite sure what this social skill is, the flexible mindset definition is the ability to problem solve in multiple different ways. Usually, this has to do with some type of event or action that has taken place. A person should be able to think of multiple different solutions to the problem so show flexibility.
Now that we know a flexible mind meaning, here’s a quick example.
Charli lost her pencil and needs to write to get her assignment done.
Someone with an inflexible, or rigid, mind would think they just can’t do the assignment.
However, someone showing a flexible mindset would come up with these possible solutions:
✮ Get out a new pencil.
✮ Ask someone around you if you can borrow one of theirs.
✮ Use a different writing instrument, such as a marker, colored pencil, or crayon.
While not all these solutions may be great solutions, they are nonetheless different ways to solve the same problem. This is flexible thinking.
For more on the flexible mind meaning, check out this post.
Books to Help Shape A Flexible Mind
Books are an amazing way to teach social skills. They help students see how others handle situations or solve problems. This gives children ideas of how to relate to events that come up in their own lives.
Books also lead to some great discussions on topics between everyone who is reading them. They make amazing tools for social skills lessons for this very reason.
When working on the mindset of flexible thinking, using one of these books can help you facilitate an amazingly helpful lesson for students to grow their skills.
A Little Spot of Flexible Thinking
This book by Diane Alber is all about having a flexible mind. The book starts off by explaining what rigid and flexible thinking means. Then, it gives a metaphor for it with trees. Many students can associate with this analogy to better understand the concept of having a rigid vs flexible mind. Next, it goes into how to handle change (including what happens when we are rigid vs flexible with it). Plus many adults enjoy the dot characters in this series because it isn’t gender or race specific.
My Day Is Ruined!
My Day Is Ruined! by Bryan Smith has a main character named Braden who is looking forward to a baseball game. When the game is canceled along with some other events, he struggles to deal with it. Braden feels like everything is making his day horrible. Within the book, his teacher gives him 4 steps to using a flexible mind to see the other side of things. This is a nice step-by-step plan that shows how students can respond positively.
It’s My Way or the Highway
It’s My Way or the Highway by Julia Cook is all about turning bossy into flexible and assertive. The main character, Cora June, is super bossy. She tells everyone what to do and wants things her way. If she doesn’t get her way, she makes everyone around her miserable. It takes Cora June through the process of developing a truly flexible mind while still taking on a leadership role.
What Should Danny Do? & What Should Darla Do?
These books by Ganit & Adir Levy are relatively the same except they have a boy or a girl character. Both books have students work on my flexible mind by showing them the power of choice. Kids love this book because they get to choose what the main character does throughout the book. Depending on what they choose, the next part of the story changes. This is great for showing the different consequences, good and bad, of one’s choices/actions. Plus there are multiple in the series that have different settings, such as school, to continue the learning.
Flexible Thinking Ninja
The Ninja book series by Mary Nihn is a great one overall, including this one on thinking flexible. It starts with a Ninja talking with the reader about how they weren’t always flexible and gives some examples. Next, it gives a simple 3 flexible rules for how to think more flexibly. This process is easy for kids to remember because the first word in each step starts with the letter T. Students will love the Ninja characters throughout the book – it really helps with student buy-in to learning about social skills too.
What’s Your Choice?
This great book by Bryan Smith features a boy named Isaac who is faced with decisions all day. The problem is, Isaac does not have the flexible mind needed for these decisions as he thinks every option is terrible. This book focuses on helping children become good decision-makers by helping kids understand how to make the best decision when their choices all involve things they really don’t want to do.
Other Flexible Thinking Activities
If you are looking for more teaching resources to help students think flexibly, check these out.
Flexible Thinking Examples Task Cards
Giving students real-life examples is an amazing way to help them generalize the skills they are learning to their own lives. Task cards with scenarios make this easy to do. This flexible thinking scenarios resource gives 125+ situations that occur in the different seasons in multiple different settings. Both print and digital versions are included making it so easy to slip right into your lessons. Grab this time-saving resource here.
Worksheets
Grab this pack of worksheets and flipbook for a simple, print-and-use activity. There are 15 different worksheets included plus a 5 page flipbook. Worksheets come in all different formats from matching to comic strips to fill in the blank – sure to get your students engaged while learning. Ideal for the busy teacher as it is as simple as print and use.
Flexible Thinking Bingo
Looking for a fun, interactive game for your next social skills lesson to work on flexible mindsets in school, check out this size of the problem bingo game. With this size of the problem bingo game, students will work on further understanding if the size of the problem is big, medium, or small. This resource includes 30 size of the problem examples calling cards and 10 unique bingo cards. Click now for this engaging social skills activity.
More on Flexible Thinking
3 Helpful Flexible Thinking Exercises for Children – some engaging activities to do with students to make flexible mind at school and home.
How to Help Students Think Flexibly With Games – interactive games to give students practice in developing a flexible mindset.
3 Steps to Help a Child Become a Flexible Thinker – a guide to help students develop this important social/emotional skill.
Happy Teaching!
