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ne afternoon, my son was stacking blocks in new ways, trying to build a bridge across a toy river. Each attempt toppled. I asked, “What could make it stronger?” He paused, swapped out a narrow piece for a wider one, and tried again. This time it held. That small success—born of a hunch and a test—taught him more than I could’ve explained. It showed that guesses are seeds, and testing is how they grow. These early trials with toys prepared him to think through problems in schoolwork and design challenges alike.

He later arranged dominoes in spirals, giggling when they all fell in sequence. When one setup failed, he reviewed the pattern and adjusted the angle. We made it a weekend ritual: test a new idea, see what happens, tweak it. Over time, his experiments expanded—catapults, paper circuits, homemade board games. He began to notice how some guesses led to better outcomes than others. That pattern—guess, test, revise—showed up in everything from science projects to group work. When he explained his process at a school fair, he wasn’t just sharing a build—he was demonstrating confidence in his thinking.

To support this mindset, help your child treat guesses as part of learning, not as a shot in the dark. Ask questions like “Why do you think that worked?” or “What would you try next?” Keep a simple log or sketchbook for their observations and ideas. Each guess they test becomes a step toward clearer problem-solving, stronger explanations, and a mindset ready to tinker with the world.

TIPS

• Treat guesses as starting points, not wrong turns
• Say “Let’s test it!” instead of correcting
• Reflect on what the guess helped reveal

ACTIVITIES

• Set up “What if we tried…?” mini-challenges
• Let kids design and test their own game rules
• Use sketchbooks to track guesses and outcomes