Reach-the-Treasure "Three Ways" Challenge

A playful means-end challenge: a desirable “treasure” is placed just out of reach — on a high shelf, across a cushion “river,” or sealed in a clear jar — and the child has to figure out how to get it. The real game starts after the first success, when you ask: “Can you find ANOTHER way?” The goal is flexible, resourceful problem-solving and the discovery that there’s rarely just one solution — including the legitimate one: ask for help.

  1. Set an honest challenge. Place the treasure where it’s reachable with effort but not by simply stretching — it needs a stool, a tool, or a helper. Keep early versions solvable in a few tries; impossible puzzles train giving-up.
  2. Step back and narrate, don’t rescue. “Hmm, it’s too high…” Then wait. Let the child try, fail, and adjust. The fumbling IS the thinking — resist handing it over the moment they hesitate.
  3. Offer the tools, not the answer. Have a few options in view (a wooden spoon, a sturdy box, a cushion) plus some decoys. Choosing the right tool is part of the puzzle.
  4. Then: “Can you find another way?” This is the key move. The first solution is rarely the only one. Celebrate a genuinely different second strategy (stood on a box the first time, used a spoon to rake the second).
  5. Count “asking for help” as a real solution. Make it explicit that asking a grown-up is a smart option, not a failure — it keeps the child from ever feeling trapped.
  6. Tally the ways. Keep a running count of strategies discovered over days; children love beating last week’s record.

Variation: Tabletop version — a snack just out of reach across the table with a spoon, a ruler, and a cup to choose among, or hidden under an upturned clear cup. Treasure Island — the floor is “lava” and the treasure is stranded on a cushion the child must reach without touching the ground.

Requirements

  • Space: A clear area indoors or out; for the climbing version, a stable low surface only
  • Surface: Non-slip floor; a rug under any cushion "river" so it cannot slide
  • Materials: A desirable object as "treasure"; household tools to choose among (wooden spoon, cardboard tube, sturdy box or step, cushions); a clear PLASTIC jar for the sealed variant
  • Participants: 1 adult + 1 child; siblings can take turns proposing ideas
  • Supervision: Active — adult stays within arm's reach for any climbing and licenses "ask for help"

Rationale & Objective

Means-end problem solving — coordinating actions to reach a blocked goal — is one of the earliest and most-studied forms of human reasoning, and tool use makes the child’s plan visible in action (Keen, 2011, “The development of problem solving in young children,” Annual Review of Psychology, 62, 1–21; Keen notes that motor errors are as informative as successes — trial-and-error self-correction IS the developmental engine). Age 5 is a sweet spot for the “find another way” prompt: German & Defeyter (2000, “Immunity to functional fixedness in young children,” Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 7[4], 707–712) found 5-year-olds repurpose objects for novel uses faster than 6–7-year-olds, who get slowed by knowing an object’s “proper” function — so improvising a spoon-as-rake comes naturally now, before functional fixedness sets in. Inventing a brand-new tool with no model is genuinely hard, though — Beck et al. (2011, “Making tools isn’t child’s play,” Cognition, 119, 301–306) showed even 7-year-olds rarely innovate a hook unprompted, while most children succeed once shown and 4-year-olds can already choose a ready-made tool — so the puzzle should be solvable with the tools at hand, not require invention. Treating “ask an adult” as a valid strategy is well-grounded: adaptive help-seeking is a metacognitive skill present in preschoolers, and it sits squarely in Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development, where a goal reachable only with help is exactly where learning happens. Honest framing — success on a hands-on retrieval task does not guarantee transfer to abstract or verbal problems, and a child who finds “three ways” with stools and spoons may still not generalize the habit without repeated, varied practice.

Progress Indicators

  • Early: reaches or grabs directly, then gives up or whines and points; repeats the same futile action (jumping) without changing approach; happy for the adult to simply hand it over
  • Developing: finds ONE solution, usually the obvious one (drags the stool, or asks “can you get it?”), often after trial and error; when asked “another way?” looks stuck or repeats the same idea
  • Proficient: solves it independently and, when prompted, produces a genuinely DIFFERENT second strategy; treats asking for help as one option among several; narrates the plan (“I’ll use this to reach it”)
  • Advanced: generates 2–3 distinct solutions with little prompting, compares them (“the stick is faster than the stool”), anticipates a snag before acting (“that’s too wobbly”), and transfers the “try another way” habit to a brand-new setup

Safety Notes

  • Climbing and falls are the biggest risk — allow only a stable, low, non-tip step or sturdy box on a non-slip floor, supervise within arm’s reach, and never permit stacked chairs, rolling chairs, or open drawers as steps
  • Keep hard edges (stone, tile, coffee-table corners) out of any climbing zone
  • Use blunt, longer tools (wooden spoon, cardboard tube) rather than sharp or pointed sticks, pencils, or skewers that can jab eyes or mouth
  • For the sealed-jar version use clear PLASTIC, never glass, and a lid that will not trap fingers; nothing the child might try to bite open
  • Choking risk — keep small “treasure” items and small tools away from any younger sibling
  • Calibrate difficulty so success comes within a few tries and always license “ask for help”; skip or downscale when the child is tired, hungry, already dysregulated, or has motor or balance challenges (drop the climbing variant entirely)

Hints

  • Playfulness: frame it as a treasure heist or rescue mission — “The dragon’s gold is stranded on Cushion Island! How do we save it without touching the lava?” Give the treasure a silly voice begging to be rescued
  • Sustain interest: change just one thing each time — new location, new barrier, new set of tools on offer — and keep a tally of “ways we’ve discovered”; occasionally let the child set the challenge for you
  • Common mistake: solving it for them or handing it over at the first hesitation — that trains helplessness; instead narrate, wait, and scaffold only the next small step, then step back
  • Limited space: a tabletop version needs nothing special — a snack across the table with a spoon, a ruler, and a cup to choose among, or hidden under an upturned clear cup
  • Cross-domain: links to language (narrating the plan, answering “what is this for?”), frustration tolerance (persisting through failed tries), motor skills (stable stepping, raking, grasping), and social skills (asking for help, taking turns proposing ideas)
  • Progression: object barely out of reach with an obvious stool → one tool needed among several decoys → require a different SECOND solution on prompt → child generates 2–3 ways unprompted and says which is best → transfer to a new setup (never require inventing a brand-new tool — too hard even at 7)

Sources

  • Keen, R. (2011). “The development of problem solving in young children: A critical cognitive skill.” Annual Review of Psychology, 62, 1–21
  • German, T. P. & Defeyter, M. A. (2000). “Immunity to functional fixedness in young children.” Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 7(4), 707–712
  • Defeyter, M. A. & German, T. P. (2003). “Acquiring an understanding of design: Evidence from children’s insight problem solving.” Cognition, 89(2), 133–155
  • Beck, S. R., Apperly, I. A., Chappell, J., Guthrie, C. & Cutting, N. (2011). “Making tools isn’t child’s play.” Cognition, 119(2), 301–306
  • Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Harvard University Press (zone of proximal development)
  • Head Start ELOF — Approaches to Learning: Goal P-ATL 8 (holds information in mind) and P-ATL 9 (flexibility in thinking and behavior)
  • UK EYFS — Characteristics of Effective Learning: Creating and Thinking Critically (“having their own ideas / finding ways to solve problems”)
  • ASQ-3 (Ages & Stages Questionnaires, Third Edition) — 60-month Problem Solving domain
  • Piaget — Preoperational Stage (symbolic thought; trial-and-error problem solving)
  • HighScope — active participatory learning and adult scaffolding through encouragement