What Is Logical Thinking? 8 Tips to Improve Logic

Logical thinking is a very important skill that every child must have and improve. Why? Because logical thinking is how the human mind can make a distinction between right and wrong.

Well-developed logical thinking skills also promote analytical thinking, reasoning, mathematics, problem-solving, and many other skills.

It is also important because:

• Rational people can easily correlate events and objects.
• The chance of rational people making mistakes is likely to be low.
• Children who have strong logical thinking skills are successful at school because they can establish cause and effect relation.
• Rational individuals are likely to be more successful at work because they develop the right strategies.

In this article, you will find 7 easy-to-apply tips, as well as the best games, to enhance your and your children’s logical thinking skills. We also shared everyday examples to help your children better understand the logic behind logical thinking 😃

How to Develop Logic?

Like almost every skill, logic can also be improved and developed through proper exercises and activities. Here are some of the best tips that will help you do just that!

1. Logic Exercises

Games are with no doubt the best way of teaching children something. And when it comes to mental development games, MentalUP is the best!

With these games, you can help promote your children’s: logical reasoning skills, planning skills, spatial perception skills, logical thinking skills, mathematical thinking skills, and much more!

2. Socializing With Others

Socializing, in other words building new relationships, will expand your perspective. This way, you can gain more and more logical thinking skills with the ability to approach situations and thoughts from different angles.

Encourage your children to make new friends at their school, neighborhood, or at the park. It will not only help enhance their logical thinking skills but it will also help them build healthy social skills.

3. Creative Hobbies

Although the left hemisphere of our brain is responsible for logical thinking, creative activities, which are mainly ruled by the right hemisphere of our brain, help promote logical thinking. Therefore, encourage your children to engage with creative activities such as drawing, painting, writing, and playing music.

Well, how do these help with logical thinking?

For example, learning a new instrument requires deep thought and concentration. During this process, your children will gain the ability to solve more problems with flexibility and ease.

In addition, as these tasks require creativity, creative thinking naturally develops problem-solving abilities that can help your children become better at school.

4. Question Events

One of the best ways to enhance your logical thinking skills is to ask questions about things you typically accept as a fact. Making a habit of asking such questions helps you view situations more completely and allows you to approach situations more logically and creatively.

You can come up with simple games to apply this tip with your children. For example, start with a sentence that is a result of an obvious fact and as your children to complete it:

Parent: “It is cold because…”
Child: “… it is snowing/winter/raining.”

Practicing this activity will also help your children build a sense of responsibility for their actions and behavior.

5. Read Mystery Books and Stories

Here is one stone two birds situation. You can advance your children’s reading skills and promote their logical thinking skills by simply engaging them with mystery.

There are plenty of mystery stories and books that your children will enjoy reading as they try to solve the enigmas within.

6. Learn/Discover a New Skill

This tip is quite close to the third tip above, but there is no such thing as too much learning. Creative or not, learning a new skill can help sharpen your logic skills.

The more you take the opportunity to learn something new, the more you will be able to think logically and strategically.

Encourage your children to learn something new! Depending on their age it can be; learning a new language, learning a new sport, or even learning a new game.

Not only will practicing every day help create a mindset of thoughtfully, and logically, approaching problems and situations, but it will also develop a new skill that your children can enjoy!

7. Brain Teasers & Puzzles

Brain teasers and puzzle games like tangrams for kids are always fun activities. However, did you know that it helps improve logical thinking skills?

As children try to find the answer to the questions, they are forced to think strategically and logically. If you’re in search of the best brain teasers, check out our Pinterest board for 400+ free brain teasers!

8. Mindfulness

Extreme stress is one of the worst enemies of logical thinking. And, it may come as a shock but most children experience more stress than adults do 😞

When your children’s stress levels are manageable, they are more likely to have an easier time focusing and making logical decisions. And one of the best ways to manage stress is practicing mindfulness.

Difference Between Logic and Reason

We hear you say “But what is the difference between reason and logic? Aren’t they the same thing?” To begin with, “logic” is a noun, and “reason” is both a noun and a verb.

You can “reason with a person” but you can’t logic with someone. In addition, every logic can be reasoned but not every reasoning can be based on logic.

That said, the primary difference between logic and reason is that reason can be subjective, whereas logic is actual science that follows clearly defined rules and tests for critical thinking.

Logic also requires tangible, visible, or audible proof of a sound thought process by reasoning.

For example, you can debate or “reason” with someone that the water is cold, however, the fact that water’s freezing temperature is 0℃ is not up for debate as there is a logic behind it.

Logic Examples

Here are some everyday logic examples that will help you and your children understand the concept of logic and logical thinking even further.

1. Informal Logic

Informal logic is what we usually use for daily reasoning processes. This is the reasoning and arguments you make in your personal exchanges with others and they are more subjective rather than based on facts.

Example 1

• Premises: Fred walked under a ladder on his way to work. Fred got fired from work today.
• Conclusion: Walking under a ladder is bad luck.
• Explanation: This is an assumption based on superstition. It has no fact-based logic.

Example 2

• Premises: My sister is a celebrity. I live with my sister.
• Conclusion: I am a celebrity.
• Explanation: There is more to proving fame that assuming it will rub off.

Inductive logic examples can also be examined under this category. Inductive reasoning is made by using specific information and to make a broad generalization that is considered probable. As the reasoning is based on repeated experiences, the outputs are not always accurate.

Example 1

• Premises: An umbrella prevents you from getting wet in the rain. Sarah took her umbrella, and she did not get wet.
• Conclusion: In this case, you could use inductive reasoning to offer an opinion that it was probably raining.
• Explanation: Your conclusion, however, would not necessarily be accurate because Sarah would have remained dry whether it rained and she had an umbrella, or it didn't rain at all.

Example 2

• Premises: Thirteen out of the twenty houses on the block burned down. Each fire was caused by faulty wiring.
• Conclusion: If more than half the homes have faulty wiring, all homes on the block have faulty wiring.
• Explanation: There is a likelihood to the conclusion, however, it is not verifiably true.

2. Formal Logic

Formal logic requires deductive reasoning and the premises must be based on facts. The premises should lead to a formal conclusion.

Example 1

• Premises: Every person who lives in New York lives in the USA. Everyone in the USA lives in North America.
• Conclusion: Every person who lives in New York lives in North America.
• Explanation: The premises are based on geographical facts.

Example 2

• Premises: Bicycles have two wheels. Jenny is riding a bicycle.
• Conclusion: Jenny is riding on two wheels.
• Explanation: The premises are fact-based so the conclusion is true.

3. Symbolic Logic

Symbolic logic, as the name applies, focuses on how symbols relate to each other. It assigns symbols to verbal reasoning in order to be able to check the veracity of the statements through a mathematical process. You typically see this type of logic used in calculus.

Example

• Propositions: (A) If all mammals feed their babies with milk. (B) If all dogs feed their babies with milk. (C) All dogs are mammals. The Ʌ means “and,” and the ⇒ symbol means “implies.”
• Conclusion: A Ʌ B ⇒ C
• Explanation: Proposition A and B lead to the conclusion, C. If all mammals feed their babies with and so do dogs, it implies all dogs are mammals.

4. Mathematical Logic

It goes without saying that all math problems are based on logic with each having a single outcome based on facts. As mathematical logic applies formal logic to math, mathematical logic and symbolic logic are often used interchangeably.