teaching DS (7 y.o.) to "think out of the box"

[clumsymum]

Right, altho ds is bright, and loves recalling facts, has a V. high reading age, and a good grasp on straightforward maths, he cannot do problem solving, applying knowledge to a situation, or what school staff call "thinking out of the box".

When put in this situation he just shrugs, and gives up saying "I can't do it". So I need some problem solving resources to work with GENTLY at home.

I was going to buy some books from a company called Mindware, but they seem to have gone out of business, I can't remember what the books were called, and can't find anything similar elsewhere.

Any ideas please?

We have the Stories for Thinking book. I was surprised at how effective the books were at getting my 7 and 5 year old DS to talk about 'issues'. Each story has questions for 'discussion' after them and they prompted some lovely conversations. I found out loads about things happening at school, with their friends that I would have never have known about. It was just fascinating to find out about how their moral and social consciences are developing.