Math Monday: Nine Dot Challenge

Take a minute to try this puzzle, before scrolling any further.
Draw a 9 dot grid, like the following.
* * *
* * *
* * *
You may use 4 lines that do not cross, so all dots are touching a line.
Go.

As I watched the brilliant Ted Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-YScywp6AU it was re-iterated what I witness on a daily basis; children naturally think outside of the box.
It's brilliant.
How do we lose that ability?

I'll refrain from my theories, but emphasize that my kids definitely completed the puzzle and their answers were nothing like each others...or mine.

Bend the Line

 

They took their pencils and worked out several 'options' around the edges of the paper, so as not to mess up their final answer in the 'master grid'. 

They kept asking if I knew the answer...to which I replied, "there is more than one answer."

This should always be a parents reply, right?

Miss C stayed focused and grinning.

She came out first with her solution.

Separate horizontal lines for each row. The top row contained two parallel lines.

Lines did not cross. All dots touched a line.

Miss O's final solution was using curved lines, so to avoid the lines crossing.

Also stayed within the confines of the 'rules' all the while 'bending' linear thought.

I think that is the problem. Linear thought.

It prevents us from so much higher level creating.