This is a condensed list of creativity exercises that are easy to execute for the classroom.
They are either good for small groups or don't take a lot of time or materials.
We've kept a couple of multi-day activities in the list, in case you'd like to build on concepts and give more opportunities for students to think outside the box over a longer period of time.
For a full list of activities, visit this page.
They are either good for small groups or don't take a lot of time or materials.
We've kept a couple of multi-day activities in the list, in case you'd like to build on concepts and give more opportunities for students to think outside the box over a longer period of time.
For a full list of activities, visit this page.
Brainstorming Challenges:
Brainstorming challenges involve coming up with as many ideas as possible in a short time. This challenge is a great way to get your creative juices flowing and develop a new idea for work or hobbies.
In groups of 2 to 4
Idea generating challenges involve coming up with new ideas for a specific project or task. This challenge can be a great way to develop new ideas for products, services, or marketing campaigns, and can be a useful exercise to help people to develop an entrepreneurial Mindset
In groups of 2 to 4
Brainstorming challenges involve coming up with as many ideas as possible in a short time. This challenge is a great way to get your creative juices flowing and develop a new idea for work or hobbies.
In groups of 2 to 4
- Choose a random word and brainstorm as many different ways to use it as possible. (5-10 min)
- Give each group the name of one of the following items, in 5 minutes, get them to write a list of all of the different uses for that item (5 minutes per round)
- Fork, rubber boots, newspaper, toothbrush, bottle, empty can, sock (missing it’s twin), big rock (size of a fist), long stick (about 5 ft tall), sharp pencil
- Give each group one of the following words. Each group will think of as many rhymes as possible for each word. Rotate the words in the class until each group has cycled through all four words. At the end, count up the number of words listed by each group. The group with the most points is the winner. (30 min)
- Free, cat, stay, most
- Rearrange the letters in your name to come up with as many words as you can (15-30 min)
- Write down 25 things that make you happy, no matter how small they seem. (30 min)
- Come up with some random acts of kindness (or purposeful!) that you can do around your neighborhood. (Time varies)
Idea generating challenges involve coming up with new ideas for a specific project or task. This challenge can be a great way to develop new ideas for products, services, or marketing campaigns, and can be a useful exercise to help people to develop an entrepreneurial Mindset
In groups of 2 to 4
- Design a new product that would make your life easier. (1 hour or multi-day)
- Come up with a creative way to market and sell a product. (1 hour version or multi-day)
- Write down ten ideas for a new business or non-profit organization. (30 min - 1 hr)
Creative Writing Challenges:
Creative writing challenges involve writing pieces on a specific topic or theme. This type of challenge can help you improve your writing skills and come up with new story ideas.
In groups of 2 to 4
Creative writing challenges involve writing pieces on a specific topic or theme. This type of challenge can help you improve your writing skills and come up with new story ideas.
In groups of 2 to 4
- Select a well known story or movie (e.g. Home Alone) and together in your group, rewrite the ending, with as much details to convince an investor to want to produce it (1 hour)
- Write a short story that takes place in the future. Take turns deciding what happens next in your story. (Multi-day)
- Start writing a story, but don’t stop until you reach 1000 words. (Time varies)
- A story chain writing activity to spark creativity (30 min to an hour)
- Players take turns picking a card from the deck
- Whatever card the player gets needs to be included in the next part of their story (they can either write down their part of the story, or say it verbally).
- The next player picks a card, and the process continues.
- Write down 20 random words and come up with a story incorporating all of them. (Time varies)
- Write a story using only one sentence. (30 min)
- Write a poem about your favorite place in the world. (30 min to 1 hr)
Art / Craft Challenges:
Art challenges involve creating art based on a specific prompt or theme. This challenge can help you experiment with new mediums and techniques and improve your artistic skills. A drawing challenge works in the same way.
In larger groups
Design, Create, or Build Challenges:
In groups of 2 to 4
Creative Thinking Challenges:
To spark creativity in your thinking, thought processes, and ideation process. Divergent thinking is a key part of this.
In groups of 2 to 4
Art challenges involve creating art based on a specific prompt or theme. This challenge can help you experiment with new mediums and techniques and improve your artistic skills. A drawing challenge works in the same way.
In larger groups
- Collaborative Mosaic Color study: Each person is given a square piece of paper, and one or two used magazines, scissors and glue, and assigned one “theme” to work on (e.g. A specific color of the rainbow). At the end of the day or during the next period, the group decides how they want to arrange each square into a large mosaic. (Two-sessions, 30-60 min each)
- Collaborative Doodle Drawings: Each group receives a large piece of paper (30x42) and a bunch of different drawing media (e.g. markers, pencil crayons, pencils, pastels) and are given 20-30 minutes to doodle (see sample here) (20-30 min)
- Draw something without lifting your pen from the paper. (10-30 min)
- Draw something without looking at your paper. (10-30 min)
- Draw a character or scene from your favorite book or movie. (30 min)
- Draw a picture or create a work of art using only three colors. (30 min or more)
- Draw or paint something based on your dreams or nightmares. (30 min or more)
- Draw a picture (e.g. portrait of your best friend) using only shapes and lines. (1 hr)
- Paint an abstract landscape using only shades of blue. (1 hr)
- Draw scenarios on post-it notes that tell a short story in 9-10 images
Design, Create, or Build Challenges:
In groups of 2 to 4
- Egg drop challenge (link) (Multi-day)
- Tallest Paper Tower Challenge or Alternate building challenge using other forms of media (e.g. newspaper or dry spaghetti noodles) (1 hr or more)
- Design a new type of hat and use paper or fabric to create it for yourself or on a doll. (30 min or more)
- We live in a drought prone area. Design a way to catch and store rainwater! (Multi-day)
Creative Thinking Challenges:
To spark creativity in your thinking, thought processes, and ideation process. Divergent thinking is a key part of this.
In groups of 2 to 4
- Come up with 10 different uses for a paper clip. (10 min)
- Come up with 10 new uses for a coat hanger. (10 min)
- Design a new type of transportation. (1 hr or more)
Music, dance, improv and performance
In groups of 2 to 4
With a friend or a group of friends
Other Creative Challenges or games
With a friend or a group of friends
In groups of 2 to 4
- Compose new lyrics to a tune that everyone in your group knows (e.g. Never Gonna Give You Up) (30 min or more)
- Improv game: pushy salesperson. Students will try to sell something that nobody wants to buy. (5 min per student)
- Audio cassette tape, broken umbrella, expired yogurt, old calendar, first generation ipod, dull knife
- Improvise a story as a group. The first student begins by saying the first line of a story. The next student adds a line to the story that in some way includes or incorporates the first line. Continue to add lines to the story for 5 minutes or until it comes to a dramatic conclusion. (5-20 min)
- Improv/Variation on Charades: Act out a simple task in as many ways as possible. (Ex: walking a dog, washing dishes, making a cake). Have students pick an activity together and then pull cards at random with different ways to act it out. (5 min per student) Some examples for cards:
- Emotional states: happy, worried, angry, silly, tired, energetic, confused, proud, etc. Other students can guess what the performer is trying to convey.
- Weather: raining, snowing, very hot, very cold, windy, smoky, muddy
With a friend or a group of friends
- Research an important historical writer or orator and read their writing out loud with family or friends. (1 hr or more)
Other Creative Challenges or games
With a friend or a group of friends
- “Like or Dislike” Guessing game. Each participant writes down their likes and dislikes neatly on a piece of paper. One person collects the responses, and puts numbers on each card. Each person then guesses the owner of each page. (1 hr)