1. Talk to yourself… out loud. 

Talk to yourself out loud and record it.  My iPhone has become one of the most valuable creative tools I own. It records in-the-moment ideas, voice memos, photos, and thoughts from almost anywhere inspiration hits. 

2. Sharpen your pencil and find some scrap paper. 

Doodle when you’re thinking.  Doodling is enormously powerful even if the doodle has nothing to do with what you are thinking about. It’s a great stress reliever too.  

3. Take a prop bath. 

Make a mess with your props. Whenever I’m planning for a program, I often dump my props out on the floor so I can see what I’ve got to work with.  

4. Daydream. 

Daydream every day.  Stare off into the distance and let your mind go.  Daydreaming is misunderstood and sometimes put in the useless category.  But daydreaming is part of the creative process. Close your eyes and imagine people doing the craziest things imaginable. Now, make it happen.

5. Pace in a circle or back and forth. 

Avoid sitting down when you’re brainstorming.  Stand up and get moving; physical activity stimulates ideas. 

6. Half pay attention. 

Read half an activity write-up and make up the rest.  I often go skimming through the countless and somewhat repetitive activity books that litter my bookshelf.  I like to skip right to the rules section of the write-up and read just enough to get a basic idea of how the game is played… then I make up the rest. 

7. Hang out with kids. 

Think like a child, present your challenge to a child and listen to what they say.  It will probably make more sense than anything else you’ve heard. 

8. Watch a movie. 

Some people say TV, video games, and the Internet kill creativity… I disagree and make it a point to do all three in moderation. 

9. Go back to old ideas. 

I’ve come up with many ideas that didn’t immediately turn into something or at the time, didn’t seem to work that well.  However, instead of discarding the idea totally, I put them away in a file folder to revisit them whenever I got stuck.  I can’t tell you how many times I was able to pull something out of those old files, sometimes years later, and that became a great idea. 

10. Phone a friend.

Go social and collaborative. Talk to other people and don’t be afraid to share your ideas.  Start a project with someone else and it will be so much better than what you alone would have come up with. 

Celebrate the Playful Aspect of Creativity

So what’s your next creative masterpiece? As Albert Einstein said, “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” The playful aspect of learning really drives my creativity in new directions and keeps me energized in my work with students and teachers in the Edge of Leadership Program. I’ll plan to update this list again in the future, but until that time, feel free to email us at info@high5adventure.org and share what sparks your creativity. Now onto some more doodling…