Creative Thinking Workshop Activities

Use picture cards in topics as described below.

Stretch your imagination with some help form everyday objects.

Spark creativity by forcing yourself to see objects you know well from different perspectives or imagine new users for them.

A game to work with assumptions and to reflect on how things are being handled in the organisation. How do we learn from each other?

Writing with empathy is all about inhabiting the shoes (or paws) of something that is not yourself. In this exercise, we ask participants to imagine the perspective of a fox and then write from the point of view of the fox.

Creativity is connecting things. If you are looking to give your creative mind a workout with a simple concept mash-up, look no further. The more you do this, the better you’ll get at one of the fundamental skills that lead to new ideas, combining elements. We've found a simple online tool from Dave Birss that helps you to define random objects that can form the basis of your creative combination.

A fun and interactive storytelling game that helps team members learn more about each other by guessing which colleague’s experience matches each story.

The Make a World game appeals to visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners because of its layers of interaction. It’s useful (and downright fun) because it lets players imagine the future and take action to create a first version of it. All successful ventures start with a vision and some small, initial effort toward crystallization. Alexander Graham Bell’s vision for the telephone started as highly rudimentary sketches.

The connection between walking and enhanced creativity has a long history. The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1889) wrote, “All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking”. New research has backed up what many have thought for centuries with data, quantifying the effect of walking on human thought. Researchers at Stanford recently found that walking outside led to almost 3 times as many creative ideas as sitting indoors.

A hands-on and creative icebreaker that uses LEGO bricks to help teams express ideas, challenges, and personal insights through metaphors.

Draw your mood is a simple icebreaker activity that encourages the group to share their feelings in a safe, creative manner.

A fun and creative icebreaker where teams or individuals pitch a fictional movie based on a random theme, encouraging quick thinking, collaboration, and plenty of laughter.

Become immersed in your user's life. Break out of your designer bubble and immerse yourself in the environment you're working to create solutions that feel both fresh and relevant.