This is not a pencil

Break the ice, raise energy Ievels, get into idea generation mindset, encourage creativity, play

Get the group to stand in a circle and explain we're going to play a game to get our brains going a bit. State that people can say 'pass' if they can't think of anything.

Hold up the pencil (or chopsticks) and say "this is not a pencil, this is a... shovel" and mime shoveling with the pencil

Pass the pencil to the participant on your left or right and say "This is not a pencil"

Each participant then says and mimes what the pencil could be

Once you've gone all around the circle, you can return to anyone who passed if they want. Then you can be done, or you can do a second round with the paper towel roll. To make the second round more exciting, you can place the roll in the middle of the circle and invite participants to walk into the circle and pick it up to mime their idea. Set a timer and see how many they can come up with in 2 minutes (or 1 minute for small/quiet groups).

Learned in a workshop with The Fourth Space (https://thefourthspace.ca/)