CREATIVITY VS. GAMES AND ACTIVITIES

GAMES AND ACTIVITIES THAT DEVELOP CREATIVITY

  Creativity. An almost mythical word that nowadays can be considered as one of the most popular terms on the labor market. By definition, creativity is a cognitive process followed up by creation of something new, namely: formation of new concepts, inventions, theories, ideas or, as in the case of this article, games and activities. Currently, every aspect of our life has changed at the fastest pace in human history. This is, among others, connected with creativity while the strive for money made it a crucial element of everyday routines. Many companies in the sales, marketing or technological sector expect their future employees to have this feature. As a result, many people reflect on how to determine whether a particular person is “creative”. Are there any instructions for it or what? Some people claim that creativity is an inborn trait. Nothing further from the truth! Anyone can be creative. All one needs to do is to meet specific conditions (of course, they may be slightly different, depending on the domain). Those conditions are as follows:

1. Great knowledge in a particular field.
2. Imposed limitations.

We should have a closer look at the issue of imposed limitations. They are most effective when imposed in form of a problem that needs solving. We have an event or a condition that must be resolved and, at the same time, it becomes a limitation that forces our brain to work in a creative way. It makes use of accumulated knowledge and experience in order to find a new way to deal with a particular “problem”. Such a variant based on limitations has a greater impact on our mind because it involves great motivation.  

HOW CAN YOU HELP YOUR CREATIVITY?

Before we discuss games and activities that train creative thinking, let us quickly skim through studies that describe ways in which we can boost this “legendary” skill:

1. “Mess”.

Scientists at the University of Minnesota have proven that a disorderly work environment favors creativity. Our mind subconsciously pays attention to unobvious things and associations in our surroundings. Just look at the way how offices are organized at companies such as Google

2. Physical activity.

Research conducted at the Middlesex University revealed that physical activity gives a solid boost to our mind and allows it to reach new, unexplored “lands”. That is why we should sometimes take a break and go for a walk or have a short series of exercises ;).

This element is pretty obvious. There are many studies which have proven that sleep helps us organize our thoughts. That is why we are able to wake up with a fresh perspective on certain matters. Such research has been conducted, among others, at Harvard.

Let us now go in a slightly opposite direction from the previous point: fatigue helps us create unusual associations, which contributes to creative processes. When exhausted, our mind wanders away and “escapes” from challenges at hand. At that particular moment, we are able to come up with ideas that we would have not been able to think of when rested because our mind will combine two very distant notions.   Creativity training methods. Examples used in games and fun activities.   Games and fun activities are the perfect way to develop one’s creativity. In this case, it refers both to participants of the games as well as people who created them.   Method no. 1 – Brainstorming. Depending on the group with which we want to organize a game or activity, it might be useful to rely on various types of brainstorming. I recommend learning about models such as the 635 Method or the Philips 66 Method. Brainstorming as such usually stands for a group discussion concerning a specific issue/problem, presentation of different variants of solutions along with a conversation about a particular topic. Brainstorming games and activities which develop creativity, with a dose of integration and fun:

1. Fun activity – All the news – Read here
2. Game – Prop – Read here
3. Fun activity – What would you take to?  From a set of listed items, the group must choose ones that they would take, for instance, to a deserted island in order to survive; they must justify their decision. Next, groups compare their choices and discuss various situations and decisions depending on the place.

  Method no. 2 – the inversion technique. In this case, we create a game by giving the group or individual participants a problem or a simple sentence that must be “inverted” as many times as possible. Depending on the age of the participants, we can adjust the issue e.g.,  For the youngest: – Sentence: “To sit more at the computer”. We try to “invert” the sentence, for example: – To sit less at the computer – To not sit at the computer at all – To stand by the computer. – To sit outside.   For slightly older kids: – To throw out garbage anywhere you like. Reply: – To throw out garbage to a dumpster – To not generate trash – To refrain from throwing out garbage anywhere you like. – To pick up trash from places where they should not be lying around   In such a way, we can also try finding ideas to solve more complicated problems: – How can we reduce air pollution? Let us now invert the sentence to “How can we increase air pollution”. We create a table. One column will be for ideas connected with the inverted sentences such as “By discouraging people from using public transport”, while the other column will contain the complete opposite of that sentence, for example “By creating advertisements encouraging people to use public transport instead of cars, By improving buses so that people will be more prone to use them”, etc.   With such a framework, creation of a “game” becomes easy. We decide on the groups, come up with an issue, give time for the brainstorming and on we go! You can add points for reasonable ideas or a mutual point assignment system for the most valuable ideas.   Method no. 3 – Morphological analysis.   In this case, we divide one issue/problem/question into individual components. Each element is assigned with several “solutions” and then we draw one solution from each part, creating something unusual.   A game in which we divide an item into several parts e.g., a bicycle into wheels, frame and handlebar, might serve as a perfect example. In such a game, every group/participant writes down features of each part on individual pieces of paper, for example: Wheels can be golden, shiny, rubber, huge; the frame can be square-shaped, heart-shaped, flexible, with a spot to attach your backpack; the handlebar can be with brakes in form of a button, bent to be shaped like letter M, etc.  Next, we draw one piece of paper from each part and, as a result, we create a new, absurd project!   Other games that utilize this method are, for example

The sketch

–https://gamionary.pl/gry/merry-notes/?lang=en     Method no. 4 – Creation of inventions   This method is quite obvious and standard; we provide participants with certain resources and they must use them to create an “invention” to solve a particular problem. Examples of games:   – https://gamionary.com/gry/spaghetti-tower/ – https://gamionary.com/gry/bridge-building/ – https://gamionary.com/gry/balloon-in-the-water/     Creativity in games and activities is unlimited. If you are looking for ideas for games and activities that will be helpful in developing creative thinking, check out our browser of games and activities If you are looking for videos with original games and fun activities, I recommend visiting our YouTube channel.