101 Activities For Teaching Creativity And Problem Solving

Procedure

1. Instruct all group members to take a sheet of 8.5” x 11” paper and tape two pieces
of 4-inch-long masking tape—about 5 inches apart—on the top of the sheet, allow-
ing at least two inches of tape to hang over the edge and two inches on the paper.

2. Tell them to write down one idea at the top of the sheet where the pieces of tape
are located.

3. Have them ask another group member to tape the sheet high on their backs.
4. Instruct all participants from all groups to walk around the room reading the

ideas on each other’s backs and use these ideas as stimuli to generate new ideas.
5. Tell them that, when they think of an idea, they should write it on the paper

attached to the other person’s back. Caution them to be careful that ink does not
bleed through to clothing!
6. After about 10 to 15 minutes of this activity, have the participants return to their
groups, remove the papers from their backs, and record each idea on a Post-it®
Note.
7. Tell them to place the notes on a flip chart, pick their favorite ideas, and then
brainstorm any new ones, writing each one on a new Post-it® Note (one idea per
note).

Debrief/Discussion

This can be a fun, energizing activity that will work well after lunch or at the end of a day.
Just walking around and getting out of chairs can provide the energy required to spark
additional ideas. The brainwriting involved helps ensure a fairly large number of ideas in
relatively little time. And the brainstorming at the end allows group members to interact
verbally and possibly generate more ideas. If the participants have experienced any other
brainwriting activities, ask them to compare them with this one.

Also consider having participants debrief using the following questions:

• What was most helpful about this exercise?
• What was most challenging?
• What can we apply?
• How would you rate the value of this exercise to helping us with this issue?
• Will this exercise be helpful in the future for other sessions?
• What did you learn?
• What will we be able to use from this exercise?
• What ideas were generated, and which ones were most interesting?

101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving. Copyright © 2005 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Repro-
duced by permission of Pfeiffer, an Imprint of Wiley. www.pfeiffer.com

388 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving

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References

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101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving. Copyright © 2005 by John Wiley &
Sons, Inc. Reproduced by permission of Pfeiffer, an Imprint of Wiley. www.pfeiffer.com

390 References

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About the Author

Arthur B. VanGundy, Ph.D., is considered a pioneer in his work on idea generation tech-
niques and has written twelve books, including Idea Power: How to Unleash the Creativity in
Your Organization, 101 Great Games & Activities, and Orchestrating Collaboration at Work:
Using Music, Improv, Storytelling, and Other Arts to Improve Teamwork. He founded All Star
Minds, a global Internet “e-storming” business and specializes in facilitating brainstorm-
ing retreats for new products, processes, and services, as well as providing training in cre-
ative problem solving. He has received leadership service awards from the Creative
Education Foundation and the Singapore government.

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In addition to its extensive book-publishing program, Pfeiffer offers content in an array of formats, from
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fieldbooks are companions to another, sometimes earlier, work, from which its ideas are derived; the fieldbook
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More likely, though, you’ll find yourself bouncing around following a particular theme, or dipping in as the
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