Handout
- Fairy Tale Time Handout
Time
60 minutesRelated Activities
- A Likely Story [15]
- Tabloid Tales [47]
- Super Heroes [80]
Procedure
- Distribute the Fairy Tale Time Handout and copies of the fairy tales, review the
exercise example with the participants, and answer any questions they may have. - Tell participants to select one of the fairy tales and have one person read it aloud.
- Have them write down, on the flip chart, the story’s major elements (characters,
actions, dialogue, plot, morals, events). - Instruct them to use these elements as stimuli for triggering ideas.
- Tell them to write down any ideas on Post-it®Notes (one idea per note) and place
them on flip charts for evaluation.
Debrief/Discussion
One major advantage of this technique is that it can allow a group to really express its cre-
ativity in developing a story or playing off of a known fairy tale. The fact that most fairy
tales are unrelated to most problem challenges can help produce unique perspectives. If
time is available, ask the participants if they think it would be more productive to make
up their own fairy tales, modify existing ones, or use existing ones without changing
them. Have them discuss why any such preferences might exist.
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?
Free Association Activities: “Blue Skies” 185
101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving.Copyright © 2005 by John Wiley &
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