101 Activities For Teaching Creativity And Problem Solving

43. Lotus Blossom

Background

The lotus is a pinkish water lily. As with most flowers, lotus blossom petals are nested

together. Numerous petals radiate outward from the center, in ever-widening circles. One

petal leads to the next and so forth, just like free association. Perhaps there is the making

of an idea generation technique here!

This technique takes advantage of visualization, free association, and a structured

approach to creating idea stimuli. Yasuo Matsumura, president of Clover Management

Research (Chiba City, Japan) developed the Lotus Blossom Method of generating ideas

(also called the MY technique, after his Japanese initials).

Objectives

• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible


• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants

Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials, Supplies, and Equipment

• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart
  sheets


• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots
  (^1 ⁄ 2 ” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it®Notes

Handout

• Lotus Blossom Handout

Time

30 minutes

196 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving

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