101 Activities For Teaching Creativity And Problem Solving

59. Drawing Room

Background

You have probably browsed in a museum at one time or another. On a visit to a museum

in Washington, D.C. (the Phillips Collection), I was struck with the variety of ideas

expressed by the paintings from different periods: a Picasso from his blue period commu-

nicated some degree of depression, a Renoir showed a group of people enjoying them-

selves at a boating party luncheon, and a Degas showed ballet dancers preparing to

perform. Of course, these are just my subjective impressions. You may not agree with

what I see and experience. And that’s just fine.

The paintings provide rich sources of stimulation to help us interpret and understand

our world. Groups can use this principle of visual stimulation to generate ideas and have

fun at the same time.

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), four sheets of 8.5” x 11” white paper, at least four crayons of different
  colors, and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it®Notes

Time

30 minutes

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