101 Activities For Teaching Creativity And Problem Solving

Procedure

1. Distribute to each group one grocery bag containing the items listed above.


2. Tell the participants that one group member should reach into the bag without
   looking and retrieve one item.


3. Instruct all of the group members to describe the characteristics and traits of the
   item and then use them to trigger ideas.


4. Have them write down all ideas on Post-it®Notes (one idea per note) and place
   them on a flip chart for evaluation.


5. Tell them to have another group member select a second item and use it to sug-
   gest ideas and record the ideas as described in Steps 3 and 4.


6. Have the groups continue this process until they have used all of the items in their
   bags or all members have selected at least one item to use for stimulation.

Debrief/Discussion

As mentioned, Grab Bag Forced Association is similar to “Tickler Things” [21] in that it

uses unrelated stimulus objects to help groups generate ideas. However, instead of the

groups thinking of objects to use, the Grab Bag approach provides the objects and allows

them to be selected randomly. In this respect, it is more of a “hands on” activity because

the group members actually touch the objects. It also introduces an element of surprise

that can be conducive to a creative climate within the groups.

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?

310 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving

10 VG 295-328 10/6/04 1:05 PM Page 310