101 Activities For Teaching Creativity And Problem Solving

Procedure

1. Tell participants that the objective of this exercise is to develop the most improba-
   ble idea and that whoever suggests the least probable idea wins the game.


2. Have each group select a leader and give each leader a pad of Post-it®Notes.


3. Ask the leaders in each group to assign to each group member—including them-
   selves—a consecutive number beginning with “1.” Thus, if there were five mem-
   bers, they would use the numbers 1 to 5.


4. Tell each group member to buy one of the numbered (but otherwise blank) notes
   from the leader at one cent each and write their assigned numbers in the upper
   right-hand corner of the note (for identification later).


5. Instruct all participants to write, on the notes they just purchased, the most
   improbable idea they can imagine.


6. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 until at least five notes have been purchased by each person
   and one idea has been written on each one.


7. Once all ideas are written, tell them to place their notes on the flip chart for the
   entire group to read.


8. Tell the groups to study all ideas as individuals, and think of ways to make them
   more practical to reduce the idea owner’s chances of winning. Note that they may
   not talk during this activity.


9. Instruct them to write down any new or more practical ideas on Post-it®Notes
   and place them at the bottom of the flip-chart paper or on another sheet.


10. After 15 to 20 minutes, ask the group members to vote for the two most improba-
    ble ideas. The person whose idea receives the most votes is awarded the money
    that was exchanged for the cards.


11. Divide each group into two subgroups, and give each subgroup one-half of the
    Post-its (with the ideas written on them).


12. Have the groups use these ideas to stimulate a minimum of six practical problem
    solutions.


13. After 20 minutes, have each group try to “sell” its ideas to another group and for
    both groups to try to agree on a final list of the best ideas. (This step is optional, of
    course, if there is only one group.)


14. Have them write down their ideas on Post-it®Notes (one idea per note) and place
    them on flip charts for evaluation.

Debrief/Discussion

The Name Game provides competition to motivate group members and is unique in that

it uses impractical ideas as a source for practical solutions. Improbable ideas (which are

also used as the basis for the Get Real!! activity [60]) have great potential to trigger work-

able ideas. If time is available, you might ask the participants to discuss the somewhat

paradoxical value of impractical ideas and why it exists. That is, impractical ideas

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