101 Activities For Teaching Creativity And Problem Solving

Chapter 4

Basic Idea Generation:

“No-Brainers”

Y

ou have probably heard the expression “That’s a real no-brainer!” In case you haven’t,

a no-brainer is an activity that requires little mental effort or ability. (It doesn’t mean

you don’t need a brain!) Traditional or classical idea generation typically is considered to

be a type of no-brainer in that it relies on whatever ideas we can call up without deliber-

ate use of stimuli.

Depending on your creative thinking ability, basic idea generation activities may or

may not work as well as other activities. This doesn’t mean they lack the potential for

yielding blockbuster ideas. All idea generation approaches have that potential. You’ll just

have to experiment with activities from different categories to determine the best ones for

you. You also should explore the activity selection guide described in Chapter 2. (Remem-

ber, the activities in this part of the book can be used by either individuals or groups.)

NOTE: FOR ALL ACTIVITIES, REMIND PARTICIPANTS

TO DEFER JUDGMENT WHILE GENERATING IDEAS.

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