101 Activities For Teaching Creativity And Problem Solving

101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving.Copyright © 2005 by John Wiley &

Sons, Inc. Reproduced by permission of Pfeiffer, an Imprint of Wiley. http://www.pfeiffer.com

6. Idea Diary

Background

Ideas are fleeting creatures. Sometimes they dart by and we capture

them easily; other times they are more elusive and slip away into

nothingness. Now they’re here, now they’re not.

The mind works in mysterious ways. We often think of ideas at

the darndest times—in the shower, right before we fall asleep, right

after we wake up, while driving, while talking with a friend, or

even when working on an unrelated problem. Trouble arises when

we can’t remember these ideas. One solution to this problem is to

begin an idea diary—a book or journal designed solely to record

random ideas.

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


• One small notebook and pen or pencil for each participant
  •(Optional) PDA, computer, voice recorder, Internet group idea-capturing websites (for
  example, http://www.groups.yahoo.com),,) or other devices to record ideas

Time

45 minutes

Basic Idea Generation: “No-Brainers” 55

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