101 Activities For Teaching Creativity And Problem Solving

Free Association Activities: “Blue Skies” 189

41. Idea Links

Background

We all generate ideas using free association. In fact, many of the activities in this book are

based on it. We generate one idea, use it to generate another idea, use it for another, and

so forth until we have generated all we can or that time allows. Unlike other free-associa-

tion activities, however, Idea Links requires free association in a specific direction, begin-

ning with the action verb and working toward the object in the challenge statement. The

goal is to direct associations to end up with a link to the object.

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

Handout

• Idea Links Handout

Time

20 minutes

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