101 Activities For Teaching Creativity And Problem Solving

74. Force-Fit Game

Background

Even the best groups sometimes have trouble generating ideas. Idea generation activities

usually help when this occurs. There are times, however, when even basic idea generation

activities fail, such as when a group simply lacks the necessary motivation. Thus, it’s not

so much the fault of the activity as it is the people.

One way to motivate groups under these circumstances is to introduce a little friendly

competition. Brain Splitter [73] does this a little, but competition is not included as a basic

mechanism. (Force-Fit Game is similar to Brain Splitter, however, in that each technique

generates ideas from stimulation provided by both practical and impractical ideas.) To

ensure competition, you have to use a procedure based on competitive elements. And

that’s exactly what the Force-Fit Game does as developed by Helmut Schlicksupp (in

Warfield, Geschka, and Hamilton, 1975).

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

Time

45 minutes

306 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving

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