Creative Thinking Icebreakers and Energisers

Time:
This exercise will take about 10 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 20 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To explain what brainstorming involves.
• To identify some key 'rules' for effective brainstorming

Group Size:
Suitable for use with groups of almost any size.

You'll Need:
• A selection of household items like a toothbrush or coat hanger.
• Flipchart paper and pens.

Notes:
A small prize for the winning team would be a nice touch.

Time:
This exercise will take about 30 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 40 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To provide participants with a challenge that tests participants’ abilities to work together to solve a problem.

Group Size:
Suitable for use with groups of any size.

Useful For:
Staff at all levels, especially those working together in teams (or who soon will be).

You'll Need:
• Plenty of clear space for the activity and a way of marking the start and finish line of the racetrack.

And for each team:
• Two postal tubes (stoppers removed).
• Two golf balls.
• Six eggs.
• A flipchart pen.

Notes:
This training activity can get messy, so it is best run outside in an open space.

You should also check if any participants have an allergy to eggs. If so, they can assist you in observing.

Time:
This exercise will take about 5 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 10 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To illustrate how assumptions about the nature of a task or problem can get in the way of finding solutions.
• To explore how creativity can help solve problems and encourage continuous improvement.

Group Size:
This module is suitable for use with groups of almost any size.

You'll Need:
One inflated balloon. (We recommend having a couple of spares.)

Notes:
We’d like to thank Resli Costabell for inspiring this icebreaker.

Time:
This exercise will take about 10 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 15 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To provide further information about the capacity of the human brain.
• To challenge some of the myths surrounding intelligence.

Group Size:
This module is suitable for use with groups of any size.

You'll Need:
• A small prize for the winning team.
• A stopwatch to time the quiz accurately.

Time:
This exercise will take about 15 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 30 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To encourage participants to think about where things go wrong.
• To identify behaviours to avoid.
• To encourage discussion about the behaviour(s) being explored in the following training.

Group Size:
This module can be used with groups of up to 24 participants.

Useful For:
Staff at all levels.

You'll Need:
• Enough space for small teams to work separately.

Remote/Virtual Delivery:
There is a Remote Delivery version of this module available in Trainers’ Library.

Time:
This exercise will take about 25 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 30 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To welcome the participants.
• To introduce the facilitator(s) and participants to each other.
• To introduce the facilities.
• To agree the course objectives and timetable.

Group Size:
This module is suitable for use with groups of almost any size.

You'll Need:
Nothing, other than the materials provided.

Time:
This exercise will take about 15 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 20 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To allow participants to articulate their own ideas about their strengths and what they can bring to the group.
• To understand how others in the group think of themselves and their strengths.

Group Size:
Suitable for use with groups of almost any size.

You'll Need:
• A box of random items – enough to give every participant a choice.

Notes:
This is a great exercise to use where you want to encourage participants to think creatively.

Time:
This exercise will take about 5 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 25 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• Explore how participants can take a more creative approach to problem solving.
• Demonstrate a creative way for participants to share their workplace challenges.

Group Size:
This activity can be used with groups of between 25 participants.

Useful For:
Anyone.

You'll Need:
• A selection of drawing equipment for each participant.
• A blindfold for each participant (optional).

Notes:
This icebreaker is designed to be run at the start of a session to encourage your participants to take a more creative approach to problem solving.

You’ll need to contact participants a few days prior to the session to ask them to think about any work-based challenges they face and to record their top three to bring with them.

Remote/Virtual Delivery:
There is a Remote Delivery version of this module available in Trainers’ Library.

Time:
This exercise will take about 10 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 15 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To help participants identify some of the key themes they’ll be exploring in the forthcoming training around creative thinking.

Group Size:
This module is suitable for use with groups of almost any size.

Useful For:
Anyone attending a course or workshop that focuses on creative thinking.

You'll Need:
• A printed copy of the large (A3) Trainer version of the Word Search grid provided, affixed to a flipchart.

Notes:
A small prize for the winning team would be nice, though not essential.

Time:
This exercise will take about 10 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 20 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To encourage participants to think laterally about a problem.
• To encourage participants to work together in order to simplify a task and achieve a better result.

Group Size:
This module can be used with groups of up to 25 participants.

You'll Need:
• Soft balls (4-6 will do).
• A bucket.
• 2 large large newspapers (rolled up).
• 2 blindfolds.

Notes:
You can run this outside, or inside if you’ve sufficient space.

Time:
This exercise will take about 20 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 30 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To test participants’ abilities to work together to complete a challenge.

Group Size:
This module can be used with groups of up to 25 participants.

Useful For:
Staff at all levels, especially those working together in teams (or who soon will be).

You'll Need:
• Plenty of clear space for the activity and a way of marking the start and finish line of the racetrack. (Outside is best.)

And for each team:
• Two postal tubes (stoppers removed).
• A golf ball.
• A flipchart pen.

Notes:
A small prize for the winning team would be a nice touch.

For a similar activity, with a different approach, you might like to look at An Eggs-acting Challenge - Creating a Winning Strategy.

Time:
This exercise will take about 10 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 15 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To encourage participants to think differently.
• To encourage participants to consider the uses of sense other than sight.
• To enable participants to describe themselves and each other using creative analogies.

Group Size:
This module is suitable for use with groups of up to 25 participants.

You'll Need:
• A pre-prepared flipchart with the questions written on it.

Time:
This exercise will take about 20 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 40 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To develop participant’s brainstorming skills.
• To identify what changes participants would like to see within their team/department.
• To explore how participants can make those changes possible.

Group Size:
This icebreaker can be used with groups of up to 24 participants.

Useful For:
Existing teams.

You'll Need:
• Flipchart paper and pens.
• Enough green sticky dots for participants to have three each. (If you are unable to source sticky dots, a green marker pen for every participant will work too.)

Notes:
This module is designed for situations where your participants work together in the same team. It can be run as a stand-alone exercise on brainstorming, or as part of a session looking to develop the continuous improvement skills of a team.

Remote/Virtual Delivery:
There is a Remote Delivery version of this module available in Trainers’ Library.

Time:
This exercise will take about 10 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 15 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To encourage participants to think creatively.
• To help participants feel more confident in their ability to think creatively.
• To recognise the positive impact another person’s ideas can have on our own thoughts.

Group Size:
Suitable for use with groups of almost any size.

You'll Need:
• Enough cards for 1 for every pair of participants.

Notes:
A great exercise to energise a group at the start of a creative thinking or problem solving workshop, or to re-energise them after a break. Larger groups may require duplicate cards and a longer running time.

Time:
This exercise will take about 5 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 10 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To get participants in the right mindset for thinking creatively or embracing new ideas.

Group Size:
This module can be used with groups of almost any size.

Useful For:
Staff at all levels.

You'll Need:
• A newspaper.
• Flipchart paper and pens.

Notes:
Small prizes for the winners would be a nice touch.

Time:
This exercise will take about 10 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 30 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To identify key areas of concern to participants.
• To help identify key priorities and learning objectives.
• To discuss what barriers to success the training might help participants overcome.

Group Size:
This module can be used with groups of up to 25 participants.

Useful For:
Staff at all levels.

You'll Need:
• One set of Road Signs cards for each team in play.

Notes:
This activity can be used a starting point for any behaviour-based training and is a powerful way to explore participants’ current perceptions and concerns that the training might help them address.

Remote/Virtual Delivery:
There is a Remote Delivery version of this module available in Trainers’ Library.

Time:
This exercise will take about 10 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 15 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To introduce different styles of information gathering.
• To understand that we all have a different viewpoint or perspective.

Group Size:
This module can be used with groups of almost any size.

You'll Need:
• A single apple (or other type of fruit) for your participants to see.

Time:
This exercise will take about 10 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 15 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To explore how assumptions and previous experiences can prevent us from thinking clearly about a challenge.

Group Size:
Suitable for use with groups of almost any size.

You'll Need:
• We have provided a PowerPoint slide for the riddle, alternatively you can write it up in advance on a flipchart.

Time:
This exercise will take about 10 minutes to run. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 15 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To help participants understand the benefits of working with others when tackling problems and challenges.
• To explain why taking time to nurture ideas helps us to tell the good ideas from the bad ones.

Group Size:
This module is suitable for use with groups of almost any size.

You'll Need:
Nothing, other than the materials provided.

Time:
This exercise will take about 10 minutes to complete. In total, allowing for discussion, we recommend allowing 15 minutes for completion.

Aims:
• To encourage participants to think about their preferred thinking style.

Group Size:
This module is suitable for use with groups of almost any size.

You'll Need:
• Nothing other than the materials provided.