100 Days of Play: Creative Thinking Fun

Providing regular opportunities for children to think creatively encourages them to be receptive to innovation and invention, and to be open to alternatives when learning, solving problems and facing new situations. This simple game encourages children to brainstorm and use divergent thinking as they attempt to think of many different ways of using a common object, such as a scarf, ball, or in the example below, a cardboard tube.

Immy had been playing with a cardboard tube, pretending it was a telescope, for quite a while. As her initial interest in the tube began to wane I said, “I have been watching you using the tube as a telescope, it looked like you were having so much fun. Which made me wonder, what else could you imagine it to be?”

In no time at all she had come up with ten different potential uses, each accompanied by an enthusiastic demonstration of how the cardboard tube would indeed function in its new role;

It really is a very simple, spontaneous game and it can be lots of fun – don’t be afraid to give it a go yourself. Be sure to actually give the child the object to hold and move with as they play. Be open to all of the child’s responses, no matter how out there they might appear (I am still not quite sure what a teeth sharpener is!), and be aware that (depending upon the age of your child) you might need to join in with a few suggestions as they get used to the idea of the game. For older children you might like to start with, “In one minute tell me as many different uses as you can for this _____” or “Can you think of five/ten/twelve different uses for this ____?”