Child’s Play (for GrownUps):
We had a great response after our List of 100 Challenge last week, but this week we’re switching gears back to a simpler concept that is doable on a daily basis, in just a few minutes. Â These are so easy and so attainable that we’ll give you two ideas. Â The goal, to think simply and let your mind wander, which is so easy for a child, but increasingly difficult as we age and the stresses of everyday life creep in.
Materials: Paper and writing instrument
Take a piece of paper and draw a line. Â It can be a squiggly line or an abstract shape. Â Better yet, have someone else draw a line for you. Â Your job is to use that line as the starting point for a drawing. Â Is is a car, an animal or a building? Â Maybe a tree, shoe or a newspaper. Let your mind see the line and complete the drawing for you, before you ever put pen to paper. Â The mind has an incredible ability to make order where there is none. The work is done automatically, you just have to tune into it. Â A really nice, albeit more professional view of this exercise can be found here, or maybe you can create something like my personal favorite, the wine fairy.
2.) Silly Stories (time: 5 minutes+)
Silly stories are fun to do with kids, but can be even more fun with a group of friends over dinner or drinks. One person chooses aÂ character, another a setting, another a problem, supporting characters, etc. Â Then it is your job, or possibly a group effort to create a narrative around those people and situations. This can also be done really well when one person begins by making up a sentence or two and then the story is “passed” to another person who adds a line or two, and so on.
Of course, your stories are bound to be VERY different depending on if your helpers are kids or adults, but fun nonetheless.
As always, the goal of the weekly creativity challenge is to get you to think outside of yourself, re-capture some of the freshness of childhood thinking and lose your inhibitions. There is no wrong answer, just a hell of a lot of fun to explore and theÂ possibilityÂ that you may just see things in a new light.