How to develop creativity and creative thinking, TOP 16 exercises

Development of creativity

Creative thinking is necessary not only for people whose profession is related to art. The ability to think creatively and unconventionally helps a person in solving everyday problems, allows them to feel free, get out of hackneyed patterns, and see opportunities where others see shortcomings. How to develop creativity and creative thinking? This is what the article is about.

A person is considered to have creative thinking if:

There is originality in his actions or thinking. He can create something unique and fundamentally new. He knows how to look for new opportunities even where, according to a person with ordinary thinking, they cannot exist. Creativity test: take one problem and find at least 20 ways to solve it within 15 minutes.
There is flexibility, the ability to expand your perception, to see uniqueness in the ordinary. Everyone's levels of creativity are different, but in general these qualities should be present.
There is the ability to generate different points of view. Factors and conditions do not matter in this case.
There is the ability to quickly switch from one thought to another without compromising quality.

Creativity trainer for adults, TOP 6 exercises

Creativity trainer for adults

Since creativity is the ability to find something new, it is not surprising that all the proposed exercises are aimed at developing this particular trait and broadening one’s horizons. The age of development of creativity is unlimited, so both children and adults can practice.

Associations

This exercise is done like this. You need to name 4 words at random, and then come up with a criterion according to which one of them will be redundant. For example: the words “parrot”, “chair”, “minced meat”, “river”.

Criterion No. 1: The river is superfluous, because a parrot, a chair, minced meat can be in the house, but the river cannot.

Criterion No. 2: The river is superfluous because it is a liquid, and all other objects are not.

Criterion No. 3: River is superfluous, because it is the only word that is feminine.

More complex association options

You need to make a list of 5 words, and then take the first and each subsequent word and find the commonality in them.
Quickly, on the go, name 6 words, and then divide them into two columns according to one of the characteristics.
Create a table of contents for a future article using any three words named at random. Then close your eyes and choose two words at random. With these words, on the fly, come up with a crime scene. Next, add a couple more words that will become evidence to solve the crime.

Questions

The question method is also great for developing creative thinking. You can do everything: refute hackneyed truths, reflect on history, be interested in the fate of humanity. You need to ask questions like these more often:

Why exactly this way and not another way? It will help you get to the bottom of things and understand your motivation.
Why not? Helps to reveal prohibitions, restrictions on the threshold to the positive.
And if? Helps broaden your horizons and get away from hackneyed truths.

Maximum possibilities

Sometimes, if a person sees a good opportunity, he grabs it with a death grip. At this point, the door of his thinking slams shut, and all potential options disappear in the bud. The task is to remove this barrier, achieve a selection of ideas, and then choose the best. That is, you just need to generate ideas, think through all the possibilities without emotions as to whether they are good or not. It is better to start training your thinking with trifles, and then move on to serious tasks.

Come up with 50 ways to use an empty plastic sour cream container.
Find 100 ways to title a text.

Mental maps

Compiling mind cards will help you see new connections in a large piece of information. Grouped key concepts will help to structure, bring into a system, and then find new associations in the whole picture. The algorithm is as follows:

Take blank A4 sheets, multi-colored markers and pencils.
Place the paper horizontally.
In the center you need to depict an exciting question in the form of some kind of sign.
Draw rays from this sign in the form of lines. There should be a lot of rays, at least 10.
On each line write the main solutions and ideas.
To each ray you need to add associative words and concepts.
Evaluate the result, try to find new relationships.
Analyze the picture as a whole, connect with arrows what inspired new solutions.
Cross out what is unnecessary.

6 words

You need to write down the essence of the problem in one sentence of six words. For example: “Pass driving exams with excellent marks,” “Master computer technology in a year of study.” Everything needs to be done clearly and quickly, and then this task must be implemented.

Associative exercises to develop creativity

As you know, everything new is well forgotten old. To create something original, you don't need to reinvent the wheel. You just need to find new connections between existing components. In this case, the best helpers are associations.

Task 1. A well-known technique for creating new uses for an ordinary item. Usually they suggest finding non-standard uses for a ballpoint pen or pencil. Try playing with the objects that surround you every day. For example, books can not only be read, but also made into a hiding place or a decorative element.

Task 2. For this exercise you will need a book, dictionary or just a magazine. Open any page and choose a random word. Write it down. Do the same thing again. Match the words with associations and try to find a pattern or distant connection between them. You can come up with a short story with them or decipher each one as an abbreviation. To improve the result, it is recommended to complete the task in pairs or in a group to hear the opinions of others.

Creativity trainer for children, TOP 10 exercises

Creativity trainer for children

The principle of working with children: everything should be bright, interesting and in the form of a game. Children have good memories, but they get tired when they get bored. If it is interesting, children will join the game with pleasure and will develop. Since children are initially more open and flexible than adults, it will be much easier for them to reveal their creative potential.

For the development of imagination

You need to invent something that doesn't exist. It can be anything, even the most crazy ideas.

Encourage your child to imagine himself as a pilot or captain of a ship. What would he do in case of danger?

Make the baby move to some era of the past or future. What is going to be there? What kind of clothing, language, interior, historical events and objects? What would he do, for example, if he, a stranger, needed to survive in this environment?

Association method

Encourage your child to look at the clouds. And then say out loud what they look like. Perhaps the child will see animals, faces, facial expressions or plants.

3 magical colors

Take a palette of colors and invite your child to choose three shades that, in his opinion, go together. Then fill blank paper with these paints at random. At the end of the exercise, tell what the randomly painted sheet looks like.

Construction

No constructor needed. You need circles, squares and other shapes made of colored paper. Children will use them to put together pictures, figurines, houses and whatever they want.

Inventor

You need to name any two objects, and then dream about how they can be combined for benefit. For example, using a flashlight with keys to a lock, you can create a device that allows you to open doors in the dark.

Finish the drawing

You need to prepare sheets with half-drawn figures, plants, objects and ask your child to complete them.

Drawing to music

You can play your child something from the classics and ask him to close his eyes. And then ask what pictures and associations the music evokes. Then ask him to draw what he saw.

Continue the metaphor

This exercise is also suitable for little ones. The child will have to complete the comparison based on the principle of associations. For example:

squeaks piercingly like...
hungry as...
smart as...
reliable as...
red like...

Make one book with another

This method is suitable for older children. You need to name at random two works of different style and genre, and then ask the child to “transfer” the characters from one book to another. You can also change the course of an event, “throw” the plot from book to book, or add something. At the same time, you can mix fantasy and historical novels, fairy tales and stories, heroes of the 18th century and heroes of our time.

Continue the story

This exercise can be done in a group. The presenter begins to come up with a story, then stops mid-sentence and shouts out the first word that comes to his mind.

The next participant continues the story, but precisely from this word. After a piece of narration, he shouts out another word, foreign to this creation. The next participant continues again and so on.

Thinking Traps

Our mind is designed in such a way that when solving any problem, it begins to choose the simplest solution, which is usually a template or past experience.

This is one of the traps of thinking.

For greater understanding, I will talk about how we make decisions.

A Western scientist named Kahneman received the Nobel Prize for discovering how our minds make decisions, he wrote the book “Thinking Slow, Decide Fast.”

According to his research, we have two systems of thinking:

Autopilot

– acts instantly and makes decisions based on past experience. We make decisions quickly and out of habit

Pilot

– conscious mind, when we think about everything, we weigh it.

If we trace our lives, we will see that we spend 90% of our time on autopilot, a side effect of this is fluency of perception and simplified assessment.

When we start asking a question, we usually get an answer based on a simplified assessment; this is where Autopilot comes into play.

As in my example with cutting the cake, the answer comes immediately, we don’t understand how to cut a cake into 8 pieces in three movements, this is not investing in the standard, fluency of perception does not allow us to come up with other options.

Only when we start to tense up, force Autopilot to turn off and think consciously, do we see that there is actually not one option, but we can find 10 ways to do it.

To successfully develop your creative solution, you must learn to avoid thinking traps.

You now know that you mostly operate on autopilot, so you don’t always make informed decisions. Therefore, in order to reach a creative level, you need to force your mind to work consciously, set a goal for it and think about it.

The ideal option for this is Picasso’s method, which I described above in the article; it’s not for nothing that this great artist used it. Apply it in your life and you will be able to overcome obstacles and thinking traps and be able to find unusual solutions that will allow you to succeed

Tips during the training process

Tips during the training process

In order for the development of creative potential to occur automatically and the exercises to be more effective, you need to follow these points:

Be able to refuse. That is, do not grab the first idea, but put it aside and follow further with new options.
Be able to distract yourself. That is, putting the problem aside, and then, with fresh thoughts, deal with it again.
Don't be afraid to be funny . Any thought, even a crazy one, must be collected carefully as possible, at least theoretically. Developing creativity begins with the ability to believe in the impossible. Suffice it to remember that once “iron birds flying across the sky” were considered a sign of insanity.
A fundamental rejection of the usual , using the motto. "It happened before. What else can you offer?
Praise yourself even for small improvements . This is important because a satisfied brain becomes more accommodating and is not afraid to break away from reality.

Training for the mind. Collection of tasks and puzzles.

There are things that you need to develop in yourself on your own.

This is not taught at school or college; creative abilities need to be developed on your own. This may not happen by itself, the same as learning to play the piano using your natural musical abilities will be very difficult on your own. You will need an instructor or training program.

Likewise, with the development of your thinking system, you need a training program and constant training to reach a higher level.

I also recommend solving puzzles. Try to think outside the box.

10 puzzles.

Nice bonus

Nice bonus

The brain of a trained person allows him not only to be quick-witted and quickly solve problems. In adults, exercise develops balance and endurance, and a trained person’s mood improves. There is also healthy self-confidence and self-esteem.

In children, exercises develop memory, ingenuity, interest in learning and a rich imagination.

How to develop creativity and creative thinking? Regularly perform the above training to develop creativity and creative abilities. The main condition is regularity. At the same time, you can train anywhere. As soon as you have even a minute of time: in transport, in a traffic jam, in line to see the doctor, before going to bed, or vice versa, early in the morning. All technologies and techniques are effective, you just need to implement them. Within a month of training, the first results will be noticeable, and after a year, a trained person will radically change his life for the better.

Why develop creativity

Our brain by nature is designed to think according to a template and follow the majority. But with the development of creative thinking, a person begins to think completely differently. Instead of standard solutions to problems, our mind begins to produce completely new ideas. This applies not only to professional activities, but also to everyday affairs.

So creativity is important in many areas, for example, to attract new customers, optimize work processes, increase profits, and so on. That's why the value of this skill is growing so quickly.

Just like intelligence level, creativity level can be determined. They do not depend on each other in any way. Every person has their own potential. And with proper attention and persistence, you can undoubtedly develop creative thinking.

The ability to see the implicit properties of objects

We continue to fight stereotyped behavior and move away from clichés and stereotypes in thinking. This time we use the method of breaking the pattern, that is, we perform an unexpected action that can break the logic of habitual thinking and lead to new ideas.

How to develop. To create such a shift in perception, we make a statement regarding the object of our attention, which in some way changes the object itself or its characteristic. Remember, in childhood, several stools and a chair turned into a train with carriages, and flower buds and pods became ladies and gentlemen at the ball? There is a similar principle here.

Example. Let's take a brick as an object. What are its implicit properties? With its help you can draw a perpendicular line, because the brick has right angles. You can also use it to draw on the asphalt—that’s what we did when we were kids. You can use a brick to prop up the door so that it does not close. Two bricks are an almost ready-made goal for playing football in the yard. Your turn, continue.

How to become an interesting conversationalist

In order to develop creativity in speech, there are also interesting, simple exercises. In addition, doing them will lift your spirits for a long time.

Try to think out loud about the most incredible topics. This exercise is conventionally called “What would happen if...”. Tell us about what would happen if the earth were flat and chairs flew away to warmer climes for the winter. It is desirable that the story be coherent and with interesting details.
Imagine that you need to compile an explanatory dictionary and come up with your own definition for all objects and phenomena. You can not limit yourself to one sentence, but write a short story. The main thing is that the meaning of the word being described becomes clear. Start with simple objects and gradually move on to abstract ones.
Exercise “Word-phrase”. During the day, have fun coming up with a phrase for an abstract word, the words of which will begin with the letters of that word. The phrase should be coherent and grammatically correct.

9.Notebook with scribbles (doodle)

Are you a visual thinker? Keep a small notebook handy where you can scribble and draw at any time, for example, during a telephone conversation. According to a study published in the scientific journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, such drawing can help a person concentrate and improve memory, as it evenly distributes brain activity between “thinking a lot” and “thinking little.”

Just remember the small drawings by A.S. Pushkin in the margins of manuscripts!

8. Communication with creative people

If you've reached a dead end in your work, it's time to tap into the creative process of your colleagues. You will take your mind off thinking about personal ideas, and at the same time you will be able to exchange experiences and get feedback from people with a different point of view from yours.

Collaboration not for you? Healthy competition can also be beneficial. Motivation to be the best helps channel creative energy in the right direction. This is especially true for those who are accustomed to surrounding themselves with like-minded people and, thereby, falling into the trap of prejudice.

Find new information

To become a truly creative person, you must constantly be in search of something new, something that is still unknown, but can become useful. Start reading books, while trying to think about the information you receive.

One of the ways to develop creative thinking is to communicate with people who hold opposing views. In disputes, truth is born - by learning to perceive with interest the opinions of other people, to agree with unusual theories, you can significantly expand your horizons.

From childhood, parents and teachers teach us to be like everyone else, not to stand out. This pattern should be destroyed, because only a free, independently thinking person is capable of creating something new. In any seemingly standard situation, you can try to find unusual components. This is not easy, many patterns have been in us since childhood and have already become part of reality.

Try changing your usual route to work, sometimes switching from the car to a bicycle. Visit a new exhibition, open a book that previously seemed meaningless. The more often you try to look beyond the boundaries of everyday life, the brighter your perception of the world will become.

Roll up your sleeves and work hard before you daydream.

While study after study has confirmed that daydreaming and napping can help the creative process, there is another aspect that is usually overlooked.

One study in particular shows that the less you have worked on a problem, the less distracted daydreaming will help you. That is, daydreaming and incubation are most effective in a project in which you have already invested a lot of creative effort.

So before you lazily indulge in mental wandering, make sure you've already worked hard on a creative task. Only then will you get the maximum effect.

Think about success

In parallel with overcoming uncertainty, it is advisable to begin to think of yourself as a talented, creative person. The stereotype that creative people are born and not made should be dispelled.

It is necessary to learn to see beautiful moments in the most ordinary things, to focus on the surrounding little things. To develop creativity, it is very useful to start expressing yourself through creativity. Draw, even if it doesn’t turn out very realistically, write stories or poems, buy a camera and shoot whatever you like.

People often think and feel the way others see them or the way they imagine themselves. Therefore, you need to learn to feel like a creative person, to literally get used to this feeling.

PS

The topic of improving creativity is very broad, there are many exercises and development programs, I suggest you take my creativity course. You will learn the best techniques and get the coolest and most effective exercises.

Good luck to you and great success in life!

Feel like an architect

To overcome stereotyped thinking and develop creativity, this exercise with game elements is well suited:

We are building an unusual house. Everyone knows that buildings have corners, windows, doors and foundations. And if you try to draw an unusual house in which, for example, it would be comfortable to live on Mars. Gradually think through everything down to the smallest detail, even down to the completely non-standard ones.
House of ten objects. When architectural designs for non-standard buildings begin to come out, the task can be complicated. Ask those around you to name ten of any material objects (the more chaotic the list, the better). Find functional uses for all these items in your new home. For example, a potato can become a foundation, and a comb can become part of a roof. Feel free to use your imagination, this is the best way to develop creativity.

Play with the whole family - it will be more fun, and perhaps the little family members will surprise you with their unusual approach to tasks.