Creativity Starters for Students

Freeing your mind for creative exploration is like unlocking doors to future exploration and adventure. Though our critical inner voices try to squelch our creativity, persistent practice can help us get unstuck and reclaim the joy of creative play we once experienced in childhood. I asked my high schoolers to keep a creativity journal in which they "did something creative" for ten minutes four times a week for seven weeks. I provided an optional starter each day in case they needed a jump start. At the end of the seven weeks, students told me they loved the opportunity to "have to" make time for being playful. Their creativity journals left them relaxed and inspired. Several told me they were going to keep using their creativity journal, even though it was no longer required. Kids today are so scheduled, programmed, and overloaded that they welcomed the impetus to just be alone with their creativity. 

I've had several requests for my list of creativity starters. It's grown over time; some are more successful than others. Enjoy using them with your students (or start your own creativity journal).       

Creativity Starters

1.     How many different ways can you write your name…or  “I am creative”?

2.     List everything that hinders your creativity. Create a monster that symbolizes the things that block your creativity.

3.     Ask 5 people for one word each. Tie those words together in a story, song, poem, or artwork. 

4.     Write a poem using only words or phrases you found in a novel or magazine (or in your e-mail in-box or Instagram feed).

5.     Create a flag that represents our school’s multicultural heritage.

6.     Create your own utopia.

7.     Make a collage of words and pictures that interest or inspire you.

8.     Who inspires you creatively?  Who are your muses?  Whose creative works do you admire?

9.     Write a paragraph or story using only words that begin with the letters in your first and last names.

10. Dream big:  Where do you see yourself in 20 years?  Imagine a best-case and a worst-case scenario.

11. Draw a self portrait using only geometric shapes. . . .using only words...using only letters of the alphabet.

12. Look around your home and find something you were planning to throw away.  Then, think of as many uses for that item as possible.

13. Write a monologue as if you were your shoe.

14. Write a story using only 16 consecutive letters of the alphabet. (Inspired by Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn.) 

15. Choose an invention and predict what the world would be like if it had never been invented.

16. Draw or paint some abstract nouns—love, sadness, hope, truth, faith, goodness, evil, etc.

17. Write like Dr. Seuss.

18. Plan a clever, creative, unique theme party.

19. Write haiku poems about famous people.

20. Design an innovative Halloween costume using all found materials.

21. Write about yourself from another person’s point of view.

22. Write about one event in the voice of three very different people. 

23.  Plan out the movie of your life.  What happens?  Who will star?  Who will direct?  What’s it called?

24.  If you were a character in a musical, what song would you sing?  Write the lyrics to that song.

25.  Scribble a random shape on your paper, and then list as many things as you can that it can be.

26.  Notice 10 new things at school today and write them down…or draw them.

27.  Create an extended metaphor.

28. “Write” a story using no words at all.

29. Design a piece of clothing that is also a musical instrument.

30. Eavesdrop for a day.  Write down some of the interesting quotes you overhear in your notebook.  You could illustrate your overheard quotations if you’d like. 

31. Write a story or conversation using only song lyrics.

32.  Open a dictionary randomly and choose a word. Then, write as many brilliant ideas as you can about that word.

33. Wander around an unfamiliar place and just observe. Then, record your observations and thoughts in your journal.

34. Choose a new name for yourself and your friends. How would you feel if you used this name permanently?

35. Choose an object.  Try to visualize that object in all stages of its life. Write about all the people who would have encountered it.

36. What causes stress in your environment? Try to eliminate one for a day (or more) and write down the effects.

37. Create a new game. 

38. Imagine a day without one of your senses.  What would that be like?

39. Draw a picture using your non-dominant hand.

40. Choose three or four random letters of the alphabet, and then spend some time thinking what they could be an acronym for.

41. If you were trying to market yourself, what sorts of slogans could you make up?

42.   Create a new recipe. . and, if you’re feeling adventurous, cook it for dinner tonight.

43.   Create an artwork to represent the (now ending) 5^th six weeks. 

44.  Make up new words.  Create a dictionary for your new vocabulary.

45.   Draw a picture made up entirely of geometric shapes. 

46. Create your own fantasy assembly. What’s the subject?  Who will perform?  Who will emcee?

47. Make an ad campaign to sell something useless.

48. Design a ceiling for a room in your home (a la Sistine Chapel).

49. Draw a picture with your eyes closed.

50. Use Romeo and Juliet as the inspiration for a poem, artwork, song, collage, etc.

51. (for April 23) Design a birthday card for William Shakespeare, or write him a sonnet.

52. Draw cartoon likenesses of your friends, classmates, teachers and put them in a scene or comic.

53. Design the classroom of 2120.