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What Is Creative Problem-Solving & Why Is It Important?

• 01 Feb 2022

One of the biggest hindrances to innovation is complacency—it can be more comfortable to do what you know than venture into the unknown. Business leaders can overcome this barrier by mobilizing creative team members and providing space to innovate.

There are several tools you can use to encourage creativity in the workplace. Creative problem-solving is one of them, which facilitates the development of innovative solutions to difficult problems.

Here’s an overview of creative problem-solving and why it’s important in business.

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What Is Creative Problem-Solving?

Research is necessary when solving a problem. But there are situations where a problem’s specific cause is difficult to pinpoint. This can occur when there’s not enough time to narrow down the problem’s source or there are differing opinions about its root cause.

In such cases, you can use creative problem-solving , which allows you to explore potential solutions regardless of whether a problem has been defined.

Creative problem-solving is less structured than other innovation processes and encourages exploring open-ended solutions. It also focuses on developing new perspectives and fostering creativity in the workplace . Its benefits include:

• Finding creative solutions to complex problems : User research can insufficiently illustrate a situation’s complexity. While other innovation processes rely on this information, creative problem-solving can yield solutions without it.
• Adapting to change : Business is constantly changing, and business leaders need to adapt. Creative problem-solving helps overcome unforeseen challenges and find solutions to unconventional problems.
• Fueling innovation and growth : In addition to solutions, creative problem-solving can spark innovative ideas that drive company growth. These ideas can lead to new product lines, services, or a modified operations structure that improves efficiency.

Creative problem-solving is traditionally based on the following key principles :

1. Balance Divergent and Convergent Thinking

Creative problem-solving uses two primary tools to find solutions: divergence and convergence. Divergence generates ideas in response to a problem, while convergence narrows them down to a shortlist. It balances these two practices and turns ideas into concrete solutions.

2. Reframe Problems as Questions

By framing problems as questions, you shift from focusing on obstacles to solutions. This provides the freedom to brainstorm potential ideas.

3. Defer Judgment of Ideas

When brainstorming, it can be natural to reject or accept ideas right away. Yet, immediate judgments interfere with the idea generation process. Even ideas that seem implausible can turn into outstanding innovations upon further exploration and development.

4. Focus on "Yes, And" Instead of "No, But"

Using negative words like "no" discourages creative thinking. Instead, use positive language to build and maintain an environment that fosters the development of creative and innovative ideas.

Creative Problem-Solving and Design Thinking

Whereas creative problem-solving facilitates developing innovative ideas through a less structured workflow, design thinking takes a far more organized approach.

Design thinking is a human-centered, solutions-based process that fosters the ideation and development of solutions. In the online course Design Thinking and Innovation , Harvard Business School Dean Srikant Datar leverages a four-phase framework to explain design thinking.

The four stages are:

• Clarify: The clarification stage allows you to empathize with the user and identify problems. Observations and insights are informed by thorough research. Findings are then reframed as problem statements or questions.
• Ideate: Ideation is the process of coming up with innovative ideas. The divergence of ideas involved with creative problem-solving is a major focus.
• Develop: In the development stage, ideas evolve into experiments and tests. Ideas converge and are explored through prototyping and open critique.
• Implement: Implementation involves continuing to test and experiment to refine the solution and encourage its adoption.

Creative problem-solving primarily operates in the ideate phase of design thinking but can be applied to others. This is because design thinking is an iterative process that moves between the stages as ideas are generated and pursued. This is normal and encouraged, as innovation requires exploring multiple ideas.

Creative Problem-Solving Tools

While there are many useful tools in the creative problem-solving process, here are three you should know:

Creating a Problem Story

One way to innovate is by creating a story about a problem to understand how it affects users and what solutions best fit their needs. Here are the steps you need to take to use this tool properly.

1. Identify a UDP

Create a problem story to identify the undesired phenomena (UDP). For example, consider a company that produces printers that overheat. In this case, the UDP is "our printers overheat."

2. Move Forward in Time

To move forward in time, ask: “Why is this a problem?” For example, minor damage could be one result of the machines overheating. In more extreme cases, printers may catch fire. Don't be afraid to create multiple problem stories if you think of more than one UDP.

3. Move Backward in Time

To move backward in time, ask: “What caused this UDP?” If you can't identify the root problem, think about what typically causes the UDP to occur. For the overheating printers, overuse could be a cause.

Following the three-step framework above helps illustrate a clear problem story:

• The printer is overused.
• The printer overheats.
• The printer breaks down.

You can extend the problem story in either direction if you think of additional cause-and-effect relationships.

4. Break the Chains

By this point, you’ll have multiple UDP storylines. Take two that are similar and focus on breaking the chains connecting them. This can be accomplished through inversion or neutralization.

• Inversion: Inversion changes the relationship between two UDPs so the cause is the same but the effect is the opposite. For example, if the UDP is "the more X happens, the more likely Y is to happen," inversion changes the equation to "the more X happens, the less likely Y is to happen." Using the printer example, inversion would consider: "What if the more a printer is used, the less likely it’s going to overheat?" Innovation requires an open mind. Just because a solution initially seems unlikely doesn't mean it can't be pursued further or spark additional ideas.
• Neutralization: Neutralization completely eliminates the cause-and-effect relationship between X and Y. This changes the above equation to "the more or less X happens has no effect on Y." In the case of the printers, neutralization would rephrase the relationship to "the more or less a printer is used has no effect on whether it overheats."

Even if creating a problem story doesn't provide a solution, it can offer useful context to users’ problems and additional ideas to be explored. Given that divergence is one of the fundamental practices of creative problem-solving, it’s a good idea to incorporate it into each tool you use.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a tool that can be highly effective when guided by the iterative qualities of the design thinking process. It involves openly discussing and debating ideas and topics in a group setting. This facilitates idea generation and exploration as different team members consider the same concept from multiple perspectives.

Hosting brainstorming sessions can result in problems, such as groupthink or social loafing. To combat this, leverage a three-step brainstorming method involving divergence and convergence :

• Have each group member come up with as many ideas as possible and write them down to ensure the brainstorming session is productive.
• Continue the divergence of ideas by collectively sharing and exploring each idea as a group. The goal is to create a setting where new ideas are inspired by open discussion.
• Begin the convergence of ideas by narrowing them down to a few explorable options. There’s no "right number of ideas." Don't be afraid to consider exploring all of them, as long as you have the resources to do so.

Alternate Worlds

The alternate worlds tool is an empathetic approach to creative problem-solving. It encourages you to consider how someone in another world would approach your situation.

For example, if you’re concerned that the printers you produce overheat and catch fire, consider how a different industry would approach the problem. How would an automotive expert solve it? How would a firefighter?

Be creative as you consider and research alternate worlds. The purpose is not to nail down a solution right away but to continue the ideation process through diverging and exploring ideas.

Continue Developing Your Skills

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, marketer, or business leader, learning the ropes of design thinking can be an effective way to build your skills and foster creativity and innovation in any setting.

If you're ready to develop your design thinking and creative problem-solving skills, explore Design Thinking and Innovation , one of our online entrepreneurship and innovation courses. If you aren't sure which course is the right fit, download our free course flowchart to determine which best aligns with your goals.

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Article • 10 min read

Creative Problem Solving

Finding innovative solutions to challenges.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

Imagine that you're vacuuming your house in a hurry because you've got friends coming over. Frustratingly, you're working hard but you're not getting very far. You kneel down, open up the vacuum cleaner, and pull out the bag. In a cloud of dust, you realize that it's full... again. Coughing, you empty it and wonder why vacuum cleaners with bags still exist!

James Dyson, inventor and founder of Dyson® vacuum cleaners, had exactly the same problem, and he used creative problem solving to find the answer. While many companies focused on developing a better vacuum cleaner filter, he realized that he had to think differently and find a more creative solution. So, he devised a revolutionary way to separate the dirt from the air, and invented the world's first bagless vacuum cleaner. [1]

Creative problem solving (CPS) is a way of solving problems or identifying opportunities when conventional thinking has failed. It encourages you to find fresh perspectives and come up with innovative solutions, so that you can formulate a plan to overcome obstacles and reach your goals.

In this article, we'll explore what CPS is, and we'll look at its key principles. We'll also provide a model that you can use to generate creative solutions.

About Creative Problem Solving

Alex Osborn, founder of the Creative Education Foundation, first developed creative problem solving in the 1940s, along with the term "brainstorming." And, together with Sid Parnes, he developed the Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving Process. Despite its age, this model remains a valuable approach to problem solving. [2]

The early Osborn-Parnes model inspired a number of other tools. One of these is the 2011 CPS Learner's Model, also from the Creative Education Foundation, developed by Dr Gerard J. Puccio, Marie Mance, and co-workers. In this article, we'll use this modern four-step model to explore how you can use CPS to generate innovative, effective solutions.

Why Use Creative Problem Solving?

Dealing with obstacles and challenges is a regular part of working life, and overcoming them isn't always easy. To improve your products, services, communications, and interpersonal skills, and for you and your organization to excel, you need to encourage creative thinking and find innovative solutions that work.

CPS asks you to separate your "divergent" and "convergent" thinking as a way to do this. Divergent thinking is the process of generating lots of potential solutions and possibilities, otherwise known as brainstorming. And convergent thinking involves evaluating those options and choosing the most promising one. Often, we use a combination of the two to develop new ideas or solutions. However, using them simultaneously can result in unbalanced or biased decisions, and can stifle idea generation.

For more on divergent and convergent thinking, and for a useful diagram, see the book "Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Decision-Making." [3]

Core Principles of Creative Problem Solving

CPS has four core principles. Let's explore each one in more detail:

• Divergent and convergent thinking must be balanced. The key to creativity is learning how to identify and balance divergent and convergent thinking (done separately), and knowing when to practice each one.
• Ask problems as questions. When you rephrase problems and challenges as open-ended questions with multiple possibilities, it's easier to come up with solutions. Asking these types of questions generates lots of rich information, while asking closed questions tends to elicit short answers, such as confirmations or disagreements. Problem statements tend to generate limited responses, or none at all.
• Defer or suspend judgment. As Alex Osborn learned from his work on brainstorming, judging solutions early on tends to shut down idea generation. Instead, there's an appropriate and necessary time to judge ideas during the convergence stage.
• Focus on "Yes, and," rather than "No, but." Language matters when you're generating information and ideas. "Yes, and" encourages people to expand their thoughts, which is necessary during certain stages of CPS. Using the word "but" – preceded by "yes" or "no" – ends conversation, and often negates what's come before it.

How to Use the Tool

Let's explore how you can use each of the four steps of the CPS Learner's Model (shown in figure 1, below) to generate innovative ideas and solutions.

Figure 1 – CPS Learner's Model

Explore the Vision

Identify your goal, desire or challenge. This is a crucial first step because it's easy to assume, incorrectly, that you know what the problem is. However, you may have missed something or have failed to understand the issue fully, and defining your objective can provide clarity. Read our article, 5 Whys , for more on getting to the root of a problem quickly.

Gather Data

Once you've identified and understood the problem, you can collect information about it and develop a clear understanding of it. Make a note of details such as who and what is involved, all the relevant facts, and everyone's feelings and opinions.

Formulate Questions

When you've increased your awareness of the challenge or problem you've identified, ask questions that will generate solutions. Think about the obstacles you might face and the opportunities they could present.

Explore Ideas

Generate ideas that answer the challenge questions you identified in step 1. It can be tempting to consider solutions that you've tried before, as our minds tend to return to habitual thinking patterns that stop us from producing new ideas. However, this is a chance to use your creativity .

Brainstorming and Mind Maps are great ways to explore ideas during this divergent stage of CPS. And our articles, Encouraging Team Creativity , Problem Solving , Rolestorming , Hurson's Productive Thinking Model , and The Four-Step Innovation Process , can also help boost your creativity.

See our Brainstorming resources within our Creativity section for more on this.

Formulate Solutions

This is the convergent stage of CPS, where you begin to focus on evaluating all of your possible options and come up with solutions. Analyze whether potential solutions meet your needs and criteria, and decide whether you can implement them successfully. Next, consider how you can strengthen them and determine which ones are the best "fit." Our articles, Critical Thinking and ORAPAPA , are useful here.

4. Implement

Formulate a plan.

Once you've chosen the best solution, it's time to develop a plan of action. Start by identifying resources and actions that will allow you to implement your chosen solution. Next, communicate your plan and make sure that everyone involved understands and accepts it.

There have been many adaptations of CPS since its inception, because nobody owns the idea.

For example, Scott Isaksen and Donald Treffinger formed The Creative Problem Solving Group Inc . and the Center for Creative Learning , and their model has evolved over many versions. Blair Miller, Jonathan Vehar and Roger L. Firestien also created their own version, and Dr Gerard J. Puccio, Mary C. Murdock, and Marie Mance developed CPS: The Thinking Skills Model. [4] Tim Hurson created The Productive Thinking Model , and Paul Reali developed CPS: Competencies Model. [5]

Sid Parnes continued to adapt the CPS model by adding concepts such as imagery and visualization , and he founded the Creative Studies Project to teach CPS. For more information on the evolution and development of the CPS process, see Creative Problem Solving Version 6.1 by Donald J. Treffinger, Scott G. Isaksen, and K. Brian Dorval. [6]

Creative Problem Solving (CPS) Infographic

See our infographic on Creative Problem Solving .

Creative problem solving (CPS) is a way of using your creativity to develop new ideas and solutions to problems. The process is based on separating divergent and convergent thinking styles, so that you can focus your mind on creating at the first stage, and then evaluating at the second stage.

There have been many adaptations of the original Osborn-Parnes model, but they all involve a clear structure of identifying the problem, generating new ideas, evaluating the options, and then formulating a plan for successful implementation.

[1] Entrepreneur (2012). James Dyson on Using Failure to Drive Success [online]. Available here . [Accessed May 27, 2022.]

[2] Creative Education Foundation (2015). The CPS Process [online]. Available here . [Accessed May 26, 2022.]

[3] Kaner, S. et al. (2014). 'Facilitator′s Guide to Participatory Decision–Making,' San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

[4] Puccio, G., Mance, M., and Murdock, M. (2011). 'Creative Leadership: Skils That Drive Change' (2nd Ed.), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

[5] OmniSkills (2013). Creative Problem Solving [online]. Available here . [Accessed May 26, 2022].

[6] Treffinger, G., Isaksen, S., and Dorval, B. (2010). Creative Problem Solving (CPS Version 6.1). Center for Creative Learning, Inc. & Creative Problem Solving Group, Inc. Available here .

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20 Problem Solving Activities to Improve Creativity

Creative problem solving requires creative problem solving activities. Even if you know all of the problem solving steps , it’s important to know exercises to actually execute each phase.  These exercises are techniques on how to improve problem solving skills and the art of problem solving.

Listed below are 20 interactive exercises that will help you through each step of the problem solving process.

Problem Solving Activities

Note: For the sake of demonstration, we use the same example for each exercise, in this case, the difficult problem of opening a jar of peanut butter (to make a delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich of course).

Step 1: Define the Problem

Problem solving activities that help you phrase and understand the problem you are trying to solve:

#1. Newspaper Headline – Try writing your problem as if it were a headline in a newspaper. You can write it as if the problem still exists, or as if the problem were already solved. Try Tabloid headlines for even more creative ideas.

Example: “Local man attempts to provide joy to the world by opening a jar of peanut butter.”

#2. Future Party – Imagine it’s one year from today; what did you solve in the last year? How is the world different based on the solution? What were the steps you took to solve the problem?

Example:  “I can’t believe it’s been a year since we ate all the peanut butter from that crazy tight jar.”

#3. 40-20-10-5 – Explain your problem in up to 40 words. Then cut it down to 20 words; then to 10, then finally to only 5 words. These 5 words are the root of your problem (and likely the root of your solution as well).

Example:  (Starting at 10 words) “I want to open up this jar of peanut butter.” -> “Open this peanut butter jar.”

#4. Explain Life I’m Five – Explain your problem as if you were talking to a 5-year old kid. Use basic language and simple metaphors if necessary. Inspired by the subreddit ELI5 .

Example:  “There’s yummy-ness in this jar that I want to get out.”

Step 2: Brainstorm Ideas

Problem solving activities that help you generate a list of possible solutions that will solve your problem*:

#5. Ad Game – Have people mill about the room. When someone offers up an idea, everyone emphatically says “Yes!” and then the group continues to generate ideas, often building off the last idea that was just offered.

Example:   “We should use a tool to open this jar.” “Yes!” “And it should not hurt our hands.” “Yes!” “And it’ll be nearly effortless.” “Yes!”

#6. Dumbest Idea First – Hold a contest to get the dumbest idea out first. Encourage everyone to think of the absolute dumbest possible solutions to the problem. After you have a long list, go back through and see which ones may not be all that dumb.

Example: “Let’s open it using C4 explosives.”

#7. What Would X Do – Pretend you’re someone famous (or someone you admire) and ask yourself how they would solve the problem, what options would they consider?

Example:  (as Gandhi) “I will go on a hunger strike until the jar is ready to be open.”

#8. 10x10x10 Matrix – Generate a list of 10 ideas for solving the problem. Pick one of those ideas and generate 10 variations of that idea. Pick one idea from the new list and generate 10 more variations.

Example: (with just 5 ideas): –Round 1 (based on tools)–Dynamite, Power Drill, Vise grip, Scissors, Hammer. –Round 2 (based on vise grip)–Metal clamp, Pliers, Glue, Cement, Sticky Glove. –Round 3 (based on sticky glove)–Lots of tapping, Rubbing the seal, Punching, Soft caresses, Really strong hand.

*Note: Some of the exercises may not produce the perfect solution, but they can get you thinking differently.

Step 3: Decide on a Solution

Problem solving activities that help you narrow your list of possible solutions down to the best solution.

#9. Futures Wheel – Pick a possible solution and write it in the center of a piece of paper. List possible direct results/consequences of the solution around the center idea. List possible indirect results/consequences based on the direct results/consequences. Find more info here .

Example: Really strong hand leads to: ability to open other types of jars as well, big forearms, possible blisters, …

#10. Thiagi’s 35 – Use a point system to determine the preferred solution among your team, turning a possibly subjective discussion into an objective group decision. You can find a more detailed explanation on Thiagi’s site .

Example: Really strong hand – 7pts. Punching the jar – 3pts. A soft caress – 1pts.

#11. Idea Trial – When you can’t get agreement on which solution to choose, have the proponents of each idea represent them in “court.” Go through opening arguments, call witnesses and allow closing statements. Have the project board choose the winner.

Example: “Really strong hand, is it true you could also be used for terrible things, such as opening a can of sardines?”

#12. Coin-Flip – When deciding between two equally good solutions, flip a coin. When the coin is in the air, take note of what you secretly hope the result is and go with that (if you really can’t decide between the two, then go with the actual result of the coin-flip). Inspired by this poster.

Example: Heads is strong hands, tails is a soft cares. *Toss.* (I really don’t want to have to caress this jar of peanut butter…) Strong hands it is!

Step 4: Implement the Solution

Problem solving activities that help you implement the solution you have chosen:

#13. End in Mind – To create your plan, start with the end in mind and work backwards.  Establish key milestones and dates in reverse order, starting with the end-of-project celebration and ending with today.

Example: Eat delicious PB&J sandwich (5pm), Make delicious PB&J sandwich (4:58pm), Open Peanut Butter Jar (4:57pm), Build up grip strength (4:47), …

#14. Idea Mock-ups – Create a mock-up of the solution. You can a create physical mock-up using the various supplies in your office or a virtual mock-up using images from around the web.

Example: Tell me you wouldn’t buy this incredible product .

#15. Gamification – Turn the completion of your project into a game. Establish rules for how you earn points, create badges to celebrate milestones and track game progress. Learn more about gamification .

Example: For each squeeze of the PB Gripper, you get 1 point. 100 points earns you the Gripper Badge, 500 points earns you a pudding cup. After 1,000 points you should be able to open the Peanut Butter jar.

#16. Be a Character – Add some fun to your work by executing your plan as if you were a fictional character. Think about how they would operate and get into character.

Example: (as the Incredible Hulk): HULK SMASH!

Step 5: Review the Results

Problem solving activities that help you review the results you achieved and the way you achieved them:

#17. Apply McLuhan – Answer McLuhan’s tetrad of questions in context of your solution: 1) What does your solution enhance? 2) What does it make obsolete? 3) What does it bring back that was once obsolete and 4) What does it flip into when taken to the extreme?

Example: Using a strong grip to open the jar: 1) The ability to get peanut butter, 2) Other tools for opening jars, 3) The joy of cooking my own food, 4) Only eating peanut butter and nothing else.

#18. Word on the Street – Conduct “word-on-the-street” type interviews with members of your team, asking them how they felt about the project and the solution.

Example: “Sir, what’s your opinion on this new development on the ability to consume delicious peanut butter?”

#19. Stop-Start-Continue – Review the way you completed your project and pick activities you should stop (things you did on this project that you don’t think are necessary for future projects), start (things you didn’t do on this project but that you should do on future projects) and continue (things you did on the project that you should do on future projects).

Example: STOP doing every single exercise for one solution. START finding snacks to eat while waiting to get to the solution. CONTINUE eating peanut butter.

#20. Find the Funny – Write a monologue or stand-up set that covers some of the funny moments or ideas from the project. Share it with your team.

Example: What’s the deal with airline peanut butter?

Creative Problem Solving

The purpose of the above problem solving activities is to get you to think about the problem in a different way and have some fun while solving it–both of which will enhance your creativity in finding and implementing a solution. And as Einstein ( probably ) said:”The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.”

Note: The example used may be a bit facetious but these exercises do work for tougher problems. I wanted to include an example to facilitate understanding and it happened to be around snack time.

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9 thoughts on “20 Problem Solving Activities to Improve Creativity”

Thanks for sharing this article.

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Would you allow us to translate this (in Hungarian and Romanian) and use it in our class?

very good. on point!

i am a student doing my certificate in archives and records management, i hope this will help me and i think you too can help in in your class

can I use this for my class?

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15 Provocative Questions for Creative Problem-Solving

Increased curiosity triggers innovation..

Posted December 18, 2023 | Reviewed by Hara Estroff Marano

• The ability to be curious generally declines in adulthood.
• Curiosity is a portal to increased innovation.
• Curiosity can be relearned with the right questions
• Today's curiosity shapes tomorrow's breakthroughs.

As toddlers, the constant repetition of the question "Why?" marks the exuberance of curiosity, a trait that, over time, tends to wane in the face of weary parents providing half-hearted answers or steering conversations elsewhere, just to give themselves a brief reprieve. Unfortunately, as adults, many of us lose touch with the pervasive urge to ask 'why?' Our innate curiosity becomes buried, forgotten. This is a missed opportunity, for today's curiosity is tomorrow's innovation.

Consider the technological marvels of our time— the iPhone, Amazon, and Google—all born from the fertile ground of curiosity. Curiosity is the driving force behind innovation. But how does one rekindle curiosity? For those already predisposed to curiosity, can it be harnessed for innovation?

Embracing curiosity is a personal journey and a pathway to expanding our comprehension of the world and nurturing mental well-being. It fosters a mindset that thrives on continuous learning, resilience , and a profound sense of fulfillment. Opening your mind to new knowledge allows you to forge connections others have yet to envision.

15 questions to trigger curiosity

Here are 15 questions designed to trigger curiosity and encourage innovative thinking or problem-solving:

• What if we approached this problem from a completely different perspective? What might we discover?
• How have other industries or fields tackled similar challenges, and what lessons can we draw from their approaches?
• If we were to remove all constraints, what bold and unconventional solutions could we explore?
• What assumptions are we making about this situation, and how might challenging those assumptions open up new possibilities?
• How can we leverage emerging technologies or trends to address this issue more effectively?
• What insights might we gain if we were to involve customers or end-users in the problem-solving process? What might they reveal?
• How can we turn this challenge into an opportunity for growth or improvement?
• What are the underlying causes of this problem, and how can we address them to create lasting solutions?
• If time and resources were not limited, what audacious goals could we set to solve this problem, and how might we achieve them?
• What were our failures? What did we learn from them?
• What failures occurred in other industries, and how can we apply those lessons to our challenges for a more innovative approach?
• What if we built in constraints—fewer or no resources? How creative could we be? What would we do differently? What would we omit?
• If we consistently ask "why" at each stage of our problem-solving process, how might it help us get to the root causes and generate more innovative solutions?
• What if we asked people from different generations or cultures about what they see as the real problem or potential solution?
• How can we challenge the status quo?

These questions are designed to provoke thought, challenge assumptions, and inspire creative thinking , fostering a mindset that can lead to innovative solutions and effective problem-solving.

In the journey from incessant childhood questioning to adulthood's diminishing curiosity, the true potential of innovation often remains untapped. These questions serve as catalysts, sparking curiosity and guiding individuals and teams toward innovative thinking and problem-solving, illustrating that the path to innovation begins with the simple act of asking why.

Ruth Gotian, Ed.D., an assistant professor of education at Weill Cornell Medical College, is the author of The Success Factor.

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Creativity Lesson Plans: Teach Innovation and Creative Problem Solving in Elementary, Middle, and High School

CREATIVITY LESSON PLANS UPDATE – Mar 1, 2024: Here are 14 creativity lessons for elementary, middle school, and high school.

Why do we need creativity?

• Problem Solving: To create solutions to obstacles
• Innovation: To create new ways to do things / business products
• Content Creators: Influencers, Social Media gurus, and other personalities literally create content – videos, posts, reels.

Creativity Lesson Plans are not just for art class.

This is about switching to a growth mindset and creating new ideas to solve academic problems, relationship problems, and global challenges!

New Year season in January 2024 is the perfect time to teach students how to have a Creativity mindset.

(After all, they’re still in the honeymoon phase. All bright, shiny, and eager to try new things… for now.)

Creativity lessons for elementary and middle school go way beyond art class. It’s more than creative writing in English class.

Likewise, innovation in high school goes way beyond business class.

Many of us think we can’t teach creativity or mark creativity.

• We think we’re not creative people. We’re no good at art.
• We’re not sure how to teach innovation to students because we think you’re either innovative… or not… and that’s just the way it is.

These Creativity Lesson Plans help change the way we think about “creativity” in the classroom.

Instead of thinking about creativity as art, let’s think of it as creativity in problem-solving.

The root word of creativity is to create .

• It’s about connecting ideas in different ways to create something new.
• This can be creating something new for us personally, or it can be something new that the world has never seen before.

Yes, we solve problems in the arts: How can we connect ideas together to create a new twist in an art assignment, a dance, a dramatic production, or creative writing?

But, we also use a lot of creativity in problem-solving everyday life challenges. In fact, we use a lot of creativity in Social-Emotional Learning!

SEL is more than just checking in with people to see how they’re doing (although, that’s important.)

Here are three ways creativity and social-emotional learning go hand-in-hand:

• Self-management includes the ability to manage one’s emotions. When things get tough, sometimes, we need to create new ways to deal with our emotions. (Instead of just hiding them from the world.)
• Self-awareness is the ability to understand your emotions, thoughts, and values. Linking our feelings, values, thoughts, and experiences is exactly what we do when we’re creative and connecting new ideas and experiences in ways we haven’t thought of before.
• Relationship skills are the ability to establish and maintain healthy relationships. Relationships require work – especially when you have different points of view about things that personally matter. We need to be creative in solving problems and dealing with conflict constructively.

Use these fun creativity lessons to help teach innovation and prepare students for another year of the unknown!

Think about creativity this way:

• Creativity is about creating / making new things
• We get creative when we solve problems every day.
• We find solutions to obstacles all the time.

What do you do when…

• life gives you a pandemic and you have a new normal?
• things are constantly changing between teaching in the classroom, physical distancing, and online distance learning?
• you lose your job and need to figure out how to make a living?
• the world is unfair and you need to change the system?
• you need to do a class project and the teacher tells you to come up with an original idea. (In other words, don’t copy the teacher example…)

How do we teach innovation? Is that even possible?

It’s easy to say, “be creative”… “innovate!” But, how do we actually do that?

Try this in your classroom!

Teaching creativity in the classroom requires a paradigm shift.

We can encourage innovation and creativity in our students by changing their points of view about what it means to be creative.

Try this quick MINDS-ON activity to kick start your Creativity Lesson Plans:

Let’s teach innovation and creativity by explicitly giving students a process and fostering a growth mindset.

Creativity means to create.

• Not just in art, but in every subject.
• Not just in school, but in life.

1. Brainstorm different synonyms for create.

• Create: Build, construct, design, produce, set up, generate
• Created: Assembled, completed, made, manufactured, finished
• Creating: Accomplishing, composing, executing, forming, generating
• Source: Thesaurus.com – create

2. Generate a list of short sentences that use these new verbs. (If you teach a specific subject, then you might also give a curriculum-appropriate topic as well.

• Science – ecosystems : Build a way to explain how an ecosystem works that a 5 year old kid could understand.
• Math: generate study notes and a process to help you practice your skills before the next quiz.
• Relationships: Find a way to form a deeper connection with your partner.
• Life – errands: Complete this list of errands today.
• Goal setting : Accomplish one thing today that would move you closer to achieving your dreams.

3. Explain that creating something means connecting ideas we have in new and different ways. Some will work, others won’t.

• This means, the more ideas we have in our head, the more connections we can make.
• Ideas don’t have to be in the subject or topic that we’re trying to solve a problem for.
• In fact, some times, the most creative ideas come from connecting something we’ve seen somewhere else and trying it in a new area.

So… the more ideas and experiences we have to draw upon, the more likely we can find inspiration when we’re trying to solve problems.

Creativity takes time, so pausing to observe and wonder is important.

How to teach innovation and creativity to students

Remind students that:

• Creativity is a skill that we can get better at.
• Creativity and innovation are about connecting ideas in new ways.
• So, then the goal is to have more diverse life experiences.
• Then, observe what happens and give yourself time to wonder…

Okay, so what does that mean for us, teachers?

How do we actually teach innovation? (Skip to the creativity lesson plan .)

How to Teach Creativity in the Classroom

Let’s shift how we approach creativity at school!

Yes, we need to appreciate the important role of creativity in the arts.

But, we can also take our creative teaching ideas outside of the art classroom.

We know the hidden word in “creativity” is “create”.

We know we need to help our students recognize that we constantly create things in life. We create solutions to life problems every day.

As principals, teachers, and educators, we can help students recognize that creativity is actually a transferable 21st century skill that we use:

• in relationships,
• in careers, and
• to deal with the unknown.

(Jump to the creativity unit lesson plan .)

Teaching Creativity and Teaching Innovation to Students – New Pedagogies for Deep Learning ideas

Need some NPDL creative lesson plan ideas?

Creativity can be one of the harder 6 Cs to try to wrap your head around.

Especially because when we start talking about being creative, we automatically say things like, “I’m not good at art,” or “I’m not very creative.”

Often times we’re stuck in a fixed mindset. We think you’re either creative, or you’re not. And that’s just the way it is.

So here’s one way to reframe creativity for people who are exploring new pedagogies for deep learning (NPDL) with their students.

7 things to include when teaching innovation and creativity in the classroom and at school:

• Every teacher can embed lessons on creativity in their course. It’s not just for art teachers!
• Reframe creativity as an important 21st century competency / learning skill. Not just something we do when it’s time to be “creative.”
• Everyone can be creative . We use creativity all the time. (We call it problem-solving.)
• Creativity is a learnable skill and process – we can all have more creative minds! We can encourage a growth mindset , strategies, and effort.
• Teach students how to break patterns, observe results, and wonder what if .
• Creativity is a learnable skill
• Anyone can become more creative by applying strategies and effort
• Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value.
• We draw on life experiences and connect them in different ways to come up with new ideas.
• Practice what you preach! Teach innovation and creativity by modeling your own journey. Try the Do Something Different activity yourself to try to become more creative.

Creativity and Innovation lesson plans can be in every teacher’s toolbox.

Not just the art teachers.

Creativity is an essential 21st century skill because creativity and innovation are about figuring out ways to solve problems and express yourself in new ways.

It’s about connecting the ideas in your head with your life experiences in new ways to overcome obstacles.

But, it’s also about right now:

• Are you worried about how to teach (and assess) students to be more CREATIVE and INNOVATIVE in your class?
• Do you have to evaluate creativity as part of your learning skills or class?
• Do you want your students to come up with their own answers instead of simply copying the teacher’s example?

No problem. We got this!

Whether you call this 21st Century Competency “creativity,” “innovation,” or “problem solving”, we’re talking about the same thing: The ability to connect ideas in new ways to have original ideas that have value.

How to be MORE Creative Lesson Plans Table of Contents:

• Learning how to be more creative is a skill that anyone and everyone can work on.
• We need to be creative to solve problems in life
• We need to be creative to solve problems at work

Want a FREE sample?

The “do something different” creativity challenge:.

• How to be more Creative Lesson Plan KEY CONCEPTS:
• You get 298 slides / pages in 14 lessons
• Software Requirements
• Teacher Pro Tips
• PART 1. EXPERIENCE
• PART 2. WATCH
• PART 3. UNDERSTAND
• Here’s what you get in the How to be MORE creative Lesson Plans ZIPPED FILE

Teach innovation to students. How to be more creative and innovative

Creativity lesson plans:.

Encourage creativity and teach innovation by explicitly teaching students:

• Creativity is more than just for art
• Creativity is a learnable skill. That means we can all become more creative.

By encouraging a growth mindset , a creativity lesson plan can focus on the idea that with hard work, strategies, learning from mistakes, and just tinkering around, we can become more creative.

Despite what some people believe, we can nurture and become more creative, just as we can become better at reading, living healthier lives, and getting back up when we get knocked down (perseverance.)

Who can be creative?

We use creativity all the time in everyday life, but we don’t always think of it as “CREATIVITY” or “INNOVATION”. We think of it in the human mind as the ability to make sense of a problem.

• Finding a solution to a problem
• Figuring out how to do something
• Wondering about stuff

You see CREATIVITY in the business world all the time

Innovation is essential in business.

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, small business or working for the government or large corporations, we “create” things at work all the time. And, I’m not talking about art!

• Figuring out a new product that is different
• Coming up with a new way to sell an old product. (The Diamond Shreddies campaign is brilliant.)
• Creating a way to convince people to take action.
• Finding common ground with other people on your team so you can get the job done.
• Pivoting your business to deal with Covid-19

In a competitive global economy, our students need 21st century skills that are transferable to any situation.

Are we teaching students to be innovative and creative?

(or are we teaching them that there is only one correct solution to a problem?)

• Can our students enhance and explore ideas in creative ways and bring these ideas to action to meet the needs of a community?
• Can our students use imagination when creating a plan to develop an entrepreneurial project?
• Do our students improve ideas and experiment with ideas to try to solve a real-world problem [in their community?]

Learning how to be more creative and innovative is a skill that anyone and everyone can work on. (Hello, growth mindset!)

This is actually a pretty big deal.

School is kind of an artificial institution that often squishes creativity. We start off in Kindergarten exploring the world and trying out new things.

Then, something happens as we get older.

• We start to learn there’s a right way and a wrong way to do things.
• Some answers are better than others. Usually, school favours the most concise, precise and efficient answers.
• We become afraid to make mistakes. We don’t want to speak out or be different or have our ideas put down.
• There’s pressure to be right, and never wrong. (Hello, fixed mindset.)
• We stop playing. (Creative takes time, wonder, and exploration…)

You might say that school makes excellent workers and employees:

• The environment requires you to sit down at a desk for eight hours a day.
• You get rewarded if you raise your hand (or ask permission) to give the right answer.
• People who ask to use the bathroom…

Is this what we want to train our human mind to be capable of?

How does this mindset help students to make sense of new situations or undefined problems when we leave the classroom?

We might want our students to be able to “think outside the box” but it’s hard because school is often about being inside the box – for both teachers and students.

• As teachers, it’s easier to mark assignments that have simple questions with simple answers directly from the worksheet. Sometimes, we just need to photocopy a handout package and then quickly correct them. It’s not ideal, but there’s so much to do in the job that you have to pick and choose your battles!
• For students, school often rewards us if we can play the game of sit quietly, do your work, raise your hand, and memorize facts for tests. Classroom discussions are often around guess what the teacher is thinking.

We need to be creative to solve problems in life:

• We keep fighting over the same stuff…
• I just finished school, but there are no jobs!
• I have too many bills to pay!
• We missed our ride.
• why does this keep on happening to me?

We need to be creative to solve problems at work :

• This project is due tomorrow!
• Nobody is buying our product!
• I deserve a raise!
• Uh-oh. They’re downsizing…

So, we need to provide students with explicit strategies to help them be more creative.

These How to be More Creative lesson plans were initially developed with middle school students in mind. However, we can also modify or adapt the lesson plans to teach innovation in other areas:

• Elementary students
• High school students
• Home-schooled students
• Small business human resources training
• Large corporation human resources training

How do you bring creativity into the classroom?

We can teach innovation and creativity by encouraging a growth mindset and taking your time.

This means explicitly teaching students that we can be more creative through effort and strategies.

Watch this short YouTube video about things to know about teaching creativity to your students: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ythiQXTE1qs

Quick question: The answer is Twelve. Did your question involve math? Probably.

It’s hard to be creative under pressure.

• When you do this “Twelve” activity with your class, you can give them much more time as well as playing multiple rounds so you can look at different strategies to come up with new ideas.
• In the “Twelve” activity, we also give students to judge how “creative” an answer is. Once you’ve played the game a few times, you can start to separate “new variations” with “whoa, I never even thought about that” out-of-the-box variations.

“Twelve” is one of the activities we have in our How to be MORE Creative Lesson Plan package.

But, you can get it for free here .

How do you teach creativity and innovation?

Teach students how to break patterns.

In life, we often get stuck in patterns.

If we practice breaking patterns, it helps us to have new experiences.

• Observe what happens.
• Observe how you feel.
• When we start to wonder why things happen that way, it might spark a sense of curiosity in you.

What does this have to do with creativity? By experiencing, observing, and wondering, we add moments to our life that might later become inspiration to something new!

Who knows what experiences today will help us to create new ideas tomorrow?

This is an important part of learning how to be more creative and innovative. (It’s also a key part of teaching innovation and creativity!)

We turned this idea about “doing something different” into a fantastic activity to inspire observation, wonder, and creativity…

(Or how to teach innovation without focusing on innovation!)

For one week, try a little experiment with your students.

Rather than give creativity challenges for students, why not encourage students to make time and space to try new things and wonder.

Creativity Challenge for Students:

Every day, do the following four steps:

• Do something different (each day.)
• Wonder about why things happen that way.
• Record your thoughts.

Morning Work:

• Every day, students spend 5 minutes filling out their Do Something Different journal entry handouts. (Use the short-answer question handout; students can write in jot notes.)
• Students spend the next 5 minutes chatting with a partner about what’s working, what’s not working. Their partner might notice something new.
• (Optional): Spend 5 minutes as a class discussing how the creativity challenge is going.
• At the end of the week, students will have four jot note pages about different things they’ve tried, and what they’ve observed.
• During the Friday Morning Work, instead of filling out the short-answer question handout, students take one of their previous jot note pages and write a proper paragraph response.
• Students hand in this paragraph response for assessment.

For more information about this Creativity Challenge for students, please check out

• Lesson C1: Explanation of the Do Something Different Challenge
• File 5d – Do Something Different Handout (print version)

The How to be More Creative Lesson Plan package includes a detailed script and creative lesson plan, handouts, and journal entry handouts.

Mental Health Note: Most people feel nervous when asked to do something new. If you feel this way, try starting with an easier challenge. Sometimes, the more we do something, the easier it gets for our human mind. And, that includes doing new things. You got this!

How to be more Creative and Innovative – Lesson Plan KEY CONCEPTS:

We provide over 2 weeks of creative lesson plans  to do with your class to help students recognize that creativity is a learnable skill and we can all become more creative. 

Creativity is MORE than just being artsy!  Creativity is a process that can be taught, and creativity can be assessed.

There are 4 key concepts in our How to be more Creative Lesson Plan:

• Creativity is a learnable skill. 
• Anyone can be more creative by applying hard work and strategies.
• Creativity is  the process  of  having original ideas  that  have value . 
• We use life experiences and connect them in different ways to come up with new ideas.

In this package, we:

• Introduce the concepts of Creativity as a learnable skill and help get students into a growth mindset to realize they can be creative in any subject or aspect of their life. 
• Provide several exercises which give students opportunities to try to come up with new ideas that when points in the activity. (I.e. be creative and independently evaluate whether their ideas are “new” and “creative” within the context of the activity)
• Provide a week-long challenge of doing something new every day, and a structured handout package to help students to record their observations. (These journal entries could be used as portfolio samples or assessment data for student writing.)  
• What do musicians have to say about their creative process?
• What are educational and business leaders saying about creativity and innovation?
• You get discussion questions for students, as well as answers from the video for teachers to help guide the discussions.
• Allow for deeper exploration of the concept of “Creativity” by playing with the term using the Frayer Model of understanding 

Get TWO weeks of Creativity Lessons for Elementary, Middle School, and High School: How to be MORE CREATIVE and INNOVATIVE LESSONS (learning skills):

We are creating all the time, but we don’t always recognize that this is actually creativity and innovation.

Creativity is when we…

• try to solve a problem, or
• have an aha moment and figure out how to do something or
• connect the dots in a new way… These are all examples of creativity.

Creativity is something our human minds can develop. How do we know this?

Because there are…

• Award-winning musical artists out there talk about what they’ve learned about creativity and how it requires hard work.
• Educational experts out there explain how creativity is something that we can teach and assess.
• Business experts out there identify the strategies and habits that super-creative people use.

Activities for creativity can go beyond simply assigning a “creative” task and giving students opportunities to be creative.

What if our creativity worksheets also provided strategies to show students how to be more creative?

We watched a bunch of videos and selected 7 of them for you to check out and discuss with your class.

Then we constructed a bunch of activities for students to experience “creativity”

Finally, we came up with discussion questions and possible student answers for you to help your students come up with a deeper understanding of creative thinking.

In this 2-week lesson package of creativity lessons for elementary, middle school, and high school, students have the opportunity to:

• EXPERIENCE  activities to explore how we generate ideas, where new ideas come from, and identify strategies that help us be more creative… or shut down creativity…
• WATCH  examples of artists, educational and business experts discuss creativity and how to be creative.
• UNDERSTAND  what “creativity” is by using a vocabulary building graphic organizer (Frayer model) to brainstorm features of creativity, examples and non-examples of creative thinking / process, and finally narrow down essential characteristics of what creativity actually is.

YOU GET 298 SLIDES / PAGES in 14 LESSONS. 

• 256 slides  in POWERPOINT and GOOGLE SLIDE format
• 70 page lesson plan PDF  with  14 DIFFERENT lessons  (45-55 min each.)
• 2 page Double entry Journal handout
• 5 page “Creative Words” activity hand out
• 1 page “Twelve” activity handout
• 10 page “Do something different” Creativity Challenge handout package
• graphic organizer to analyze debate questions (HANDOUT + sample answer key)
• 2 page Vocabulary Building Graphic Organizer
• 1 page Creativity Learning Skills SELF-EVALUATION handout
• 2 page Creativity Review Assessment – What did you learn? (7 short answer questions + sample answer key.)

We just saved you an incredible amount of prep work!

And the slides and handouts look legit good. Just sayin’.

SAMPLE TWO WEEK Short Range Plan: (14 How to be MORE Creative LESSON PLANS)

We base this schedule on a 50 minute period and provide around 40-60 minutes of content per lesson.

Depending on your teaching style and classroom dynamics, you may find things go longer or shorter than the suggested times. Possible discussion points are included in some of the slide notes.

TEACHER PRO TIPS:

If you are short on time, cut out some of the videos. We suggest watching:

• it gives 5 specific strategies on how to be more creative.
• It’s a short clip where she explains how she is a system of writing down ideas.
• It clearly explains what creativity is: Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value.

Creativity Lesson Plans for Elementary, Middle, and High School PART 1. EXPERIENCE

Day/lesson 1 – introduction to creativity (slides 1 – 29) – 45 min total.

• Introduction of Creativity, Imagination, innovation (slides 1-7) – 10 minutes
• Getting into a growth mindset with Creativity (slides 8-24) – 10 minutes
• Why we need creativity (slide 25-28) – 10 minutes
• Discuss strategies to be less creative – 5 min
• Discuss strategies to be more creative – 5 min
• Double entry Journal – 5 min

DAY/LESSON 2 –  This is a … / Creative Words (slides 30 – 45) – 55 MIN TOTAL

• Review strategies / Introduce Part 1 (slide 30 ) – 5 minutes
• Explain activity (slides 31-35)  
• Play activity (slide 35)   
• Reflection:  Strategies to get people to be less / more creative (slide 36)
• Explain activity (slide 37-41)  – 5 min
• Work period (slide 42) – 10 min
• Take up answers (slide 43) – 10 min
• Review strategies (slide 44-45) – 10 min

DAY/LESSON 3 –  Creative Words (cont) (slides 46 – 49) – 40 MIN TOTAL

• Review strategies / get set up (slide 46) – 5 min
• Work period (slide 47) – 10 min
• Take up answers (slide 48) – 15 min
• Discussion 
• Double Entry Journal  

DAY/LESSON 4 – Twelve (slides 50 – 60) –  45 MIN TOTAL

• Introduction (slide 50-56) – 10 min
• Work period (slide 57) – 10 min
• Take up answers (slide 58) – 15 min
• Discuss strategies (slide 59-60) – 10 min

DAY/LESSON 5 – Twelve continued (slides 61 – 69) –  50 MIN TOTAL

• Introduction: How to find inspiration from class answers (slide 61-66) – 10 min
• Work period (slide 67) – 10 min
• Take up answers (slide 68) – 20 min
• Discuss strategies (slide 69) – 10 min

DAY/LESSON 6 –  Twelve continued (slides 70 – 85) –  60 MIN TOTAL

• Inspiration from as the areas of life (slide 70-73)
• Numbers (slide 74)  
• Words (slide 75)  
• Pictures (slide 76)  
• Household objects (slide 77) 
• Sports (slide 78)
• Magic (slide 79)
• Brainstorm ideas from art / school (slide 80-81)
• Scoring / Set up (slide 82-83) – 5 min 
• Work period (slide 83) – 10 min
• Take up answers (slide 84) – 20 min
• Double Entry Journal 

DAY/LESSON 7 –  Do Something Different (slides 86 – 126) –  55 MIN TOTAL

• Creativity in Life (slide 86)
• Fly metaphor (slides 87-97)  
• Patterns (slides 98-101)  
• Explaining the Challenge (slides 102-111)  
• Explain the Handouts / Tracking sheet (slides 112-113)  
• Explaining handout (slides 114-115) 5 min
• Independent brainstorming (slide 116) 5 min
• Combine ideas as a class: BIG LIST (slide 117-118) 10 min
• Explaining Journal Entry (slides 119-125)  10 min 

Creativity Lessons for Elementary, Middle, and High School PART 2. WATCH 

Day/lesson 8 – part 2 videos (slides 127-135) – 50 min .

• How did it go? (slide 127)
• What did you do? Observe? Wonder? (slide 128)
• Next Steps (slide 129)
• Part 2 Video Introduction (slide 130) – 2 minutes
• Watch the video (slide 131) – 5 min
• What is Creativity? 
• What are 5 strategies to help us be more creative?  
• Introduction (slide 133) – 2 min
• Watch the video (slide 134) – 5 min
• What strategies can help us in the creative process?

DAY/LESSON 9 – Part 2 Videos continued (slides 127-129; 136-139) –  45 MIN

• Introduction (slide 136) – 3 min
• Watch the first video 73 Questions with Taylor Swift  (slide 137) -10 min
• What is creativity? 
• What strategies about creativity can we infer from how she writes songs?
• Watch the second video Taylor Swift Interview (Nova FM)  (slide 138) 2 min

DAY/LESSON 10 – Part 2 Videos continued (slides 127-129; 140-146) – 55 MIN

• Introduction (slide 140) – 3 min
• Watch the video (slide 141) -4 min
• What can we infer about Creativity based on what he says?
• What can we infer about Strategies about creativity based on how he writes songs?
• Introduction (slide 143-144) – 4 min
• Watch the video (slide 145) – 16 min
• What are Originals? 
• Why should we study the habits of Originals?
• What strategies can help us be more creative?

DAY/LESSON 11 – Part 2 Videos continued (slides 127-129; 147-149) –  40 MIN

• Introduction (slide 147) – 3 min
• Watch the video (slide 148) – 7 min
• What are the 3 parts of Creativity? 
• What strategy can help us in the creative process?

DAY/LESSON 12 – Part 2 Videos continued (slides 127-129; 150-152) –  50 MIN

• Introduction (slide 150) – 2 min
• Watch the video (slide 151) – 18 min

Creativity Lessons for Elementary, Middle, and High School Part 3 UNDERSTAND

Day/lesson 13 – vocabulary builder (slides 153-171) – 50 min.

• Introduce Part 3 – Understand (Vocabulary Builder) (slide 153)
• Graphic Organizer set up (slide 154-155) 
• Minds on (slides 156-157)
• Filling out the graphic organizer (slides 159-162) 
• Revising graphic organizer (slides 163-167)
• Summary (slides 168-171)

DAY/LESSON 14 – Self Evaluation / Review – (slides 172-176) – 50 MIN

• Student Self Evaluation (slide 172-175) – 10 min
• Chapter Review Test (slide 176) – 40 min

HERE’S WHAT YOU GET  when you download the Creativity Lessons for Elementary, Middle School and High School students:

THE READ ME file in the PREVIEW file section tells you exactly what you get when you buy this product.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment below!

We provide CREATIVE LESSON PLANS:

• a  short-range plan  showing the outline of topics and corresponding slides for 2-3 weeks of lessons.
• a  detailed lesson plan  (70 pages) for the 14 days / lessons.

We provide HANDOUTS:

• Double-Entry journal graphic organizers for students to take notes on strategies to be more or less creative.
• “Creative Words” activity handout with 5 different versions of the worksheet to record words.
• “Twelve” Creativity Activity handout for students to record questions with the answer 12.
• “Do something different” Challenge handout / worksheets for creativity. The package includes an introduction page, tracking sheet, brainstorming worksheets, and 2 versions of the journal entry handout.
• Vocabulary Builder graphic organizer (to develop a deeper understanding of what  Creativity  is.)
• Student Self Evaluation of their “ Creativity ” Learning Skill
• Chapter Review assessment and answer key of possible answers

We provide 3 different versions of the lesson slideshow (176 slides):

• A link to the Google Slideshow so you can show it right away. ( Get started in seconds!)
• A link to a version of the Google Slideshow that you can make a copy of the presentation. ( Edit the content to fit your exact classroom needs. )
• A Creativity and Innovation PPT Powerpoint file that you can download (PPT) and modify. (Edit the presentation to fit your needs, and  use the presentation when the internet is down! )

All of our slides and handouts can be edited and modified to fit your specific classroom needs.

• You can edit the slides in Microsoft PowerPoint and Google slides format
• You can edit the handouts in Microsoft Word. (We also provide PDF format for easy printing)

Heads up Content warning: (Slide 141-142 Jay Z video clip)

The first few seconds of one of the videos we chose (Jay-Z interview clip) has an intro that we skipped for you.

• The 5 second intro from the video uploader,  Evrrything Trill  shows a black-and-white darkened video clip of a girl in lingerie on a bed. 
• FYI: Trill is an adjective used in hip-hop culture to describe someone who is considered to be well respected, coming from a combination of the words “true” and “real”. (Source: Urban Dictionary)

If you play the video from the slideshow or the link in our slideshow, the video playback is set to begin 6 seconds into the interview and skips the intro entirely.

But, if you search for the video separately on YouTube, it will of course start from the beginning of the video.

SAVE HOURS OF PREP WORK

How do you teach Creativity and Innovation?

Which creativity lesson plans help your students to be more creative and innovative how do you teach innovation.

Creativity & Creative Thinking

Steve Debenport / Getty Images

• Famous Inventions
• Famous Inventors
• Patents & Trademarks
• Invention Timelines
• Computers & The Internet
• American History
• African American History
• African History
• Ancient History and Culture
• Asian History
• European History
• Latin American History
• Medieval & Renaissance History
• Military History
• The 20th Century
• Women's History

Lesson plans and activities for teaching about inventions by increasing creativity and creative thinking. The lesson plans are adaptable for grades K-12 and were designed to be done in sequence.

Teaching Creativity & Creative Thinking Skills

When a student is asked to "invent" a solution to a problem, the student must draw upon previous knowledge, skills, creativity, and experience. The student also recognizes areas where new learnings must be acquired in order to understand or address the problem. This information must then be applied, analyzed, synthesized, and evaluated. Through critical and creative thinking and problem-solving, ideas become reality as children create inventive solutions, illustrate their ideas, and make models of their inventions. Creative thinking lesson plans provide children with opportunities to develop and practice higher-order thinking skills.

Throughout the years, many creative thinking skills models and programs have been generated from educators, seeking to describe the essential elements of thinking and/or to develop a systematic approach to teaching thinking skills as part of the school curricula. Three models are illustrated below in this introduction. Although each uses different terminology, each model describes similar elements of either critical or creative thinking or both.

Models of Creative Thinking Skills

• Benjamin Bloom
• Calvin Taylor
• Isaksen and Treffinger

The models demonstrate how creative thinking lesson plans could provide an opportunity for students to "experience" most of the elements described in the models.

After teachers have reviewed the creative thinking skills models listed above, they will see the critical and creative thinking and problem-solving skills and talents that can be applied to the activity of inventing. The creative thinking lesson plans that follow can be used across all disciplines and grade levels and with all children. It can be integrated with all curricular areas and used as a means of applying the concepts or elements of any thinking skills program that may be in use.

Children of all ages are talented and creative. This project will give them an opportunity to develop their creative potential and synthesize and apply knowledge and skills by creating an invention or innovation to solve a problem, just as a "real" inventor would.

Creative Thinking - List of Activities

• Introducing Creative Thinking
• Practicing Creativity with the Class
• Practicing Creative Thinking with the Class
• Developing an Invention Idea
• Brainstorming for Creative Solutions
• Practicing the Critical Parts of Creative Thinking
• Completing the Invention
• Naming the Invention
• Optional Marketing Activities
• Parent Involvement
• Young Inventors' Day

"Imagination is more important than knowledge, for imagination embraces the world." -  Albert Einstein

Activity 1: Introducing Inventive Thinking and Brainstorming

Read about the Lives of Great Inventors Read the  stories  about great inventors in class or let students read themselves. Ask students, "How did these inventors get their ideas? How did they make their ideas a reality?" Locate books in your library about inventors, invention, and creativity. Older students can locate these references themselves. Also, visit the  Inventive Thinking and Creativity Gallery

Talk to a Real Inventor Invite a local inventor to speak to the class. Since local inventors are not usually listed in the phone book under "inventors", you can find them by calling a  local patent attorney  or your  local intellectual property law association . Your community may also have a  Patent and Trademark Depository Library  or an  inventor's society  that you may contact or post a request. If not, most of your major companies have a research and development department made up of people who think inventively for a living.

Examine Inventions Next, ask the students to look at the things in the classroom that are inventions. All the inventions in the classroom that have a U.S. patent will have a  patent number . One such item is probably  the pencil sharpener . Tell them to check out their house for patented items. Let the students brainstorm a list all of the inventions they discover. What would improve these inventions?

Discussion In order to guide your students through the inventive process, a few preliminary lessons dealing with creative thinking will help set the mood. Begin with a brief explanation of brainstorming and a discussion on the rules of brainstorming.

What is Brainstorming? Brainstorming is a process of spontaneous thinking used by an individual or by a group of people to generate numerous alternative ideas while deferring judgment. Introduced by Alex Osborn in his book " Applied Imagination ", brainstorming is the crux of each of the stages of all problem-solving methods.

Rules for Brainstorming

• No Criticism Allowed People tend to automatically evaluate each suggested idea--their own as well as others. Both internal and external criticism is to be avoided while brainstorming. Neither positive nor negative comments are allowed. Either type inhibits the free flow of thought and requires time which interferes with the next rule. Write each spoken idea down as it is given and move on.
• Work for Quantity Alex Osborn stated that "Quantity breeds quality." People must experience a "brain drain" (get all the common responses out of the way) before the innovative, creative ideas can surface; therefore, the more ideas, the more likely they are to be quality ideas.
• Hitchhiking Welcome Hitchhiking occurs when one member's idea produces a similar idea or an enhanced idea in another member. All ideas should be recorded.
• Freewheeling Encouraged Outrageous, humorous, and seemingly unimportant ideas should be recorded. It is not uncommon for the most off-the-wall idea to be the best.

Activity 2: Practicing Creativity with the Class

Step 1:  Cultivate the following creative thinking processes described by Paul Torrance and discussed in "The Search for Satori and Creativity" (1979):

• Fluency the production of a great number of ideas.
• Flexibility the production of ideas or products that show a variety of possibilities or realms of thought.
• Originality the production of ideas that are unique or unusual.
• Elaboration the production of ideas that display intensive detail or enrichment.

For practice in elaboration, have pairs or small groups of students choose a particular idea from the brainstorming list of invention ideas and add the flourishes and details that would develop the idea more fully.

Allow the students to share their innovative and  inventive ideas .

Step 2:  Once your students have become familiar with the rules of brainstorming and the creative thinking processes, Bob Eberle's  Scamper  technique for brainstorming could be introduced.

• S ubstitute What else instead? Who else instead? Other ingredients? Other material? Other power? Another place?
• C ombine How about a blend, an alloy, an ensemble? Combine purposes? Combine appeals?
• A dapt What else is like this? What other idea does this suggest? Does past offer parallel? What could I copy?
• M inify Order, form, shape? What to add? More time?
• M agnify Greater frequency? Higher? Longer? Thicker?
• P ut to other uses New ways to use as is? Other uses I modified? Other places to use? Other people, to reach?
• E liminate What to subtract? Smaller? Condensed? Miniature? Lower? Shorter? Lighter? Omit? Streamline? Understate?
• R everse Interchange components? Another pattern?
• R earrange another layout? Another sequence? Transpose cause and effect? Change pace? Transpose positive and negative? How about opposites? Turn it backward? Turn it upside-down? Reverse roles?

Step 3:  Bring in any object or use objects around the classroom to do the following exercise. Ask the students to list many new uses for a familiar object by using the Scamper technique with regard to the object. You could use a paper plate, to begin with, and see how many new things the students will discover. Make sure to follow the rules for brainstorming in Activity 1.

Step 4:  Using literature, ask your students to create a new ending to a story, change a character or situation within a story, or create a new beginning for the story that would result in the same ending.

Step 5:  Put a list of objects on the chalkboard. Ask your students to combine them in different ways to create a new product.

Let the students make their own list of objects. Once they combine several of them, ask them to illustrate the new product and explain why it might be useful.

Activity 3: Practicing Inventive Thinking with the Class

Before your students begin to find their own problems and create unique inventions or innovations to solve them, you can assist them by taking them through some of the steps as a group.

Finding the Problem

Let the class list problems in their own classroom that need solving. Use the "brainstorming" technique from Activity 1. Perhaps your students never have a pencil ready, as it is either missing or broken when it is time to do an assignment (a great brainstorming project would be to solve that problem). Select one problem for the class to solve using the following steps:

• Find several problems.
• Select one to work on.
• Analyze the situation.
• Think of many, varied, and unusual ways of solving the problem.

List the possibilities. Be sure to allow even the silliest possible solution, as creative thinking must have a positive, accepting environment in order to flourish.

Finding a Solution

• Select one or more possible solutions to work on. You may want to divide into groups if the class elects to work on several of the ideas.
• Improve and refine the idea(s).
• Share the class or individual solution(s)/invention(s) for solving the class problem.

Solving a "class" problem and creating a "class" invention will help students learn the process and make it easier for them to work on their own invention projects.

Activity 4: Developing an Invention Idea

Now that your students have had an introduction to the inventive process, it is time for them to find a problem and create their own invention to solve it.

Step One:  Begin by asking your students to conduct a survey. Tell them to interview everyone that they can think of to find out what problems need solutions. What kind of invention, tool, game, device, or idea would be helpful at home, work, or during leisure time? (You can use an Invention Idea Survey)

Step Two:  Ask the students to list the problems that need to be solved.

Step Three:  comes the decision-making process. Using the list of problems, ask the students to think about which problems would be possible for them to work on. They can do this by listing the pros and cons for each possibility. Predict the outcome or possible solution(s) for each problem. Make a decision by selecting one or two problems that provide the best options for an inventive solution. (Duplicate the Planning and Decision-Making Framework)

Step Four:  Begin an  Inventor's Log  or Journal. A record of your ideas and work will help you develop your invention and protect it when completed. Use Activity Form - Young Inventor's Log to help students understand what can be included on every page.

General Rules For Authentic Journal Keeping

• Using a  bound notebook , make notes each day about the things you do and learn while working on your invention.
• Record your idea and how you got it.
• Write about problems you have and how you solve them.
• Write in ink and do not erase.
• Add sketches and drawings to make things clear.
• List all parts, sources, and costs of materials.
• Sign and date all entries at the time they are made and have them witnessed.

Step Five:  To illustrate why record-keeping is important, read the following story about Daniel Drawbaugh who said that he invented the telephone, but didn't have one single paper or record to prove it.

Long before  Alexander Graham Bell  filed a patent application in 1875, Daniel Drawbaugh claimed to have invented the telephone. But since he had no journal or record, the  Supreme Court  rejected his claims by four votes to three. Alexander Graham Bell had excellent records and was awarded the patent for the telephone.

Activity 5: Brainstorming for Creative Solutions

Now that the students have one or two problems to work on, they must take the same steps that they did in solving the class problem in Activity Three. These steps could be listed on the chalkboard or a chart.

• Analyze the problem(s). Select one to work on.
• Think of many, varied, and unusual ways of solving the problem. List all of the possibilities. Be non-judgmental. (See Brainstorming in Activity 1 and SCAMPER in Activity 2.)
• Select one or more possible solutions to work on.
• Improve and refine your ideas.

Now that your students have some exciting possibilities for their invention projects, they will need to use their critical thinking skills to narrow down the possible solutions. They can do this by asking themselves the questions in the next activity about their inventive idea.

Activity 6: Practicing the Critical Parts of Inventive Thinking

• Is my idea practical?
• Can it be made easily?
• Is it as simple as possible?
• Is it safe?
• Will it cost too much to make or use?
• Is my idea really new?
• Will it withstand use, or will it break easily?
• Is my idea similar to something else?
• Will people really use my invention? (Survey your classmates or the people in your neighborhood to document the need or usefulness of your idea - adapt the invention idea survey.)

Activity 7: Completing the Invention

When students have an idea that meets most of the above qualifications in Activity 6, they need to plan how they are going to complete their project. The following planning technique will save them a great deal of time and effort:

• Identify the problem and a possible solution. Give your invention a name.
• List the materials needed to illustrate your invention and to make a model of it. You will need paper, pencil, and crayons or markers to draw your invention. You might use cardboard, paper, clay, wood, plastic, yarn, paper clips, and so forth to make a model. You might also want to use an art book or a book on model-making from your school library.
• List, in order, the steps for completing your invention.
• Think of the possible problems that might occur. How would you solve them?
• Complete your invention. Ask your parents and teacher to help with the model.

In Summary What - describe the problem. Materials - list the materials needed. Steps - list the steps to complete your invention. Problems - predict the problems that could occur.

Activity 8: Naming the Invention

An invention can be named in one of the following ways:

• Using the inventor's  name: Levi Strauss  = LEVI'S® jeansLouis Braille = Alphabet System
• Using the components or ingredients of the invention: Root Beer Peanut Butter
• With initials or acronyms: IBM ® S.C.U.B.A.®
• Using word  combinations (notice repeated  consonant sounds  and rhyming words):KIT KAT ® HULA HOOP  ® PUDDING POPS ® CAP'N CRUNCH ®
• Using the product's function: SUPERSEAL ® DUSTBUSTER ® vacuum cleaner hairbrush earmuffs 

Activity Nine: Optional Marketing Activities

Students can be very fluent when it comes to listing ingenious names of products out on the market. Solicit their suggestions and have them explain what makes each name effective. Each student should generate names for his/her own invention.

Developing a Slogan or Jingle Have the students define the terms "slogan" and "jingle." Discuss the purpose of having a slogan. Sample slogans and jingles:

• Things go better with Coke.
• COKE IS IT! ®
• TRIX ARE FOR KIDS ®
• OH THANK HEAVEN FOR 7-ELEVEN ®
• TWOALLBEEFPATTIES...
• GE: WE BRING GOOD THINGS TO LIFE! ®

Your students will be able to recall many  slogans  and jingles! When a slogan is named, discuss the reasons for its effectiveness. Allow time for thought in which the students can create jingles for their inventions.

Creating an Advertisement For a crash course in advertising, discuss the visual effect created by a television commercial, magazine, or newspaper advertisement. Collect magazine or newspaper ads that are eye-catching--some of the ads might be dominated by words and others by pictures that "say it all." Students might enjoy exploring newspapers and magazines for outstanding advertisements. Have students create magazine ads to promote their inventions. (For more advanced students, further lessons on advertising techniques would be appropriate at this point.)

Recording a Radio Promo A radio promo could be the icing on a student's advertising campaign! A promo might include facts about the usefulness of the invention, a clever jingle or song, sound effects, humor... the possibilities are endless. Students may choose to tape record their promos for use during the Invention Convention.

Advertising Activity Collect 5 - 6 objects and give them new uses. For instance, a toy hoop could be a waist-reducer, and some strange looking kitchen gadget might be a new type of mosquito catcher. Use your imagination! Search everywhere--from the tools in the garage to the kitchen drawer--for fun objects. Divide the class into small groups, and give each group one of the objects to work with. The group is to give the object a catchy name, write a slogan, draw an ad, and record a radio promo. Stand back and watch the creative juices flow. Variation: Collect magazine ads and have the students create new advertising campaigns using a different marketing angle.

Activity Ten: Parent Involvement

Few, if any, projects are successful unless the child is encouraged by the parents and other caring adults. Once the children have developed their own, original ideas, they should discuss them with their parents. Together, they can work to make the child's idea come to life by making a model. Although the making of a model is not necessary, it makes the project more interesting and adds another dimension to the project. You can involve parents by simply sending a letter home to explain the project and let them know how they may participate. One of your parents may have invented something that they can share with the class. 

Activity Eleven: Young Inventors' Day

Plan a Young Inventors' Day so that your students can be recognized for their  inventive thinking . This day should provide opportunities for the children to display their inventions and tell the story of how they got their idea and how it works. They can share with other students, their parents, and others.

When a child successfully completes a task, it is important that (s)he be recognized for the effort. All children who participate in the Inventive Thinking Lesson Plans are winners.

We have prepared a certificate that can be copied and given to all children who participate and use their inventive thinking skills to create an invention or innovation.

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35 problem-solving techniques and methods for solving complex problems

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All teams and organizations encounter challenges as they grow. There are problems that might occur for teams when it comes to miscommunication or resolving business-critical issues . You may face challenges around growth , design , user engagement, and even team culture and happiness. In short, problem-solving techniques should be part of every team’s skillset.

Problem-solving methods are primarily designed to help a group or team through a process of first identifying problems and challenges , ideating possible solutions , and then evaluating the most suitable .

Finding effective solutions to complex problems isn’t easy, but by using the right process and techniques, you can help your team be more efficient in the process.

So how do you develop strategies that are engaging, and empower your team to solve problems effectively?

In this blog post, we share a series of problem-solving tools you can use in your next workshop or team meeting. You’ll also find some tips for facilitating the process and how to enable others to solve complex problems.

Let’s get started! 

How do you identify problems?

How do you identify the right solution.

• Tips for more effective problem-solving

Complete problem-solving methods

• Problem-solving techniques to identify and analyze problems
• Problem-solving techniques for developing solutions

Problem-solving warm-up activities

Closing activities for a problem-solving process.

Before you can move towards finding the right solution for a given problem, you first need to identify and define the problem you wish to solve. 

Here, you want to clearly articulate what the problem is and allow your group to do the same. Remember that everyone in a group is likely to have differing perspectives and alignment is necessary in order to help the group move forward. 

Identifying a problem accurately also requires that all members of a group are able to contribute their views in an open and safe manner. It can be scary for people to stand up and contribute, especially if the problems or challenges are emotive or personal in nature. Be sure to try and create a psychologically safe space for these kinds of discussions.

Remember that problem analysis and further discussion are also important. Not taking the time to fully analyze and discuss a challenge can result in the development of solutions that are not fit for purpose or do not address the underlying issue.

Successfully identifying and then analyzing a problem means facilitating a group through activities designed to help them clearly and honestly articulate their thoughts and produce usable insight.

With this data, you might then produce a problem statement that clearly describes the problem you wish to be addressed and also state the goal of any process you undertake to tackle this issue.  

Finding solutions is the end goal of any process. Complex organizational challenges can only be solved with an appropriate solution but discovering them requires using the right problem-solving tool.

After you’ve explored a problem and discussed ideas, you need to help a team discuss and choose the right solution. Consensus tools and methods such as those below help a group explore possible solutions before then voting for the best. They’re a great way to tap into the collective intelligence of the group for great results!

Remember that the process is often iterative. Great problem solvers often roadtest a viable solution in a measured way to see what works too. While you might not get the right solution on your first try, the methods below help teams land on the most likely to succeed solution while also holding space for improvement.

Every effective problem solving process begins with an agenda . A well-structured workshop is one of the best methods for successfully guiding a group from exploring a problem to implementing a solution.

In SessionLab, it’s easy to go from an idea to a complete agenda . Start by dragging and dropping your core problem solving activities into place . Add timings, breaks and necessary materials before sharing your agenda with your colleagues.

The resulting agenda will be your guide to an effective and productive problem solving session that will also help you stay organized on the day!

Tips for more effective problem solving

Problem-solving activities are only one part of the puzzle. While a great method can help unlock your team’s ability to solve problems, without a thoughtful approach and strong facilitation the solutions may not be fit for purpose.

Let’s take a look at some problem-solving tips you can apply to any process to help it be a success!

Clearly define the problem

Jumping straight to solutions can be tempting, though without first clearly articulating a problem, the solution might not be the right one. Many of the problem-solving activities below include sections where the problem is explored and clearly defined before moving on.

This is a vital part of the problem-solving process and taking the time to fully define an issue can save time and effort later. A clear definition helps identify irrelevant information and it also ensures that your team sets off on the right track.

Don’t jump to conclusions

It’s easy for groups to exhibit cognitive bias or have preconceived ideas about both problems and potential solutions. Be sure to back up any problem statements or potential solutions with facts, research, and adequate forethought.

The best techniques ask participants to be methodical and challenge preconceived notions. Make sure you give the group enough time and space to collect relevant information and consider the problem in a new way. By approaching the process with a clear, rational mindset, you’ll often find that better solutions are more forthcoming.  

Try different approaches  

Problems come in all shapes and sizes and so too should the methods you use to solve them. If you find that one approach isn’t yielding results and your team isn’t finding different solutions, try mixing it up. You’ll be surprised at how using a new creative activity can unblock your team and generate great solutions.

Don’t take it personally 

Depending on the nature of your team or organizational problems, it’s easy for conversations to get heated. While it’s good for participants to be engaged in the discussions, ensure that emotions don’t run too high and that blame isn’t thrown around while finding solutions.

You’re all in it together, and even if your team or area is seeing problems, that isn’t necessarily a disparagement of you personally. Using facilitation skills to manage group dynamics is one effective method of helping conversations be more constructive.

Get the right people in the room

Your problem-solving method is often only as effective as the group using it. Getting the right people on the job and managing the number of people present is important too!

If the group is too small, you may not get enough different perspectives to effectively solve a problem. If the group is too large, you can go round and round during the ideation stages.

Creating the right group makeup is also important in ensuring you have the necessary expertise and skillset to both identify and follow up on potential solutions. Carefully consider who to include at each stage to help ensure your problem-solving method is followed and positioned for success.

Document everything

The best solutions can take refinement, iteration, and reflection to come out. Get into a habit of documenting your process in order to keep all the learnings from the session and to allow ideas to mature and develop. Many of the methods below involve the creation of documents or shared resources. Be sure to keep and share these so everyone can benefit from the work done!

Bring a facilitator 

Facilitation is all about making group processes easier. With a subject as potentially emotive and important as problem-solving, having an impartial third party in the form of a facilitator can make all the difference in finding great solutions and keeping the process moving. Consider bringing a facilitator to your problem-solving session to get better results and generate meaningful solutions!

Develop your problem-solving skills

It takes time and practice to be an effective problem solver. While some roles or participants might more naturally gravitate towards problem-solving, it can take development and planning to help everyone create better solutions.

You might develop a training program, run a problem-solving workshop or simply ask your team to practice using the techniques below. Check out our post on problem-solving skills to see how you and your group can develop the right mental process and be more resilient to issues too!

Design a great agenda

Workshops are a great format for solving problems. With the right approach, you can focus a group and help them find the solutions to their own problems. But designing a process can be time-consuming and finding the right activities can be difficult.

Check out our workshop planning guide to level-up your agenda design and start running more effective workshops. Need inspiration? Check out templates designed by expert facilitators to help you kickstart your process!

In this section, we’ll look at in-depth problem-solving methods that provide a complete end-to-end process for developing effective solutions. These will help guide your team from the discovery and definition of a problem through to delivering the right solution.

If you’re looking for an all-encompassing method or problem-solving model, these processes are a great place to start. They’ll ask your team to challenge preconceived ideas and adopt a mindset for solving problems more effectively.

• Six Thinking Hats
• Lightning Decision Jam
• Problem Definition Process
• Discovery & Action Dialogue

Design Sprint 2.0

• Open Space Technology

1. Six Thinking Hats

Individual approaches to solving a problem can be very different based on what team or role an individual holds. It can be easy for existing biases or perspectives to find their way into the mix, or for internal politics to direct a conversation.

Six Thinking Hats is a classic method for identifying the problems that need to be solved and enables your team to consider them from different angles, whether that is by focusing on facts and data, creative solutions, or by considering why a particular solution might not work.

Like all problem-solving frameworks, Six Thinking Hats is effective at helping teams remove roadblocks from a conversation or discussion and come to terms with all the aspects necessary to solve complex problems.

2. Lightning Decision Jam

Featured courtesy of Jonathan Courtney of AJ&Smart Berlin, Lightning Decision Jam is one of those strategies that should be in every facilitation toolbox. Exploring problems and finding solutions is often creative in nature, though as with any creative process, there is the potential to lose focus and get lost.

Unstructured discussions might get you there in the end, but it’s much more effective to use a method that creates a clear process and team focus.

In Lightning Decision Jam, participants are invited to begin by writing challenges, concerns, or mistakes on post-its without discussing them before then being invited by the moderator to present them to the group.

From there, the team vote on which problems to solve and are guided through steps that will allow them to reframe those problems, create solutions and then decide what to execute on. 

By deciding the problems that need to be solved as a team before moving on, this group process is great for ensuring the whole team is aligned and can take ownership over the next stages. 

Lightning Decision Jam (LDJ)   #action   #decision making   #problem solving   #issue analysis   #innovation   #design   #remote-friendly   The problem with anything that requires creative thinking is that it’s easy to get lost—lose focus and fall into the trap of having useless, open-ended, unstructured discussions. Here’s the most effective solution I’ve found: Replace all open, unstructured discussion with a clear process. What to use this exercise for: Anything which requires a group of people to make decisions, solve problems or discuss challenges. It’s always good to frame an LDJ session with a broad topic, here are some examples: The conversion flow of our checkout Our internal design process How we organise events Keeping up with our competition Improving sales flow

3. Problem Definition Process

While problems can be complex, the problem-solving methods you use to identify and solve those problems can often be simple in design. 

By taking the time to truly identify and define a problem before asking the group to reframe the challenge as an opportunity, this method is a great way to enable change.

Begin by identifying a focus question and exploring the ways in which it manifests before splitting into five teams who will each consider the problem using a different method: escape, reversal, exaggeration, distortion or wishful. Teams develop a problem objective and create ideas in line with their method before then feeding them back to the group.

This method is great for enabling in-depth discussions while also creating space for finding creative solutions too!

Problem Definition   #problem solving   #idea generation   #creativity   #online   #remote-friendly   A problem solving technique to define a problem, challenge or opportunity and to generate ideas.

4. The 5 Whys 

Sometimes, a group needs to go further with their strategies and analyze the root cause at the heart of organizational issues. An RCA or root cause analysis is the process of identifying what is at the heart of business problems or recurring challenges. 

The 5 Whys is a simple and effective method of helping a group go find the root cause of any problem or challenge and conduct analysis that will deliver results. 

By beginning with the creation of a problem statement and going through five stages to refine it, The 5 Whys provides everything you need to truly discover the cause of an issue.

The 5 Whys   #hyperisland   #innovation   This simple and powerful method is useful for getting to the core of a problem or challenge. As the title suggests, the group defines a problems, then asks the question “why” five times, often using the resulting explanation as a starting point for creative problem solving.

5. World Cafe

World Cafe is a simple but powerful facilitation technique to help bigger groups to focus their energy and attention on solving complex problems.

World Cafe enables this approach by creating a relaxed atmosphere where participants are able to self-organize and explore topics relevant and important to them which are themed around a central problem-solving purpose. Create the right atmosphere by modeling your space after a cafe and after guiding the group through the method, let them take the lead!

Making problem-solving a part of your organization’s culture in the long term can be a difficult undertaking. More approachable formats like World Cafe can be especially effective in bringing people unfamiliar with workshops into the fold. 

World Cafe   #hyperisland   #innovation   #issue analysis   World Café is a simple yet powerful method, originated by Juanita Brown, for enabling meaningful conversations driven completely by participants and the topics that are relevant and important to them. Facilitators create a cafe-style space and provide simple guidelines. Participants then self-organize and explore a set of relevant topics or questions for conversation.

6. Discovery & Action Dialogue (DAD)

One of the best approaches is to create a safe space for a group to share and discover practices and behaviors that can help them find their own solutions.

With DAD, you can help a group choose which problems they wish to solve and which approaches they will take to do so. It’s great at helping remove resistance to change and can help get buy-in at every level too!

This process of enabling frontline ownership is great in ensuring follow-through and is one of the methods you will want in your toolbox as a facilitator.

Discovery & Action Dialogue (DAD)   #idea generation   #liberating structures   #action   #issue analysis   #remote-friendly   DADs make it easy for a group or community to discover practices and behaviors that enable some individuals (without access to special resources and facing the same constraints) to find better solutions than their peers to common problems. These are called positive deviant (PD) behaviors and practices. DADs make it possible for people in the group, unit, or community to discover by themselves these PD practices. DADs also create favorable conditions for stimulating participants’ creativity in spaces where they can feel safe to invent new and more effective practices. Resistance to change evaporates as participants are unleashed to choose freely which practices they will adopt or try and which problems they will tackle. DADs make it possible to achieve frontline ownership of solutions.

7. Design Sprint 2.0

Want to see how a team can solve big problems and move forward with prototyping and testing solutions in a few days? The Design Sprint 2.0 template from Jake Knapp, author of Sprint, is a complete agenda for a with proven results.

Developing the right agenda can involve difficult but necessary planning. Ensuring all the correct steps are followed can also be stressful or time-consuming depending on your level of experience.

Use this complete 4-day workshop template if you are finding there is no obvious solution to your challenge and want to focus your team around a specific problem that might require a shortcut to launching a minimum viable product or waiting for the organization-wide implementation of a solution.

8. Open space technology

Open space technology- developed by Harrison Owen – creates a space where large groups are invited to take ownership of their problem solving and lead individual sessions. Open space technology is a great format when you have a great deal of expertise and insight in the room and want to allow for different takes and approaches on a particular theme or problem you need to be solved.

Start by bringing your participants together to align around a central theme and focus their efforts. Explain the ground rules to help guide the problem-solving process and then invite members to identify any issue connecting to the central theme that they are interested in and are prepared to take responsibility for.

Once participants have decided on their approach to the core theme, they write their issue on a piece of paper, announce it to the group, pick a session time and place, and post the paper on the wall. As the wall fills up with sessions, the group is then invited to join the sessions that interest them the most and which they can contribute to, then you’re ready to begin!

Everyone joins the problem-solving group they’ve signed up to, record the discussion and if appropriate, findings can then be shared with the rest of the group afterward.

Open Space Technology   #action plan   #idea generation   #problem solving   #issue analysis   #large group   #online   #remote-friendly   Open Space is a methodology for large groups to create their agenda discerning important topics for discussion, suitable for conferences, community gatherings and whole system facilitation

Techniques to identify and analyze problems

Using a problem-solving method to help a team identify and analyze a problem can be a quick and effective addition to any workshop or meeting.

While further actions are always necessary, you can generate momentum and alignment easily, and these activities are a great place to get started.

We’ve put together this list of techniques to help you and your team with problem identification, analysis, and discussion that sets the foundation for developing effective solutions.

Let’s take a look!

• The Creativity Dice
• Fishbone Analysis
• Problem Tree
• SWOT Analysis
• Agreement-Certainty Matrix
• The Journalistic Six
• LEGO Challenge
• What, So What, Now What?
• Journalists

Individual and group perspectives are incredibly important, but what happens if people are set in their minds and need a change of perspective in order to approach a problem more effectively?

Flip It is a method we love because it is both simple to understand and run, and allows groups to understand how their perspectives and biases are formed. 

Participants in Flip It are first invited to consider concerns, issues, or problems from a perspective of fear and write them on a flip chart. Then, the group is asked to consider those same issues from a perspective of hope and flip their understanding.  

No problem and solution is free from existing bias and by changing perspectives with Flip It, you can then develop a problem solving model quickly and effectively.

Flip It!   #gamestorming   #problem solving   #action   Often, a change in a problem or situation comes simply from a change in our perspectives. Flip It! is a quick game designed to show players that perspectives are made, not born.

10. The Creativity Dice

One of the most useful problem solving skills you can teach your team is of approaching challenges with creativity, flexibility, and openness. Games like The Creativity Dice allow teams to overcome the potential hurdle of too much linear thinking and approach the process with a sense of fun and speed. 

In The Creativity Dice, participants are organized around a topic and roll a dice to determine what they will work on for a period of 3 minutes at a time. They might roll a 3 and work on investigating factual information on the chosen topic. They might roll a 1 and work on identifying the specific goals, standards, or criteria for the session.

Encouraging rapid work and iteration while asking participants to be flexible are great skills to cultivate. Having a stage for idea incubation in this game is also important. Moments of pause can help ensure the ideas that are put forward are the most suitable. 

The Creativity Dice   #creativity   #problem solving   #thiagi   #issue analysis   Too much linear thinking is hazardous to creative problem solving. To be creative, you should approach the problem (or the opportunity) from different points of view. You should leave a thought hanging in mid-air and move to another. This skipping around prevents premature closure and lets your brain incubate one line of thought while you consciously pursue another.

11. Fishbone Analysis

Organizational or team challenges are rarely simple, and it’s important to remember that one problem can be an indication of something that goes deeper and may require further consideration to be solved.

Fishbone Analysis helps groups to dig deeper and understand the origins of a problem. It’s a great example of a root cause analysis method that is simple for everyone on a team to get their head around. 

Participants in this activity are asked to annotate a diagram of a fish, first adding the problem or issue to be worked on at the head of a fish before then brainstorming the root causes of the problem and adding them as bones on the fish. 

Using abstractions such as a diagram of a fish can really help a team break out of their regular thinking and develop a creative approach.

Fishbone Analysis   #problem solving   ##root cause analysis   #decision making   #online facilitation   A process to help identify and understand the origins of problems, issues or observations.

12. Problem Tree 

Encouraging visual thinking can be an essential part of many strategies. By simply reframing and clarifying problems, a group can move towards developing a problem solving model that works for them. 

In Problem Tree, groups are asked to first brainstorm a list of problems – these can be design problems, team problems or larger business problems – and then organize them into a hierarchy. The hierarchy could be from most important to least important or abstract to practical, though the key thing with problem solving games that involve this aspect is that your group has some way of managing and sorting all the issues that are raised.

Once you have a list of problems that need to be solved and have organized them accordingly, you’re then well-positioned for the next problem solving steps.

Problem tree   #define intentions   #create   #design   #issue analysis   A problem tree is a tool to clarify the hierarchy of problems addressed by the team within a design project; it represents high level problems or related sublevel problems.

13. SWOT Analysis

Chances are you’ve heard of the SWOT Analysis before. This problem-solving method focuses on identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is a tried and tested method for both individuals and teams.

Start by creating a desired end state or outcome and bare this in mind – any process solving model is made more effective by knowing what you are moving towards. Create a quadrant made up of the four categories of a SWOT analysis and ask participants to generate ideas based on each of those quadrants.

Once you have those ideas assembled in their quadrants, cluster them together based on their affinity with other ideas. These clusters are then used to facilitate group conversations and move things forward. 

SWOT analysis   #gamestorming   #problem solving   #action   #meeting facilitation   The SWOT Analysis is a long-standing technique of looking at what we have, with respect to the desired end state, as well as what we could improve on. It gives us an opportunity to gauge approaching opportunities and dangers, and assess the seriousness of the conditions that affect our future. When we understand those conditions, we can influence what comes next.

14. Agreement-Certainty Matrix

Not every problem-solving approach is right for every challenge, and deciding on the right method for the challenge at hand is a key part of being an effective team.

The Agreement Certainty matrix helps teams align on the nature of the challenges facing them. By sorting problems from simple to chaotic, your team can understand what methods are suitable for each problem and what they can do to ensure effective results. 

If you are already using Liberating Structures techniques as part of your problem-solving strategy, the Agreement-Certainty Matrix can be an invaluable addition to your process. We’ve found it particularly if you are having issues with recurring problems in your organization and want to go deeper in understanding the root cause. 

Agreement-Certainty Matrix   #issue analysis   #liberating structures   #problem solving   You can help individuals or groups avoid the frequent mistake of trying to solve a problem with methods that are not adapted to the nature of their challenge. The combination of two questions makes it possible to easily sort challenges into four categories: simple, complicated, complex , and chaotic .  A problem is simple when it can be solved reliably with practices that are easy to duplicate.  It is complicated when experts are required to devise a sophisticated solution that will yield the desired results predictably.  A problem is complex when there are several valid ways to proceed but outcomes are not predictable in detail.  Chaotic is when the context is too turbulent to identify a path forward.  A loose analogy may be used to describe these differences: simple is like following a recipe, complicated like sending a rocket to the moon, complex like raising a child, and chaotic is like the game “Pin the Tail on the Donkey.”  The Liberating Structures Matching Matrix in Chapter 5 can be used as the first step to clarify the nature of a challenge and avoid the mismatches between problems and solutions that are frequently at the root of chronic, recurring problems.

Organizing and charting a team’s progress can be important in ensuring its success. SQUID (Sequential Question and Insight Diagram) is a great model that allows a team to effectively switch between giving questions and answers and develop the skills they need to stay on track throughout the process. 

Begin with two different colored sticky notes – one for questions and one for answers – and with your central topic (the head of the squid) on the board. Ask the group to first come up with a series of questions connected to their best guess of how to approach the topic. Ask the group to come up with answers to those questions, fix them to the board and connect them with a line. After some discussion, go back to question mode by responding to the generated answers or other points on the board.

It’s rewarding to see a diagram grow throughout the exercise, and a completed SQUID can provide a visual resource for future effort and as an example for other teams.

SQUID   #gamestorming   #project planning   #issue analysis   #problem solving   When exploring an information space, it’s important for a group to know where they are at any given time. By using SQUID, a group charts out the territory as they go and can navigate accordingly. SQUID stands for Sequential Question and Insight Diagram.

16. Speed Boat

To continue with our nautical theme, Speed Boat is a short and sweet activity that can help a team quickly identify what employees, clients or service users might have a problem with and analyze what might be standing in the way of achieving a solution.

Methods that allow for a group to make observations, have insights and obtain those eureka moments quickly are invaluable when trying to solve complex problems.

In Speed Boat, the approach is to first consider what anchors and challenges might be holding an organization (or boat) back. Bonus points if you are able to identify any sharks in the water and develop ideas that can also deal with competitors!   

Speed Boat   #gamestorming   #problem solving   #action   Speedboat is a short and sweet way to identify what your employees or clients don’t like about your product/service or what’s standing in the way of a desired goal.

17. The Journalistic Six

Some of the most effective ways of solving problems is by encouraging teams to be more inclusive and diverse in their thinking.

Based on the six key questions journalism students are taught to answer in articles and news stories, The Journalistic Six helps create teams to see the whole picture. By using who, what, when, where, why, and how to facilitate the conversation and encourage creative thinking, your team can make sure that the problem identification and problem analysis stages of the are covered exhaustively and thoughtfully. Reporter’s notebook and dictaphone optional.

The Journalistic Six – Who What When Where Why How   #idea generation   #issue analysis   #problem solving   #online   #creative thinking   #remote-friendly   A questioning method for generating, explaining, investigating ideas.

18. LEGO Challenge

Now for an activity that is a little out of the (toy) box. LEGO Serious Play is a facilitation methodology that can be used to improve creative thinking and problem-solving skills. 

The LEGO Challenge includes giving each member of the team an assignment that is hidden from the rest of the group while they create a structure without speaking.

What the LEGO challenge brings to the table is a fun working example of working with stakeholders who might not be on the same page to solve problems. Also, it’s LEGO! Who doesn’t love LEGO! 

LEGO Challenge   #hyperisland   #team   A team-building activity in which groups must work together to build a structure out of LEGO, but each individual has a secret “assignment” which makes the collaborative process more challenging. It emphasizes group communication, leadership dynamics, conflict, cooperation, patience and problem solving strategy.

19. What, So What, Now What?

If not carefully managed, the problem identification and problem analysis stages of the problem-solving process can actually create more problems and misunderstandings.

The What, So What, Now What? problem-solving activity is designed to help collect insights and move forward while also eliminating the possibility of disagreement when it comes to identifying, clarifying, and analyzing organizational or work problems. 

Facilitation is all about bringing groups together so that might work on a shared goal and the best problem-solving strategies ensure that teams are aligned in purpose, if not initially in opinion or insight.

Throughout the three steps of this game, you give everyone on a team to reflect on a problem by asking what happened, why it is important, and what actions should then be taken. 

This can be a great activity for bringing our individual perceptions about a problem or challenge and contextualizing it in a larger group setting. This is one of the most important problem-solving skills you can bring to your organization.

W³ – What, So What, Now What?   #issue analysis   #innovation   #liberating structures   You can help groups reflect on a shared experience in a way that builds understanding and spurs coordinated action while avoiding unproductive conflict. It is possible for every voice to be heard while simultaneously sifting for insights and shaping new direction. Progressing in stages makes this practical—from collecting facts about What Happened to making sense of these facts with So What and finally to what actions logically follow with Now What . The shared progression eliminates most of the misunderstandings that otherwise fuel disagreements about what to do. Voila!

20. Journalists  

Problem analysis can be one of the most important and decisive stages of all problem-solving tools. Sometimes, a team can become bogged down in the details and are unable to move forward.

Journalists is an activity that can avoid a group from getting stuck in the problem identification or problem analysis stages of the process.

In Journalists, the group is invited to draft the front page of a fictional newspaper and figure out what stories deserve to be on the cover and what headlines those stories will have. By reframing how your problems and challenges are approached, you can help a team move productively through the process and be better prepared for the steps to follow.

Journalists   #vision   #big picture   #issue analysis   #remote-friendly   This is an exercise to use when the group gets stuck in details and struggles to see the big picture. Also good for defining a vision.

Problem-solving techniques for developing solutions 

The success of any problem-solving process can be measured by the solutions it produces. After you’ve defined the issue, explored existing ideas, and ideated, it’s time to narrow down to the correct solution.

Use these problem-solving techniques when you want to help your team find consensus, compare possible solutions, and move towards taking action on a particular problem.

• Improved Solutions
• Four-Step Sketch
• 15% Solutions
• How-Now-Wow matrix
• Impact Effort Matrix

21. Mindspin  

Brainstorming is part of the bread and butter of the problem-solving process and all problem-solving strategies benefit from getting ideas out and challenging a team to generate solutions quickly. 

With Mindspin, participants are encouraged not only to generate ideas but to do so under time constraints and by slamming down cards and passing them on. By doing multiple rounds, your team can begin with a free generation of possible solutions before moving on to developing those solutions and encouraging further ideation. 

This is one of our favorite problem-solving activities and can be great for keeping the energy up throughout the workshop. Remember the importance of helping people become engaged in the process – energizing problem-solving techniques like Mindspin can help ensure your team stays engaged and happy, even when the problems they’re coming together to solve are complex. 

MindSpin   #teampedia   #idea generation   #problem solving   #action   A fast and loud method to enhance brainstorming within a team. Since this activity has more than round ideas that are repetitive can be ruled out leaving more creative and innovative answers to the challenge.

22. Improved Solutions

After a team has successfully identified a problem and come up with a few solutions, it can be tempting to call the work of the problem-solving process complete. That said, the first solution is not necessarily the best, and by including a further review and reflection activity into your problem-solving model, you can ensure your group reaches the best possible result. 

One of a number of problem-solving games from Thiagi Group, Improved Solutions helps you go the extra mile and develop suggested solutions with close consideration and peer review. By supporting the discussion of several problems at once and by shifting team roles throughout, this problem-solving technique is a dynamic way of finding the best solution. 

Improved Solutions   #creativity   #thiagi   #problem solving   #action   #team   You can improve any solution by objectively reviewing its strengths and weaknesses and making suitable adjustments. In this creativity framegame, you improve the solutions to several problems. To maintain objective detachment, you deal with a different problem during each of six rounds and assume different roles (problem owner, consultant, basher, booster, enhancer, and evaluator) during each round. At the conclusion of the activity, each player ends up with two solutions to her problem.

23. Four Step Sketch

Creative thinking and visual ideation does not need to be confined to the opening stages of your problem-solving strategies. Exercises that include sketching and prototyping on paper can be effective at the solution finding and development stage of the process, and can be great for keeping a team engaged. 

By going from simple notes to a crazy 8s round that involves rapidly sketching 8 variations on their ideas before then producing a final solution sketch, the group is able to iterate quickly and visually. Problem-solving techniques like Four-Step Sketch are great if you have a group of different thinkers and want to change things up from a more textual or discussion-based approach.

Four-Step Sketch   #design sprint   #innovation   #idea generation   #remote-friendly   The four-step sketch is an exercise that helps people to create well-formed concepts through a structured process that includes: Review key information Start design work on paper,  Consider multiple variations , Create a detailed solution . This exercise is preceded by a set of other activities allowing the group to clarify the challenge they want to solve. See how the Four Step Sketch exercise fits into a Design Sprint

24. 15% Solutions

Some problems are simpler than others and with the right problem-solving activities, you can empower people to take immediate actions that can help create organizational change. 

Part of the liberating structures toolkit, 15% solutions is a problem-solving technique that focuses on finding and implementing solutions quickly. A process of iterating and making small changes quickly can help generate momentum and an appetite for solving complex problems.

Problem-solving strategies can live and die on whether people are onboard. Getting some quick wins is a great way of getting people behind the process.   

It can be extremely empowering for a team to realize that problem-solving techniques can be deployed quickly and easily and delineate between things they can positively impact and those things they cannot change. 

15% Solutions   #action   #liberating structures   #remote-friendly   You can reveal the actions, however small, that everyone can do immediately. At a minimum, these will create momentum, and that may make a BIG difference.  15% Solutions show that there is no reason to wait around, feel powerless, or fearful. They help people pick it up a level. They get individuals and the group to focus on what is within their discretion instead of what they cannot change.  With a very simple question, you can flip the conversation to what can be done and find solutions to big problems that are often distributed widely in places not known in advance. Shifting a few grains of sand may trigger a landslide and change the whole landscape.

25. How-Now-Wow Matrix

The problem-solving process is often creative, as complex problems usually require a change of thinking and creative response in order to find the best solutions. While it’s common for the first stages to encourage creative thinking, groups can often gravitate to familiar solutions when it comes to the end of the process. 

When selecting solutions, you don’t want to lose your creative energy! The How-Now-Wow Matrix from Gamestorming is a great problem-solving activity that enables a group to stay creative and think out of the box when it comes to selecting the right solution for a given problem.

Problem-solving techniques that encourage creative thinking and the ideation and selection of new solutions can be the most effective in organisational change. Give the How-Now-Wow Matrix a go, and not just for how pleasant it is to say out loud. 

How-Now-Wow Matrix   #gamestorming   #idea generation   #remote-friendly   When people want to develop new ideas, they most often think out of the box in the brainstorming or divergent phase. However, when it comes to convergence, people often end up picking ideas that are most familiar to them. This is called a ‘creative paradox’ or a ‘creadox’. The How-Now-Wow matrix is an idea selection tool that breaks the creadox by forcing people to weigh each idea on 2 parameters.

26. Impact and Effort Matrix

All problem-solving techniques hope to not only find solutions to a given problem or challenge but to find the best solution. When it comes to finding a solution, groups are invited to put on their decision-making hats and really think about how a proposed idea would work in practice. 

The Impact and Effort Matrix is one of the problem-solving techniques that fall into this camp, empowering participants to first generate ideas and then categorize them into a 2×2 matrix based on impact and effort.

Activities that invite critical thinking while remaining simple are invaluable. Use the Impact and Effort Matrix to move from ideation and towards evaluating potential solutions before then committing to them. 

Impact and Effort Matrix   #gamestorming   #decision making   #action   #remote-friendly   In this decision-making exercise, possible actions are mapped based on two factors: effort required to implement and potential impact. Categorizing ideas along these lines is a useful technique in decision making, as it obliges contributors to balance and evaluate suggested actions before committing to them.

27. Dotmocracy

If you’ve followed each of the problem-solving steps with your group successfully, you should move towards the end of your process with heaps of possible solutions developed with a specific problem in mind. But how do you help a group go from ideation to putting a solution into action? 

Dotmocracy – or Dot Voting -is a tried and tested method of helping a team in the problem-solving process make decisions and put actions in place with a degree of oversight and consensus. 

One of the problem-solving techniques that should be in every facilitator’s toolbox, Dot Voting is fast and effective and can help identify the most popular and best solutions and help bring a group to a decision effectively. 

Dotmocracy   #action   #decision making   #group prioritization   #hyperisland   #remote-friendly   Dotmocracy is a simple method for group prioritization or decision-making. It is not an activity on its own, but a method to use in processes where prioritization or decision-making is the aim. The method supports a group to quickly see which options are most popular or relevant. The options or ideas are written on post-its and stuck up on a wall for the whole group to see. Each person votes for the options they think are the strongest, and that information is used to inform a decision.

All facilitators know that warm-ups and icebreakers are useful for any workshop or group process. Problem-solving workshops are no different.

Use these problem-solving techniques to warm up a group and prepare them for the rest of the process. Activating your group by tapping into some of the top problem-solving skills can be one of the best ways to see great outcomes from your session.

• Check-in/Check-out
• Doodling Together
• Show and Tell
• Constellations
• Draw a Tree

28. Check-in / Check-out

Solid processes are planned from beginning to end, and the best facilitators know that setting the tone and establishing a safe, open environment can be integral to a successful problem-solving process.

Check-in / Check-out is a great way to begin and/or bookend a problem-solving workshop. Checking in to a session emphasizes that everyone will be seen, heard, and expected to contribute. 

If you are running a series of meetings, setting a consistent pattern of checking in and checking out can really help your team get into a groove. We recommend this opening-closing activity for small to medium-sized groups though it can work with large groups if they’re disciplined!

Check-in / Check-out   #team   #opening   #closing   #hyperisland   #remote-friendly   Either checking-in or checking-out is a simple way for a team to open or close a process, symbolically and in a collaborative way. Checking-in/out invites each member in a group to be present, seen and heard, and to express a reflection or a feeling. Checking-in emphasizes presence, focus and group commitment; checking-out emphasizes reflection and symbolic closure.

29. Doodling Together  

Thinking creatively and not being afraid to make suggestions are important problem-solving skills for any group or team, and warming up by encouraging these behaviors is a great way to start. 

Doodling Together is one of our favorite creative ice breaker games – it’s quick, effective, and fun and can make all following problem-solving steps easier by encouraging a group to collaborate visually. By passing cards and adding additional items as they go, the workshop group gets into a groove of co-creation and idea development that is crucial to finding solutions to problems. 

Doodling Together   #collaboration   #creativity   #teamwork   #fun   #team   #visual methods   #energiser   #icebreaker   #remote-friendly   Create wild, weird and often funny postcards together & establish a group’s creative confidence.

30. Show and Tell

You might remember some version of Show and Tell from being a kid in school and it’s a great problem-solving activity to kick off a session.

Asking participants to prepare a little something before a workshop by bringing an object for show and tell can help them warm up before the session has even begun! Games that include a physical object can also help encourage early engagement before moving onto more big-picture thinking.

By asking your participants to tell stories about why they chose to bring a particular item to the group, you can help teams see things from new perspectives and see both differences and similarities in the way they approach a topic. Great groundwork for approaching a problem-solving process as a team! 

Show and Tell   #gamestorming   #action   #opening   #meeting facilitation   Show and Tell taps into the power of metaphors to reveal players’ underlying assumptions and associations around a topic The aim of the game is to get a deeper understanding of stakeholders’ perspectives on anything—a new project, an organizational restructuring, a shift in the company’s vision or team dynamic.

31. Constellations

Who doesn’t love stars? Constellations is a great warm-up activity for any workshop as it gets people up off their feet, energized, and ready to engage in new ways with established topics. It’s also great for showing existing beliefs, biases, and patterns that can come into play as part of your session.

Using warm-up games that help build trust and connection while also allowing for non-verbal responses can be great for easing people into the problem-solving process and encouraging engagement from everyone in the group. Constellations is great in large spaces that allow for movement and is definitely a practical exercise to allow the group to see patterns that are otherwise invisible. 

Constellations   #trust   #connection   #opening   #coaching   #patterns   #system   Individuals express their response to a statement or idea by standing closer or further from a central object. Used with teams to reveal system, hidden patterns, perspectives.

32. Draw a Tree

Problem-solving games that help raise group awareness through a central, unifying metaphor can be effective ways to warm-up a group in any problem-solving model.

Draw a Tree is a simple warm-up activity you can use in any group and which can provide a quick jolt of energy. Start by asking your participants to draw a tree in just 45 seconds – they can choose whether it will be abstract or realistic. 

Once the timer is up, ask the group how many people included the roots of the tree and use this as a means to discuss how we can ignore important parts of any system simply because they are not visible.

All problem-solving strategies are made more effective by thinking of problems critically and by exposing things that may not normally come to light. Warm-up games like Draw a Tree are great in that they quickly demonstrate some key problem-solving skills in an accessible and effective way.

Draw a Tree   #thiagi   #opening   #perspectives   #remote-friendly   With this game you can raise awarness about being more mindful, and aware of the environment we live in.

Each step of the problem-solving workshop benefits from an intelligent deployment of activities, games, and techniques. Bringing your session to an effective close helps ensure that solutions are followed through on and that you also celebrate what has been achieved.

Here are some problem-solving activities you can use to effectively close a workshop or meeting and ensure the great work you’ve done can continue afterward.

• One Breath Feedback
• Who What When Matrix
• Response Cards

How do I conclude a problem-solving process?

All good things must come to an end. With the bulk of the work done, it can be tempting to conclude your workshop swiftly and without a moment to debrief and align. This can be problematic in that it doesn’t allow your team to fully process the results or reflect on the process.

At the end of an effective session, your team will have gone through a process that, while productive, can be exhausting. It’s important to give your group a moment to take a breath, ensure that they are clear on future actions, and provide short feedback before leaving the space. 

The primary purpose of any problem-solving method is to generate solutions and then implement them. Be sure to take the opportunity to ensure everyone is aligned and ready to effectively implement the solutions you produced in the workshop.

Remember that every process can be improved and by giving a short moment to collect feedback in the session, you can further refine your problem-solving methods and see further success in the future too.

33. One Breath Feedback

Maintaining attention and focus during the closing stages of a problem-solving workshop can be tricky and so being concise when giving feedback can be important. It’s easy to incur “death by feedback” should some team members go on for too long sharing their perspectives in a quick feedback round. 

One Breath Feedback is a great closing activity for workshops. You give everyone an opportunity to provide feedback on what they’ve done but only in the space of a single breath. This keeps feedback short and to the point and means that everyone is encouraged to provide the most important piece of feedback to them. 

One breath feedback   #closing   #feedback   #action   This is a feedback round in just one breath that excels in maintaining attention: each participants is able to speak during just one breath … for most people that’s around 20 to 25 seconds … unless of course you’ve been a deep sea diver in which case you’ll be able to do it for longer.

34. Who What When Matrix 

Matrices feature as part of many effective problem-solving strategies and with good reason. They are easily recognizable, simple to use, and generate results.

The Who What When Matrix is a great tool to use when closing your problem-solving session by attributing a who, what and when to the actions and solutions you have decided upon. The resulting matrix is a simple, easy-to-follow way of ensuring your team can move forward. 

Great solutions can’t be enacted without action and ownership. Your problem-solving process should include a stage for allocating tasks to individuals or teams and creating a realistic timeframe for those solutions to be implemented or checked out. Use this method to keep the solution implementation process clear and simple for all involved. 

Who/What/When Matrix   #gamestorming   #action   #project planning   With Who/What/When matrix, you can connect people with clear actions they have defined and have committed to.

35. Response cards

Group discussion can comprise the bulk of most problem-solving activities and by the end of the process, you might find that your team is talked out! 

Providing a means for your team to give feedback with short written notes can ensure everyone is head and can contribute without the need to stand up and talk. Depending on the needs of the group, giving an alternative can help ensure everyone can contribute to your problem-solving model in the way that makes the most sense for them.

Response Cards is a great way to close a workshop if you are looking for a gentle warm-down and want to get some swift discussion around some of the feedback that is raised. 

Response Cards   #debriefing   #closing   #structured sharing   #questions and answers   #thiagi   #action   It can be hard to involve everyone during a closing of a session. Some might stay in the background or get unheard because of louder participants. However, with the use of Response Cards, everyone will be involved in providing feedback or clarify questions at the end of a session.

Save time and effort discovering the right solutions

A structured problem solving process is a surefire way of solving tough problems, discovering creative solutions and driving organizational change. But how can you design for successful outcomes?

With SessionLab, it’s easy to design engaging workshops that deliver results. Drag, drop and reorder blocks  to build your agenda. When you make changes or update your agenda, your session  timing   adjusts automatically , saving you time on manual adjustments.

Collaborating with stakeholders or clients? Share your agenda with a single click and collaborate in real-time. No more sending documents back and forth over email.

Explore  how to use SessionLab  to design effective problem solving workshops or  watch this five minute video  to see the planner in action!

Over to you

The problem-solving process can often be as complicated and multifaceted as the problems they are set-up to solve. With the right problem-solving techniques and a mix of creative exercises designed to guide discussion and generate purposeful ideas, we hope we’ve given you the tools to find the best solutions as simply and easily as possible.

Is there a problem-solving technique that you are missing here? Do you have a favorite activity or method you use when facilitating? Let us know in the comments below, we’d love to hear from you! 

thank you very much for these excellent techniques

Certainly wonderful article, very detailed. Shared!

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Creative Problem-Solving with Ezra Jack Keats

• Resources & Preparation
• Instructional Plan
• Related Resources

Each day of this lesson, students listen as the teacher reads a different picture book by Ezra Jack Keats. Following the story, class discussion focuses on the problem that the main character faces and the related solution that the character chooses. An interactive bulletin board in the classroom allows students to create their own solutions to various problems that they face personally. After each read-aloud and discussion, students compare the different stories and plots using a story mapping graphic organizer. As a culminating project, students choose their own characters, define a problem and a solution appropriate for their characters, and then write their own problem-solving stories.

Featured Resources

Problem and Solution Organizer : Students can use this simple graphic organizer to note the problems and solutions characters face.

Problem Solution handout : This graphic organizer can help students plan their own problem-solution story.

From Theory to Practice

Researchers such as Dolores Durkin (1961), Margaret Clark (1976), Regie Routman (1988; 1991), and Kathy Short (1995) have found evidence that children who are immersed in rich, authentic literary experiences become highly engaged in literature and develop literary awareness. Their studies revealed that positive and meaningful experiences with books and written language play a critical role in the development of literacy skills. Other researchers have found that students acquired reading and thinking strategies in literature-based programs that included teacher-led comprehension instruction (Block, 1993; Baumann, 1997; and Goldenberg, 1992/1993). Through the exploration of picture books that feature problem-solving themes, this lesson highlights a familiar structure in works of literature, one which bridges directly to critical thinking strategies students can tap in their real-world experiences.

Further Reading

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

• 1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
• 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
• 5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.

Materials and Technology

A Letter to Amy , The Trip , Pet Show , The Goggles , and Jennie's Hat , all by Ezra Jack Keats

• Problem Solution handout
• Problem and Solution Organizer
• Problem and Solution Interactive Bulletin Board diagram

Preparation

• Gather the Ezra Jack Keats titles listed ( A Letter to Amy , The Trip , Pet Show , The Goggles , and Jennie's Hat ) and a variety of Keats' other books ; obtain the movie The Snowy Day and More Ezra Jack Keats Stories .
• Create the Problem and Solution Bulletin Board in your classroom. Write problems on paper and attach envelopes below each problem labeled "solutions." Attach another envelope with blank paper that students may fill out and put in each solution envelope. Problems you write might include an argument with a friend, having trouble with schoolwork, and other problems with which students can easily identify. See the Bulletin Board Diagram for a sample layout.
• Review this list of Read-Aloud Do's and Don'ts for pointers before starting the unit.
• Print out enough copies of the Problem and Solution Organizer and Problem Solution handout for your students.
• Gather construction paper, crayons, markers, and colored pencils, chart paper, and writing paper.
• Test the Story Mapping interactive on your computers to familiarize yourself with the tool and ensure that you have the Flash plug-in installed. You can download the plug-in from the Technical Support page .

Student Objectives

Students will

• participate in class discussions about predictions and story elements such as characters, problems, and solutions.
• participate in class discussions comparing and contrasting books.
• add solutions to the problem and solution bulletin board.
• read in groups and complete story maps together.
• compose a story with a problem and solution.

Session One: <em>A Letter to Amy</em>

• Review A Letter to Amy yourself before the session begins. In the story, Peter wants to invite Amy to his party, but she is a girl. His solution is to write her a letter.
• Share some background on the overall project by introducing Keats and his writing. Keats is not only a good writer, but also a wonderful artist. His books are beautiful to look at. He also has characters that are in many of his books. Ask students to look for details that demonstrate how creative the characters are in each story.
• What do you see on the cover?
• What do you think this story is about?
• What characters are in the story?
• What do you think will happen next?
• Why is Peter writing a letter?
• What happens when he mails it?
• How does Peter feel at his party?
• What do you think Peter wishes for?
• Introduce the concepts of problem and solution. Explain that most stories have a problem that a character faces. The exciting part of many stories is the way that the character explores options and decides what to do to fix the problem. This is called the solution.
• Ask students to describe the problem and solution that Peter faces in A Letter to Amy .
• Make a Story Map Organizer together on chart paper, listing the title, characters, problem, and solution.
• Ask students to brainstorm other options that Peter could have considered and to discuss how they would solve his problem. Encourage students to compare the choice Peter made to other options.

Session Two: <em>The Trip</em>

• Review The Trip yourself before the session begins. In the story, Louie's family has moved and he misses his friends. His solution is to create his old neighborhood in a shoe box and visit his friends with his imagination.
• Review the book A Letter to Amy , and discuss the Story Map Organizer the class created for the story.
• Picture-walk The Trip . Have students look at the illustrations and compare them to those in A Letter to Amy . Invite students to make predictions about the problem that is explored in the book, based on the pictures.
• What is Louie's problem?
• What is his solution?
• How are the problems similar?
• How are they different?
• What other solutions might you have tried?
• Next, introduce the Problem and Solution Bulletin Board .
• Model how to go to the bulletin board and pick a problem to solve. Show students how to get blank paper and write a possible solution.
• Encourage students to brainstorm possible solutions to one of the problem, and use this conversation as a springboard to discussing how there is more than one way to solve a problem.
• Explain that students may write solutions and add them to the bulletin board in their free time.
• Invite students to create and add their own problems to add to students' ownership of the bulletin board.

Session Three: <em>Pet Show</em>

• Review Pet Show yourself before the session begins. In the story, Archie can't find his cat for the Pet Show, so he brings a germ to the Pet Show.
• Review the Story Map Organizers created for A Letter to Amy and The Trip . Discuss the problems and solutions in these stories.
• Picture-walk Pet Show . Ask students how the illustrations in Pet Show are different from the previous two books.
• Invite students to predict the problem that will be explained in this book.
• Who are the characters?
• Do you recognize any of them?
• What is Archie's problem?
• What would you bring if you couldn't find your pet?
• What other solution might Archie have tried?
• Have students draw what they would bring to the Pet Show on construction paper.
• While students are working on their pictures, share a few solutions students have written from the bulletin board.

Session Four: <em>The Goggles</em>

• Review The Goggles yourself before the session begins. In the story, Archie and Peter are being picked on by older kids. To solve the problem, Archie and Peter trick the older kids and get away.
• Review the Story Map Organizers created for A Letter to Amy , The Trip , and Pet Show . Discuss the problems and solutions in these stories.
• Do you like the illustrations? Why or why not?
• What do you predict the problem might be in this book?
• What is Archie and Peter's problem?
• What is their solution?
• Discuss what students could do if a bully picked on them.
• Make a word web of the solutions.
• Have students write a paragraph about a time when they were picked on or bullied and to explain how they solved the problem. Invite volunteers to share their stories with the class.
• Share a few more solutions students have written from the bulletin board.

Session Five: <em>Jennie's Hat</em>

• Review Jennie's Hat yourself before the session begins. In the story, Jennie's aunt sends her a hat but it is very plain. Jennie's friends help her solve the problem by making the hat unique.
• Review the Story Map Organizers created for A Letter to Amy , The Trip , Pet Show , and The Goggles . Discuss the problems and solutions in these stories.
• What can you tell about the story from the illustrations?
• What do you think the problem may be in this book?
• What is Jennie's problem?
• What is her solution?
• Create a story map for Jennie's Hat using the Story Map interactive as a class. Since students will use this tool on their own in the next session, discuss the way that the tool works as well as the information that you are adding in response to the questions it asks.
• Compare the Story Map Organizers the class made for Jennie's Hat to those made for A Letter to Amy , The Trip , Pet Show , and The Goggles . Ask students to describe how the books' characters are alike and different.

Session Six: Other Ezra Jack Keats Books

• Share the other Ezra Jack Keats books with students. Some favorites include Peter's Chair , Whistle for Willie , The Snowy Day , Apt. 3 , Dreams , Louie , Louie's Search , and Hi, Cat! These are books that have a problem and solution, but vary in reading levels. Preview and decide which books are best for your class.
• Have students pick a book they'd like to read.
• Arrange students in groups of three or four based upon their choices.
• Have groups of students read their selected books and complete a Story Map Organizer as a group. If you prefer, students can create story maps using the Story Map interactive.
• Have students share their finished story maps with the class. Encourage students to make comparisons to the other Keats books that the class has read.

Sessions Seven and Eight: Write Your Own

• Brainstorm a possible problem and solution with the class, or choose one from the bulletin board.
• Model how to create a story using this problem and solution. You can use Jack Ezra Keats' characters or make up names for story characters.
• Write this information on a story map and explain that this is an outline for a story you could write.
• Model how to add details and create a short story.
• Invite students to come up with characters and a problem and solution. Then, as a class, write a story map and then a short story.
• Pass out the Problem Solution handout, and ask students to create their own story maps by writing the problem and solution. Ask students to draw pictures depicting the problem and solution. Students can also use the ReadWriteThink Story Map interactive.
• If students need more support to get started, write examples of problems and solutions on the board for them to choose among.
• Have students write their stories on paper and add illustrations.
• Add the books to the class library after students have had the chance to share their stories with one another.
• Write a letter to the class explaining a problem you have. As a class, write a response explaining a solution that may work. Alternately, students can write their own letters using the ReadWriteThink Letter Generator . You might try this activity after reading A Letter to Amy .
• In The Trip , Louie makes a whole neighborhood out of paper cut in the shapes of buildings. The class can create a neighborhood mural. Each student can cut a different color of construction paper into a building or shape. Attach the students' paper to a large piece of paper to create a whole neighborhood.
• Draw a map showing Archie and Peter's escape from the bullies in The Goggles .
• Act out problems and solutions from the bulletin board.
• After reading the books, show students the movie The Snowy Day and More Ezra Jack Keats Stories , which includes The Snowy Day , Whistle for Willie , Peter's Chair , and Pet Show .
• The ReadWriteThink calendar entry for Ezra Jack Keats' Birthday offers additional resources for studying the author.

Student Assessment / Reflections

• Monitor student participation in classroom discussions. Are students able to make predictions about the story during the picture walks? How well do students understand the problem and solution presented in each story?
• Monitor student participation on the Problem and Solution Bulletin Board . Does each student make a contribution to the bulletin board? Do students offer reasonable solutions for given problems?
• Monitor student understanding of problem and solution during completion of story maps in groups. How well do students work in groups to complete a problem/solution story map? Do students offer meaningful contributions to their group work? Do they understand the problems and solutions depicted in their groups’ selected stories? Do students contribute as their groups present their story maps?
• Monitor student understanding of problem and solution during the writing of own story maps and stories. Are students able to plan and write a story with an appropriate solution to a problem?
• Calendar Activities
• Student Interactives

Students read and discuss an award-winning book before writing their own story that demonstrates compassion.

The Story Map interactive is designed to assist students in prewriting and postreading activities by focusing on the key elements of character, setting, conflict, and resolution.

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Are you looking to enhance your or your team’s problem-solving abilities? Engaging in activities specifically designed to stimulate your and your team’s critical thinking skills can be an excellent way to sharpen your problem-solving prowess. Whether you enjoy puzzles, brain teasers, or interactive challenges, these activities provide an opportunity to overcome obstacles and think creatively.

By immersing yourself in problem-solving activities, you can develop valuable strategies, improve your decision-making abilities, and boost your overall problem-solving IQ. Get ready to unlock your full potential and tackle any challenge that comes your way with these exciting activities for problem-solving.

In this article, we will explore activities for problem-solving that can help enhance your team’s problem-solving skills, allowing you to approach challenges with confidence and creativity.

What Are Problem Solving Activities?

Problem-solving activities or problem-solving exercises are interactive games requiring critical thinking to solve puzzles. They enhance teamwork & critical thinking. Examples include building towers, navigating simulated challenges, and fostering creativity and communication.

For instance, imagine a team working together to construct the tallest tower using limited materials. They strategize, communicate ideas, and problem-solve to create the best structure, promoting collaboration and inventive thinking among team members.

Some widely practiced problem-solving activities include:

• A Shrinking Vessel: Teams must fit into a shrinking space, testing their cooperation and adaptability.
• Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower: Participants build a tower using marshmallows and spaghetti, promoting creative engineering.
• Egg Drop: Protecting an egg from a fall challenges problem-solving skills.
• Desert Island Survival: Teams simulate survival scenarios, encouraging creative solutions.
• Rolling Dice: A simple yet effective game involving chance and decision-making.
• Build a Tower: Constructing a stable tower with limited resources fosters teamwork and innovation, etc.

13 Easy Activities For Problem-Solving Ideas to Enhance Team Collaboration

Team building activities offer a great opportunity to test problem-solving abilities and promote effective collaboration within a group to problem solving group activities. By engaging in these activities, teams can break the monotony of the workplace and create a more inclusive and welcoming environment.

Here are nine easy-to-implement activities that can bring substantial change to your team culture and overall workplace dynamics.

#1. Crossword Puzzles

Objective: To enhance problem-solving skills, vocabulary, and cognitive abilities through engaging crossword puzzles. 

Estimated Time: 15-20 Minutes 

Materials Needed:

• Crossword puzzle sheets
• Pens or pencils
• Distribute crossword puzzle sheets and pens/pencils to each participant.
• Explain the rules of crossword puzzles and the goal of completing as many clues as possible within the given time.
• Participants individually or in pairs work on solving the crossword puzzle by filling in the correct words.
• Encourage critical thinking, word association, and collaborative discussions for solving challenging clues.
• At the end of the time limit, review the answers and discuss any interesting or challenging clues as a group.
• Enhanced Problem-Solving: Participants engage in critical thinking while deciphering clues, promoting effective problem-solving skills.
• Vocabulary Expansion: Exposure to new words and phrases within the crossword improves vocabulary and comprehension.
• Cognitive Stimulation: The mental exercise of solving the puzzle stimulates the brain, enhancing cognitive abilities.
• Team Collaboration: If done in pairs, participants practice collaboration and communication to solve clues together.
• Achievement and Motivation: Successfully completing the crossword brings a sense of accomplishment and motivates individuals to explore more puzzles.

Tips for Facilitators:

• Provide varying levels of crossword puzzles to accommodate different skill levels.
• Encourage participants to share strategies for solving challenging clues.
• Emphasize the fun and educational aspects of the activity to keep participants engaged.

#2. A Shrinking Vessel

Estimated Time: 10-15 Minutes

• Materials Needed: A rope and a ball of yarn
• Prepare the Setting: Lay a rope on the floor in a shape that allows all team members to stand comfortably inside it. For larger teams, multiple ropes can be used, dividing them into smaller groups.
• Enter the Circle: Have all team members stand inside the rope, ensuring that nobody steps outside its boundaries.
• Shrinking the Circle: Begin gradually shrinking the rope’s size, reducing the available space inside the circle.
• Adapt and Maintain Balance: As the circle shrinks, team members must make subtle adjustments to maintain their positions and balance within the shrinking area.
• The Challenge: The objective for the team is to collectively brainstorm and find innovative ways to keep every team member inside the circle without anyone stepping outside.
• Collaboration and Communication: The activity promotes teamwork and open communication as participants strategize to stay within the shrinking circle.
• Adaptability: Team members learn to adapt swiftly to changing circumstances, fostering agility and flexibility.
• Creative Problem-Solving: The challenge encourages inventive thinking and brainstorming to find unique solutions.
• Trust Building: By relying on each other’s actions, participants build trust and cohesion among team members.
• Time-Efficient: The short duration makes it an ideal icebreaker or energizer during meetings or workshops.
• Observe and Facilitate: Monitor the team’s dynamics and offer guidance to encourage equal participation and effective problem-solving.
• Encourage Verbalization: Prompt participants to voice their ideas and collaborate vocally, aiding in real-time adjustments.
• Debrief Thoughtfully: Engage the team in a discussion afterward, reflecting on strategies employed and lessons learned.
• Emphasize Adaptability: Highlight the transferable skill of adaptability and its significance in both professional and personal contexts.

#3. Human Knots

• Objective: Improving Collaboration & enhancing Communication Skills

Estimated Time: 15-20 minutes

• Materials: None required

Procedure: 

• Organize your team into a compact circle. For more sizable teams, subdivide them into smaller clusters, with each cluster forming its own circle. 
• Direct each individual to grasp the hands of two other people in the circle, with the exception of those positioned directly adjacent to them. This action will result in the formation of a complex “human knot” within the circle. 
• Present the challenge to the group: to unravel themselves from this entanglement while maintaining their hold on each other’s hands. If preferred, you can establish a specific time limit. 
• Observe the team members collaborating to unravel the knot, witnessing their collective effort to devise solutions and free themselves from the intricate puzzle.
• Team Cohesion: The activity encourages team members to interact closely, promoting bonding and understanding among participants.
• Effective Communication: Participants practice clear and concise communication as they coordinate movements to untangle the knot.
• Problem-Solving: The challenge stimulates creative thinking and problem-solving skills as individuals work collectively to find the optimal path for untangling.
• Adaptability: Participants learn to adapt their actions based on the evolving dynamics of the human knot, fostering adaptability.
• Trust Building: As individuals rely on each other to navigate the intricate knot, trust and cooperation naturally develop.
• Set a Positive Tone: Create an inclusive and supportive atmosphere, emphasizing that the focus is on collaboration rather than competition.
• Encourage Verbalization: Urge participants to articulate their intentions and listen to others’ suggestions, promoting effective teamwork.
• Observe Group Dynamics: Monitor interactions and step in if needed to ensure everyone is actively engaged and included.
• Reflect and Share: Conclude the activity with a debriefing session, allowing participants to share their experiences, strategies, and key takeaways.
• Vary Grouping: Change group compositions for subsequent rounds to enhance interactions among different team members.

#4. Egg Drop

Helps With: Decision Making, Collaboration

• A carton of eggs
• Construction materials (balloons, rubber bands, straws, tape, plastic wrap, etc.)
• A suitable location for the activity
• Assign each team a single egg and random construction materials.
• Teams must create a carrier to protect the egg from breaking.
• Drop the carriers one by one and increase the height if necessary to determine the most durable carrier.
• The winning team is the one with the carrier that survives the highest drop.
• Decision Making: Participants engage in critical decision-making processes as they select construction materials and determine carrier designs.
• Collaboration: The activity necessitates collaboration and coordination among team members to construct an effective carrier.
• Problem-Solving: Teams apply creative problem-solving skills to devise innovative methods for safeguarding the egg.
• Risk Management: Participants learn to assess potential risks and consequences while making design choices to prevent egg breakage.
• Celebrating Success: The victorious team experiences a sense of accomplishment, boosting morale and promoting a positive team spirit.
• Provide Diverse Materials: Offer a wide range of construction materials to stimulate creativity and allow teams to explore various design options.
• Set Safety Guidelines: Prioritize safety by specifying a safe drop height and ensuring participants follow safety protocols during construction.
• Encourage Brainstorming: Prompt teams to brainstorm multiple carrier ideas before finalizing their designs, fostering diverse perspectives.
• Facilitate Reflection: After the activity, lead a discussion where teams share their design strategies, challenges faced, and lessons learned.
• Highlight Collaboration: Emphasize the significance of teamwork in achieving success, acknowledging effective communication and cooperation.

#5. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower

Helps With: Collaboration

Estimated Time: 20-30 Minutes

Materials Needed (per team):

• Raw spaghetti: 20 sticks
• Marshmallow: 1
• String: 1 yard
• Masking tape: 1 roll
• Tower Construction: Instruct teams to collaborate and utilize the provided materials to construct the tallest tower possible within a designated time frame.
• Marshmallow Support: Emphasize that the tower must be capable of standing independently and supporting a marshmallow at its highest point.
• Prototype and Iterate: Encourage teams to engage in prototyping and iteration, testing different design approaches and refining their tower structures.
• T eamwork and Communication: Promote effective teamwork and communication as team members coordinate their efforts to build a stable and tall tower.
• Evaluation Criteria: Evaluate each tower based on its height, stability, and the successful placement of the marshmallow at the top.
• Collaboration: Participants collaborate closely, sharing ideas and working together to design and construct the tower.
• Innovative Thinking: The activity encourages innovative thinking as teams experiment with different strategies to build a stable tower.
• Time Management: Teams practice time management skills as they work within a specified time limit to complete the task.
• Problem-Solving: Participants engage in creative problem-solving to address challenges such as balancing the marshmallow and constructing a sturdy tower.
• Adaptability: Teams adapt their approaches based on trial and error, learning from each iteration to improve their tower designs.
• Set Clear Guidelines: Clearly explain the materials, objectives, and evaluation criteria to ensure teams understand the task.
• Foster Creativity: Encourage teams to think outside the box and explore unconventional methods for constructing their towers.
• Emphasize Collaboration: Highlight the importance of effective communication and teamwork to accomplish the task successfully.
• Time Management: Remind teams of the time limit and encourage them to allocate their time wisely between planning and construction.
• Reflect and Share: Facilitate a discussion after the activity, allowing teams to share their design choices, challenges faced, and lessons learned.

Objective: To engage participants in the strategic and analytical world of Sudoku, enhancing logical thinking and problem-solving abilities. 

Estimated Time: 20-25 Minutes 

• Sudoku puzzle sheets
• Pencils with erasers
• Distribute Sudoku puzzle sheets and pencils to each participant.
• Familiarize participants with the rules and mechanics of Sudoku puzzles.
• Explain the goal: to fill in the empty cells with numbers from 1 to 9 while adhering to the rules of no repetition in rows, columns, or subgrids.
• Encourage participants to analyze the puzzle’s layout, identify potential numbers, and strategically fill in cells.
• Emphasize the importance of logical deduction and step-by-step approach in solving the puzzle.
• Provide hints or guidance if needed, ensuring participants remain engaged and challenged.
• Logical Thinking: Sudoku challenges participants’ logical and deductive reasoning, fostering analytical skills.
• Problem-Solving: The intricate interplay of numbers and constraints hones problem-solving abilities.
• Focus and Patience: Participants practice patience and attention to detail while gradually unveiling the solution.
• Pattern Recognition: Identifying number patterns and possibilities contributes to enhanced pattern recognition skills.
• Personal Achievement: Successfully completing a Sudoku puzzle provides a sense of accomplishment and boosts confidence.
• Offer varying levels of Sudoku puzzles to cater to different skill levels.
• Encourage participants to share strategies and techniques for solving specific challenges.
• Highlight the mental workout Sudoku provides and its transferable skills to real-life problem-solving.

Helps With: Communication, Problem-solving, & Management

• A lockable room
• 5-10 puzzles or clues
• Hide the key and a set of clues around the room.
• Lock the room and provide team members with a specific time limit to find the key and escape.
• Instruct the team to work together, solving the puzzles and deciphering the clues to locate the key.
• Encourage efficient communication and effective problem-solving under time pressure.
• Communication Skills: Participants enhance their communication abilities by sharing observations, ideas, and findings to collectively solve puzzles.
• Problem-solving Proficiency: The activity challenges teams to think critically, apply logical reasoning, and collaboratively tackle intricate challenges.
• Team Management: The experience promotes effective team management as members assign tasks, prioritize efforts, and coordinate actions.
• Time Management: The imposed time limit sharpens time management skills as teams strategize and allocate time wisely.
• Adaptability: Teams learn to adapt and adjust strategies based on progress, evolving clues, and time constraints.
• Clear Introduction: Provide a concise overview of the activity, emphasizing the importance of communication, problem-solving, and time management.
• Diverse Challenges: Offer a mix of puzzles and clues to engage various problem-solving skills, catering to different team strengths.
• Supportive Role: Act as a facilitator, offering subtle guidance if needed while allowing teams to independently explore and solve challenges.
• Debriefing Session: Organize a debriefing session afterward to discuss the experience, highlight successful strategies, and identify areas for improvement.
• Encourage Reflection: Encourage participants to reflect on their teamwork, communication effectiveness, and problem-solving approach.

#8. Frostbite for Group Problem Solving Activities

Helps With: Decision Making, Trust, Leadership

• An electric fan
• Construction materials (toothpicks, cardstock, rubber bands, sticky notes, etc.)
• Divide the team into groups of 4-5 people, each with a designated leader.
• Blindfold team members and prohibit leaders from using their hands.
• Provide teams with construction materials and challenge them to build a tent within 30 minutes.
• Test the tents using the fan to see which can withstand high winds.
• Decision-Making Proficiency: Participants are exposed to critical decision-making situations under constraints, allowing them to practice effective and efficient decision-making.
• Trust Development: Blindfolding team members and relying on the designated leaders fosters trust and collaboration among team members.
• Leadership Skills: Designated leaders navigate the challenge without hands-on involvement, enhancing their leadership and communication skills.
• Creative Problem Solving: Teams employ creative thinking and resourcefulness to construct stable tents with limited sensory input.
• Team Cohesion: The shared task and unique constraints promote team cohesion and mutual understanding.
• Role of the Facilitator: Act as an observer, allowing teams to navigate the challenge with minimal intervention. Offer assistance only when necessary.
• Clarity in Instructions: Provide clear instructions regarding blindfolding, leader restrictions, and time limits to ensure a consistent experience.
• Debriefing Session: After the activity, conduct a debriefing session to discuss team dynamics, leadership approaches, and decision-making strategies.
• Encourage Communication: Emphasize the importance of effective communication within teams to ensure smooth coordination and successful tent construction.
• Acknowledge Creativity: Celebrate creative solutions and innovative approaches exhibited by teams during the tent-building process.

#9. Dumbest Idea First

Helps With: Critical Thinking & Creative Problem Solving Activity

Estimated Time: 15-20 Minutes

Materials Needed: A piece of paper, pen, and pencil

• Problem Presentation: Introduce a specific problem to the team, either a real-world challenge or a hypothetical scenario that requires a solution.
• Brainstorming Dumb Ideas: Instruct team members to quickly generate and jot down the most unconventional and seemingly “dumb” ideas they can think of to address the problem.
• Idea Sharing: Encourage each participant to share their generated ideas with the group, fostering a relaxed and open atmosphere for creative expression.
• Viability Assessment: As a team, review and evaluate each idea, considering potential benefits and drawbacks. Emphasize the goal of identifying unconventional approaches.
• Selecting Promising Solutions: Identify which seemingly “dumb” ideas could hold hidden potential or innovative insights. Discuss how these ideas could be adapted into workable solutions.
• Divergent Thinking: Participants engage in divergent thinking, pushing beyond conventional boundaries to explore unconventional solutions.
• Creative Exploration: The activity sparks creative exploration by encouraging participants to let go of inhibitions and embrace imaginative thinking.
• Critical Analysis: Through evaluating each idea, participants practice critical analysis and learn to identify unique angles and aspects of potential solutions.
• Open Communication: The lighthearted approach of sharing “dumb” ideas fosters open communication, reducing fear of judgment and promoting active participation.
• Solution Adaptation: Identifying elements of seemingly “dumb” ideas that have merit encourages participants to adapt and refine their approaches creatively.
• Safe Environment: Foster a safe and non-judgmental environment where participants feel comfortable sharing unconventional ideas.
• Time Management: Set clear time limits for idea generation and sharing to maintain the activity’s energetic pace.
• Encourage Wild Ideas: Emphasize that the goal is to explore the unconventional, urging participants to push the boundaries of creativity.
• Facilitator Participation: Participate in idea generation to demonstrate an open-minded approach and encourage involvement.
• Debriefing Discussion: After the activity, facilitate a discussion on how seemingly “dumb” ideas can inspire innovative solutions and stimulate fresh thinking.

This activity encourages out-of-the-box thinking and creative problem-solving. It allows teams to explore unconventional ideas that may lead to unexpected, yet effective, solutions.

#10: Legoman

Helps With: Foster teamwork, communication, and creativity through a collaborative Lego-building activity.

Estimated Time: 20-30 minutes

• Lego bricks
• Lego instruction manuals

Procedure :

• Divide participants into small teams of 3-5 members.
• Provide each team with an equal set of Lego bricks and a Lego instruction manual.
• Explain that the goal is for teams to work together to construct the Lego model shown in the manual.
• Set a time limit for the building activity based on model complexity.
• Allow teams to self-organize, build, and collaborate to complete the model within the time limit.
• Evaluate each team’s final model compared to the manual’s original design.
• Enhanced Communication: Participants must communicate clearly and listen actively to collaborate effectively.
• Strengthened Teamwork: Combining efforts toward a shared goal promotes camaraderie and team cohesion.
• Creative Problem-Solving: Teams must creatively problem-solve if pieces are missing or instructions unclear.
• Planning and Resource Allocation: Following instructions fosters planning skills and efficient use of resources.
• Sense of Achievement: Completing a challenging build provides a sense of collective accomplishment.
• Encourage Participation: Urge quieter members to contribute ideas and take an active role.
• Highlight Teamwork: Emphasize how cooperation and task coordination are key to success.
• Ensure Equal Engagement: Monitor group dynamics to ensure all members are engaged.
• Allow Creativity: Permit modifications if teams lack exact pieces or wish to get creative.
• Focus on Enjoyment: Create a lively atmosphere so the activity remains energizing and fun.

#11: Minefield

Helps With: Trust, Communication, Patience

Materials Needed: Open space, blindfolds

• Mark a “minefield” on the ground using ropes, cones, or tape. Add toy mines or paper cups.
• Pair up participants and blindfold one partner.
• Position blindfolded partners at the start of the minefield. Direct seeing partners to verbally guide them through to the other side without hitting “mines.”
• Partners switch roles once finished and repeat.
• Time partnerships and provide prizes for the fastest safe crossing.
• Trust Building: Blindfolded partners must trust their partner’s instructions.
• Effective Communication: Giving clear, specific directions is essential for navigating the minefield.
• Active Listening: Partners must listen closely and follow directions precisely.
• Patience & Support: The exercise requires patience and encouraging guidance between partners.
• Team Coordination: Partners must work in sync, coordinating movements and communication.
• Test Boundaries: Ensure the minefield’s size accommodates safe movement and communication.
• Monitor Interactions: Watch for dominant guidance and ensure both partners participate fully.
• Time Strategically: Adjust time limits based on the minefield size and difficulty.
• Add Obstacles: Introduce additional non-mine objects to increase challenge and communication needs.
• Foster Discussion: Debrief afterward to discuss communication approaches and trust-building takeaways.

#12: Reverse Pyramid

Helps With: Teamwork, Communication, Creativity

Materials Needed: 36 cups per group, tables

• Form small groups of 5-7 participants.
• Provide each group with a stack of 36 cups and a designated building area.
• Explain the objective: Build the tallest pyramid starting with just one cup on top.
• Place the first cup on the table, and anyone in the group can add two cups beneath it to form the second row.
• From this point, only the bottom row can be lifted to add the next row underneath.
• Cups in the pyramid can only be touched or supported by index fingers.
• If the structure falls, start over from one cup.
• Offer more cups if a group uses all provided.
• Allow 15 minutes for building.

Teamwork: Collaborate to construct the pyramid.

Communication: Discuss and execute the building strategy.

Creativity: Find innovative ways to build a tall, stable pyramid.

Clarify Expectations: Emphasize the definition of a pyramid with each row having one less cup.

Encourage Perseverance: Motivate groups to continue despite challenges.

Promote Consensus: Encourage groups to work together and help each other.

Reflect on Failure: Use collapses as a metaphor for overcoming obstacles and improving.

Consider Competitions: Modify the activity for competitive teams and scoring.

#13: Stranded

Helps With: Decision-making, Prioritization, Teamwork

Materials Needed: List of salvaged items, paper, pens

• Present a scenario where teams are stranded and must prioritize items salvaged from a plane crash.
• Provide teams with the same list of ~15 salvaged items.
• Instruct teams to agree on an item ranking with #1 being the most important for survival.
• Teams share and compare their prioritized lists. Identify differences in approach.
• Discuss what factors influenced decisions and how teams worked together to agree on priorities.
• Critical Thinking: Weighing item importance requires analytical thinking and discussion.
• Team Decision-Making: Coming to a consensus fosters team decision-making capabilities.
• Prioritization Skills: Ranking items strengthen prioritization and justification abilities.
• Perspective-Taking: Understanding different prioritizations builds perspective-taking skills.
• Team Cohesion: Collaborating toward a shared goal brings teams closer together.
• Encourage Discussion: Urge teams to discuss all ideas rather than allow single members to dominate.
• Be Engaged: Circulate to listen in on team discussions and pose thought-provoking questions.
• Add Complexity: Introduce scenarios with additional constraints to expand critical thinking.
• Highlight Disagreements: When priorities differ, facilitate constructive discussions on influencing factors.
• Recognize Collaboration: Acknowledge teams that demonstrate exceptional teamwork and communication.

Now let’s look at some common types of problem-solving activities.

Types of Problem-Solving Activities

The most common types of problem-solving activities/exercises are:

• Creative problem-solving activities
• Group problem-solving activities
• Individual problem-solving activities
• Fun problem-solving activities, etc.

In the next segments, we’ll be discussing these types of problem-solving activities in detail. So, keep reading!

Creative Problem-Solving Activities

Creative problem solving (CPS) means using creativity to find new solutions. It involves thinking creatively at first and then evaluating ideas later. For example, think of it like brainstorming fun game ideas, discussing them, and then picking the best one to play.

Some of the most common creative problem-solving activities include:

• Legoman: Building creative structures with LEGO.
• Escape: Solving puzzles to escape a room.
• Frostbite: Finding solutions in challenging situations.
• Minefield: Navigating a field of obstacles.

Group Problem-Solving Activities

Group problem-solving activities are challenges that make teams work together to solve puzzles or overcome obstacles. They enhance teamwork and critical thinking.

For instance, think of a puzzle-solving game where a group must find hidden clues to escape a locked room.

Here are the most common group problem-solving activities you can try in groups:

• A Shrinking Vessel
• Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower
• Cardboard Boat Building Challenge
• Clue Murder Mystery
• Escape Room: Jewel Heist
• Escape Room: Virtual Team Building
• Scavenger Hunt
• Dumbest Idea First

Individual Problem-Solving Activities

As the name suggests, individual problem-solving activities are the tasks that you need to play alone to boost your critical thinking ability. They help you solve problems and stay calm while facing challenges in real life. Like puzzles, they make your brain sharper. Imagine it’s like training your brain muscles to handle tricky situations.

Here are some of the most common individual problem-solving activities:

• Puzzles (jigsaw, crossword, sudoku, etc.)
• Brain teasers
• Logic problems
• Optical illusions
• “Escape room” style games

Fun Problem-Solving Activities

Fun problem-solving activities are enjoyable games that sharpen your critical thinking skills while having a blast. Think of activities like the Legoman challenge, escape rooms, or rolling dice games – they make problem-solving exciting and engaging!

And to be frank, all of the mentioned problem-solving activities are fun if you know how to play and enjoy them as all of them are game-like activities.

Team Problems You Can Address Through Problem Solving Activities

Fun problem-solving activities serve as dynamic tools to address a range of challenges that teams often encounter. These engaging activities foster an environment of collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking, enabling teams to tackle various problems head-on. Here are some common team problems that can be effectively addressed through these activities:

• Communication Breakdowns:  

Activities like “Escape,” “A Shrinking Vessel,” and “Human Knots” emphasize the importance of clear and effective communication. They require teams to work together, exchange ideas, and devise strategies to accomplish a shared goal. By engaging in these activities, team members learn to communicate more efficiently, enhancing overall team communication in real-world situations.

• Lack of Trust and Cohesion:  

Problem-solving activities promote trust and cohesiveness within teams. For instance, “Frostbite” and “Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower” require teams to collaborate closely, trust each other’s ideas, and rely on each member’s strengths. These activities build a sense of unity and trust, which can translate into improved teamwork and collaboration.

• Innovative Thinking:  

“Dumbest Idea First” and “Egg Drop” encourage teams to think outside the box and explore unconventional solutions. These activities challenge teams to be creative and innovative in their problem-solving approaches, fostering a culture of thinking beyond traditional boundaries when faced with complex issues.

• Decision-Making Challenges:  

Activities like “Onethread” facilitate group decision-making by providing a platform for open discussions and collaborative choices. Problem-solving activities require teams to make decisions collectively, teaching them to weigh options, consider different viewpoints, and arrive at informed conclusions—a skill that is transferable to real-world decision-making scenarios.

• Leadership and Role Clarification:  

Activities such as “Frostbite” and “Egg Drop” designate team leaders and roles within groups. This provides an opportunity for team members to practice leadership, delegation, and role-specific tasks. By experiencing leadership dynamics in a controlled setting, teams can improve their leadership skills and better understand their roles in actual projects.

• Problem-Solving Strategies:  

All of the problem-solving activities involve the application of different strategies. Teams learn to analyze problems, break them down into manageable components, and develop systematic approaches for resolution. These strategies can be adapted to real-world challenges, enabling teams to approach complex issues with confidence.

• Team Morale and Engagement:  

Participating in engaging and enjoyable activities boosts team morale and engagement. These activities provide a break from routine tasks, energize team members, and create a positive and fun atmosphere. Elevated team morale can lead to increased motivation and productivity.

By incorporating these fun problem-solving activities, teams can address a variety of challenges, foster skill development, and build a more cohesive and effective working environment. As teams learn to collaborate, communicate, innovate, and make decisions collectively, they are better equipped to overcome obstacles and achieve shared goals.

The Benefits of Problem Solving Activities for Your Team

#1 Better Thinking

Problem-solving activities bring out the best in team members by encouraging them to contribute their unique ideas. This stimulates better thinking as team managers evaluate different solutions and choose the most suitable ones.

For example, a remote team struggling with communication benefited from quick thinking and the sharing of ideas, leading to the adoption of various communication modes for improved collaboration.

#2 Better Risk Handling

Team building problem solving activities condition individuals to handle risks more effectively. By engaging in challenging situations and finding solutions, team members develop the ability to respond better to stressful circumstances.

#3 Better Communication

Regular communication among team members is crucial for efficient problem-solving. Engaging in problem-solving activities fosters cooperation and communication within the team, resulting in better understanding and collaboration. Using tools like OneThread can further enhance team communication and accountability.

#4 Improved Productivity Output

When teams work cohesively, overall productivity improves, leading to enhanced profit margins for the company or organization. Involving managers and team members in problem-solving activities can positively impact the company’s growth and profitability.

How Onethread Enhances the Effect of Problem Solving Activities

Problem-solving activities within teams thrive on collaborative efforts and shared perspectives. Onethread emerges as a potent facilitator, enabling teams to collectively tackle challenges and harness diverse viewpoints with precision. Here’s a comprehensive view of how Onethread amplifies team collaboration in problem-solving initiatives:

Open Channels for Discussion:

Onethread’s real-time messaging feature serves as a dedicated hub for open and seamless discussions. Teams can engage in brainstorming sessions, share insightful observations, and propose innovative solutions within a flexible environment. Asynchronous communication empowers members to contribute their insights at their convenience, fostering comprehensive problem analysis with ample deliberation.

Centralized Sharing of Resources:

Effective problem-solving often hinges on access to pertinent resources. Onethread’s document sharing functionality ensures that critical information, references, and research findings are centralized and readily accessible. This eradicates the need for cumbersome email attachments and enables team members to collaborate with precise and up-to-date data.

Efficient Task Allocation and Monitoring:

Problem-solving journeys comprise a series of tasks and actions. Onethread’s task management capability streamlines the delegation of specific responsibilities to team members. Assign tasks related to research, data analysis, or solution implementation and monitor progress in real time. This cultivates a sense of accountability and guarantees comprehensive coverage of every facet of the problem-solving process.

Facilitated Collaborative Decision-Making: Navigating intricate problems often demands collective decision-making. Onethread’s collaborative ecosystem empowers teams to deliberate over potential solutions, assess pros and cons, and make well-informed choices. Transparent discussions ensure that decisions are comprehensively comprehended and supported by the entire team.

Seamless Documentation and Insights Sharing:

As the problem-solving journey unfolds, the accumulation of insights and conclusions becomes pivotal. Onethread’s collaborative document editing feature empowers teams to document their discoveries, chronicle the steps undertaken, and showcase successful solutions. This shared repository of documentation serves as a valuable resource for future reference and continuous learning.

With Onethread orchestrating the backdrop, team collaboration during problem-solving activities transforms into a harmonious fusion of insights, ideas, and actionable steps.

What are the 5 problem-solving skills?

The top 5 problem-solving skills in 2023 are critical thinking, creativity, emotional intelligence, adaptability, and data literacy. Most employers seek these skills in their workforce.

What are the steps of problem-solving?

Problem-solving steps are as follows: 1. Define the problem clearly. 2. Analyze the issue in detail. 3. Generate potential solutions. 4. Evaluate these options. 5. Choose the best solution. 6. Put the chosen solution into action. 7. Measure the outcomes to assess effectiveness and improvements made. These sequential steps assist in efficient and effective problem resolution.

How do you teach problem-solving skills?

Teaching problem-solving involves modelling effective methods within a context, helping students grasp the problem, dedicating ample time, asking guiding questions, and giving suggestions. Connect errors to misconceptions to enhance understanding, fostering a straightforward approach to building problem-solving skills.

So here is all about “activities for problem solving”.No matter which activity you choose, engaging in problem-solving activities not only provides entertainment but also helps enhance cognitive abilities such as critical thinking, decision making, and creativity. So why not make problem solving a regular part of your routine?

Take some time each day or week to engage in these activities and watch as your problem-solving skills grow stronger. Plus, it’s an enjoyable way to pass the time and challenge yourself mentally.

So go ahead, grab a puzzle or gather some friends for a game night – get ready to have fun while sharpening your problem-solving skills!

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Top 15 Problem-Solving Activities for Your Team to Master

May 27, 2022 - 10 min read

Some people see problems as roadblocks, others see them as opportunities! Problem-solving activities are a great way to get to know how members of your team work, both individually and together. It’s important to teach your team strategies to help them quickly overcome obstacles in the way of achieving project goals.

In this article, you’ll explore 15 problem-solving activities designed to enhance collaboration and creativity. Additionally, if you want to discuss the insights and outcomes with your team after the activities, you can use Wrike’s actionable meeting notes template. This template allows you to record meeting discussions, assign action items, and ensure that everyone is on the same page.

The importance of problem-solving skills in today’s workplace

According to a 2019  report by McKinsey , soft skills are increasingly important in today's world — and problem-solving is the top area in which skills are lacking. A company or team’s success weighs heavily on the willingness of managers to help employees improve their problem-solving abilities. Team building activities targeting focus areas like communication and collaboration, adaptability, or strengthening decision-making techniques help.

All problem-solving processes start with identifying the problem. Next, the team must assess potential courses of action and choose the best way to tackle the problem. This requires a deep understanding of your team and its core strengths. A problem-solving exercise or game helps identify those strengths and builds problem-solving skills and strategies while having fun with your team.

Problem-solving games aren't for just any team. Participants must have an open mind and accept all ideas and solutions . They must also have an Agile mindset and embrace different structures, planning, and processes. Problems usually arise when we least expect them, so there's no better way to prepare than to encourage agility and flexibility.

Another aspect to keep in mind when engaging in problem-solving games and activities: There are no winners or losers. Sure, some games might end with a single winner, but the true goal of these exercises is to learn how to work together as a team to develop an Agile mindset. The winning team of each game should share their strategies and thought processes at the end of the exercise to help everyone learn.

Here’s a list of fun problem-solving activity examples to try with your team. From blindfolds to raw eggs, these problem-solving, team-building activities will have your team solving problems faster than Scooby and the gang.

Classic team-building, problem-solving activities

1. a shrinking vessel.

Helps with: Adaptability

Why adaptability is important for problem-solving: Adaptability is highly associated with cognitive diversity, which helps teams solve problems faster , according to the Harvard Business Review. Innovation and disruption are happening faster than ever before . People, teams, and organizations that can adapt will come out on top.

What you’ll need:

• A rope or string

Instructions:

1. Using the rope, make a shape on the floor everyone can fit into.

2. Slowly shrink the space over 10-15 minutes.

3. Work together to figure out how to keep everyone within the shrinking boundaries.

2. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower

Helps with: Collaboration

Why collaboration is important for problem-solving: “Collectively, we can be more insightful, more intelligent than we can possibly be individually,” writes Peter Senge in The Fifth Discipline . We can solve problems better as a team than we can alone, which means developing your team’s collaboration skills will lead to better problem-solving outcomes.

What you’ll need (per team):

• 20 sticks of uncooked spaghetti
• 1 roll of masking tape
• 1 yard of string
• 1 marshmallow

1. The goal of this exercise is to see which team can use the materials provided to build the tallest tower within an allotted time period. The tower must be able to stand on its own.

2. To make this exercise more challenging, try adding a marshmallow to the top of the tower. This team problem-solving exercise helps people think on their toes while building camaraderie and leadership.

3. Egg Drop

Helps with: Collaboration, decision-making

Why decision-making is important for problem-solving: Making decisions isn’t easy , but indecision leads to team paralysis, stagnant thinking, and unsolved problems. Decision-making activities help your team practice making quick, effective choices. Train your team’s decision-making muscles and they will become more adept at problem-solving.

• A carton of eggs
• Basic construction materials such as newspapers, straws, tape, plastic wrap, balloons, rubber bands, popsicle sticks, etc., tarp, or drop cloth
• A parking lot, or some other place you don’t mind getting messy!

1. Each team gets an egg and must select from the construction materials.

2. Give everyone 20-30 minutes to construct a carrier for the egg and protect it from breaking.

3. Drop each egg carrier off a ledge (i.e. over a balcony) and see whose carrier protects the egg from breaking.

4. If multiple eggs survive, keep increasing the height until only one egg is left.

4. Stranded

Helps with: Communication, decision-making

Why communication is important for problem-solving: More employees work remotely than ever before. Good communication skills are vital to solving problems across  virtual teams . Working on communication skills while your team is together will help them solve problems more effectively when they’re apart.

Here's the setting: Your team has been stranded in the office. The doors are locked, and knocking down the doors or breaking the windows is not an option. Give your team 30 minutes to decide on ten items in the office they need for survival and rank them in order of importance. The goal of the game is to have everyone agree on the ten items and their rankings in 30 minutes.

Creative problem-solving activities

Helps with: Communication

What you'll need:

1. Divide everyone into small teams of two or more.

2. Select an overseer who isn't on a team to build a random structure using Lego building blocks within ten minutes.

3. The other teams must replicate the structure exactly (including size and color) within 15 minutes. However, only one member from each group may look at the original structure. They must figure out how to communicate the size, color, and shape of the original structure to their team.

4. If this is too easy, add a rule that the member who can see the original structure can't touch the new structure.

• A lockable room
• 5-10 puzzles or clues (depending on how much time you want to spend on the game)

1. The goal of this exercise is to solve the clues, find the key, and escape a locked room within the time allotted.

2. Hide the key and a list of clues around the room.

3. Gather the team into the empty room and "lock" the door.

4. Give them 30 minutes to an hour to find the key using the clues hidden around the room.

7. Frostbite

Helps with: Decision-making, adaptability

• A blindfold
• 1 packet of construction materials (such as card stock, toothpicks, rubber bands, and sticky notes) for each team
• An electric fan

Instructions:  Your employees are Arctic explorers adventuring across an icy tundra! Separate them into teams of four or five and have them select a leader to guide their exploration. Each team must build a shelter from the materials provided before the storm hits in 30 minutes. However, both the team leader’s hands have frostbite, so they can’t physically help construct the shelter, and the rest of the team has snow blindness and is unable to see. When the 30 minutes is up, turn on the fan and see which shelter can withstand the high winds of the storm.

8. Minefield

• An empty room or hallway
• A collection of common office items

1. Place the items (boxes, chairs, water bottles, bags, etc.) around the room so there's no clear path from one end of the room to the other.

2. Divide your team into pairs and blindfold one person on the team.

3. The other must verbally guide that person from one end of the room to the other, avoiding the "mines."

4. The partner who is not blindfolded can't touch the other.

5. If you want to make the activity more challenging, have all the pairs go simultaneously so teams must find ways to strategically communicate with each other.

9. Blind Formations

1. Have the group put on blindfolds and form a large circle.

2. Tie two ends of a rope together and lay it in a circle in the middle of the group, close enough so each person can reach down and touch it.

3. Instruct the group to communicate to create a shape with the rope — a square, triangle, rectangle, etc.

4. If you have a very large group, divide them into teams and provide a rope for each team. Let them compete to see who forms a particular shape quickest.

Quick and easy problem-solving activities

10. line up blind.

1. Blindfold everyone and whisper a number to each person, beginning with one.

2. Tell them to line up in numerical order without talking.

3. Instead of giving them a number, you could also have them line up numerically by height, age, birthday, etc.

11. Reverse Pyramid

Helps with: Adaptability, collaboration

1. Have everyone stand in a pyramid shape, horizontally.

2. Ask them to flip the base and the apex of the pyramid moving only three people.

3. This quick exercise works best when smaller groups compete to see who can reverse the pyramid the fastest.

12. Move It!

• Chalk, rope, tape, or paper (something to mark a space)

1. Divide your group into two teams and line them up front to back, facing each other.

2. Using the chalk, tape, rope, or paper (depending on the playing surface), mark a square space for each person to stand on. Leave one extra empty space between the two facing rows.

3. The goal is for the two facing lines of players to switch places.

4. Place these restrictions on movement:

• Only one person may move at a time.
• A person may not move around anyone facing the same direction.
• No one may not move backward.
• A person may not move around more than one person on the other team at a time.

13. Human Knot

1. Have everyone stand in a circle, and ask each person to hold hands with two people who aren’t directly next to them.

2. When everyone is tangled together, ask them to untangle the knot and form a perfect circle — without letting go of anyone's hand.

Our last two problem-solving activities work best when dealing with an actual problem:

14. Dumbest Idea First

Helps with: Instant problem-solving

1. "Dumb" ideas are sometimes the best ideas. Ask everyone to think of the absolute dumbest possible solution to the problem at hand.

2. After you have a long list, look through it and see which ones might not be as dumb as you think.

3. Brainstorm your solutions in Wrike. It's free and everyone can start collaborating instantly!

15. What Would X Do

1. Have everyone pretend they're someone famous.

2. Each person must approach the problem as if they were their chosen famous person. What options would they consider? How would they handle it?

3. This allows everyone to consider solutions they might not have thought of originally.

Looking for more team-building and virtual meeting games? Check out these virtual icebreaker games or our  Ultimate Guide to Team Building Activities that Don't Suck.

Additional resources on problem-solving activities

• Problem-Solving Model : Looking for a model to provide a problem-solving structure? This detailed guide gives you the tools to quickly solve any problem.
• The Simplex Process:  Popularized by Min Basadur's book, The Power of Innovation , the Simplex Process provides training and techniques for each problem-solving stage. It helps frame problem-solving as a continuous cycle, rather than a “one and done” process.
• Fun Problem-Solving Activities and Games : Looking for more ideas? Check out this list of interesting and creative problem-solving activities for adults and kids!
• The Secret to Better Problem-Solving:  This article provides tips, use cases, and fresh examples to help you become a whiz at solving the toughest problems.

How to organize problem-solving activities with Wrike

If you want to make problem-solving activities more effective, consider using team collaboration software such as Wrike. 

Wrike’s pre-built actionable meeting notes template helps you keep track of meeting discussions, assign action items, and keep everyone in the loop. It’s an effective tool to streamline your problem-solving sessions and turn insights into real projects.

Brianna Hansen

Brianna is a former Content Marketing Manager of Wrike. When she’s not writing about collaboration and team building games, you’ll find her in the kitchen testing out the latest recipes, sharing her favorite wine with friends, or playing with her two cats.

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Understanding these 6 team effectiveness models can help you figure out which model to adopt for your own team. Or it may simply help shed light into what's working in your own group, and how to help improve what's lacking.

5 Unexpected Ways To Improve Team Collaboration

The general trend these days is toward open office plans, where cubicle walls and office doors don’t impede communication. In fact, the International Facility Management Association reports that 70% of offices in the US now have an open floor plan.  But tearing down the walls so we can yell across the room at one another doesn’t necessarily improve collaboration. In fact, a study in Finland found that employees on average waste 21.5 minutes a day getting distracted by overheard conversations, the top roadblock to productivity. It takes more than just moving the furniture and hoping it will get people talking—it takes planning, intentional policy changes, and just a little hint of the unexpected. These five unusual strategies for improving team collaboration will get your teams to work together in ways that make people feel comfortable sharing ideas.  1. Put the Walls Back Up Conventional wisdom says that open work spaces and shared offices get people to talk more, but the ambient noise and visual distractions can actually mean a loss of productivity. We cycle through the open-office-closed-door argument every decade or so, probably because the pendulum swings way too far in one direction or the other, leaving employees either isolated or distracted. When employees have a quiet, comfortable place to work distraction-free, they feel more comfortable coming out of their shells when they need to work together. Cubicles, conference rooms, and separate offices help define meeting times and let employees choose when they engage with others, rather than the open office layout that stifles quiet time. 2. Build an Asynchronous Communication Policy Many workplaces have implemented instant messaging apps, crowd-sourced employee documents, and project management tools that increase the opportunity for collaboration. But that’s not enough—you also have to create expectations around how employees use those tools.  Communication apps like Skype and Slack, can and should be used with an understanding that communication happens at your discretion.  Asynchronous communication models the sort of communication that happens between parts of a computer: information is sent when it’s convenient for one part of the system, and the other part of the system receives and responds at its convenience. This way, the receiver’s current process isn’t interrupted, which helps team members stay focused on important work.  Offices that use wikis, email, chat tools, Kanban boards, and project management tools that let users view notifications and changes on their own time show respect for the individual’s flow of work. Users can set "do not disturb" hours so they won’t receive distracting notifications, and use a batching system to take care of all secondary communication outside of their focus times.  Asynchronous communication gives employees the freedom to focus without that fear of missing out on important decisions. When companies empower employees to communicate within dedicated time frames, they send the message that they appreciate when employees focus on single tasks, rather than splitting their attention between communication and assignments.  3. Implement: "No Agenda, No Meeting" It’s many people’s worst office nightmare: a meeting with no plan. Requiring that all meetings — no matter how trivial or informal — have at least a bullet point outline puts both planners and attendees at ease.  Agendas also keep your teams focused on outcomes. Teams that plan in advance and share agendas stay on track and reduce distractions that can devolve into lost time and unhelpful disagreements. Build policies about tangential discussions and how to deal with disagreements, so your employees know how to handle new and uncomfortable situations. Meeting agendas protect meaningful individual work time, and helps the group stay on task. This reduces friction due to off-topic talking, lets attendees collect their thoughts and ideas before the meeting, and defines the scope of work so all participants understand what’s expected. Collaboration is much easier when everyone knows what’s required.  Once the group completes the agenda, release employees to check off the items on their personal to-do lists. You can always schedule follow-up meetings to resolve new issues.  4. Build an Inclusive Remote Work Infrastructure Finding top talent is harder than ever, and ensuring that your employees have a good work-life balance is an HR necessity. The Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 24% of employees worked from home at least part of the time in 2015. Working remotely from a home office or co-working space in a different city can increase employee happiness and productivity and limit distractions from office shenanigans (looking at you, Sales Departments).  Companies that allow remote work or work from home policies need to build communication and collaboration into the lifestyle of the company. Use video conferencing, chat programs, screensharing & remote desktop access, and project management tools to bring employees together virtually around your  goals.  Ensure that not only workers but also managers and executives understand how to use the remote technology, and are comfortable engaging with the crew. Use your video calls for 1:1 weekly meetings to check in, and build chat channels where your whole team can hang out. Allow teams to build their own chat channels around shared interests (Trivia, Fantasy Football, great restaurants, etc.) to cultivate a connected culture and engage employees during downtime. These connections remind us that our colleagues are more than their work projects, they are people too. Humanizing remote teammates helps to foster empathy, which in turn smooths out whatever rough patches you'll hit during collaboration.  5. Build Relationships via Tough Conversations Whether collaboration takes place in the office or remotely, in real time or asynchronously, in a conference room or in the middle of an open office, it’s important to build communication policies that promote openness and honesty. Conflict and criticism are inevitable, but collaboration doesn’t have to suffer: the whole team can communicate with emotional intelligence.  By planning for the inevitable, you can ensure that tough conversations happen with sensitivity—building relationships among team members, instead of eroding them.  Designate mediators for teams, plan regular communication skills workshops (quarterly, not just once a year), and discuss different communication styles.  Collaboration is More Than Seating Arrangements  Improved team collaboration takes more than sticking everyone in a room and hoping individual genius will compound in a group setting. Real business-oriented collaboration requires careful planning, investment in technology, and breaking down outdated ideas of what teamwork and productivity look like.  About the Author: Tamara Scott is an analyst at TechnologyAdvice, a research company that connects buyers and sellers of business technology. She writes about project management, marketing, sales, CRM, and many other technology verticals.

Making Mistakes at Work: What to Do if You're in the Wrong

All of us have felt the fear of admitting when we’ve made a mistake at work. We may be terrified to tell our manager, or nervous about the impact our mistake could have on the business. But mistakes are completely normal and should be viewed as an opportunity to grow. This article aims to provide a deeper insight into why this fear of making mistakes at work exists and how to overcome it. We’ll also provide advice to managers on how to react and problem solve collaboratively as a team.  Why is there a fear of making mistakes at work? Making mistakes at work can be scary. This is especially true if you’re the sole breadwinner of your household or rely on your position for everyday expenses like rent. When the stakes are high, it’s normal to worry about what-if scenarios when something goes wrong. In rare cases, extreme perfectionism is diagnosed as atelophobia which is the extreme fear of making mistakes.  While these are all valid reactions, making mistakes at work can actually improve your relationship with management and provide opportunities for self-improvement. But first things first, you have to adjust your mindset and overcome those fear-based feelings that are keeping you paralyzed.  Overcoming the anxiety of making mistakes at work If you’re like most people, you probably feel a knot in your stomach when something goes wrong at work. It could have been a minor mishap that no one noticed or a major mistake that cost your company a huge sum of money.  Regardless of what happened, overcoming the anxiety of making mistakes at work is the first step to finding a solution. If you skip this part of the process, you may find yourself covering up issues that could have been fixed, making things worse long-term, or even getting found out by your boss. Follow these steps to overcoming work-related stress and bounce back stronger than before after you’ve messed up:  Step 1: Process your emotions It’s natural to feel frustrated and embarrassed when something goes wrong at work. But, after a few seconds, the feeling should pass and you can begin to think logically. If it doesn’t happen quickly, take some time to process these emotions. Talk it out with a trusted friend, voice journal about it in your car, or take a walk outside to get some fresh air before starting fresh.  It can be hard to maintain a sense of balance when you’re upset. Try to make sure that your emotional response is proportional to the mistake you made. Step 2: Keep perspective If you make an error at work, it’s likely not a life-or-death situation. Most of the time, it can be corrected or resolved quickly. If you don’t find the right perspective, your mind may get too focused on the negative consequences of your mistake, which can trigger more errors in the future. Step 3: Acknowledge the mistake If you need to apologize for an error, do it quickly and politely. If it’s a small issue, a sentence or two via email or chat messenger is enough to make amends. If it’s a larger issue, consider holding a meeting or giving your manager a quick phone call. Also, make sure to tell your boss about how you intend to prevent this mistake in the future. Step 4: Review your response It’s so easy to get distracted by all your other goals and projects that you can forget about anything else that went wrong before you got to this point. Taking the time to review your response to the mistake helps you improve in case it ever happens again.  Ask yourself questions. Do you make the same mistake over and over again? If so, what changes can you make to prevent this from happening? Step 5: Practice self-care Getting back into a healthy routine can help you release pent-up energy and prevent making mistakes at work in the future.  To some, the concept of self-care may seem like a trend or luxury. But making sure you’re feeling your best is critical for improving your confidence and your performance at work.  Issues such as sleep deprivation, poor nutrition, and dehydration can lead to mistakes you otherwise wouldn’t have made if you had been taking better care of yourself.  Step 6: Evaluate your own performance The easiest way to earn people's trust is to consistently deliver stellar work. Even though you may have failed in the past, there's still time to move on and create a successful and rich working life. Remember, a mistake or two over the course of an otherwise successful period will not make or break your career.  How should managers react to mistakes at work? Managers are responsible for reacting to and assisting employees with mistakes at work. Even in the most high-pressure situations, doing so with care is not only good for morale but will prevent similar mistakes in the future. How a manager reacts to mistakes at work can make all the difference between transformational leadership and losing otherwise great employees.  Great managers understand that we can all learn from our mistakes. Mistakes help us develop as individuals and as a team.  Great managers can also recognize when they themselves have made mistakes. Before you approach a team member, take a close look at yourself to see if you're really worried about their work. If so, what do you think about their performance? Who is responsible for their work so far?  You may find that you’ve contributed to the environment, the process, or the miscommunication that made the mistake possible. Reflecting on this ahead of time will relieve everyone of playing the blame game and instead solve the problem from a fair and level-headed place.  Additionally, managers should make sure that each mistake is a teaching moment. It may be hard but don't try to fix the problem. Instead, frame it as an opportunity to improve and develop.  When approaching an employee who has made a mistake, start by being curious about it. Ask questions about what happened and what their perspective is on the situation. Use active listening skills when speaking to team members, as it will let them know that you are paying attention. They may fess up immediately. If they take the blame for something that wasn’t their fault, which is pretty common, address that. If they don’t admit to making a mistake, approach the situation with care and focus on the issue, not placing blame.  Give the team members the autonomy to figure it out on their own. Then, provide your feedback in a fair and balanced manner. Afterward, encourage them to learn from it and avoid repeating the same mistake. When communicating with an employee who has made a mistake, in-person meetings are often best. However, many teams are now made up of contractors, gig workers, and freelancers who work remotely so a physical location is not always accessible. If that’s the case, lean on digital tools to illustrate the issue.  For example, reports and individual task assignment lists from project management tools. These can also be used to prevent future mistakes, as managers can easily use them to communicate the actions and behaviors expected of team members and improve the overall work management process.  There may be times when mistakes happen over and over again. If that’s the case, the employee may be engaging in a pattern of behavior that keeps them from performing at their best. Managers can step in and provide ideas for healthy habits that will prevent the same type of mistake from cropping up again.  For example, you can ask a marketing team member to overcome a common marketing mistake of missing a content publishing deadline by writing a to-do list every day. This will help them stay on top of their tasks while also motivating them to finish their work at the same time.  In a nutshell, it’s important to understand that punishment for infrequent mistakes is unfair and ineffective. These mistakes offer opportunities to improve, which both managers and employees can embrace. How to admit a mistake in a professional environment You may end up in a situation in a professional environment where an apology is needed. And when it comes to making mistakes at work, honesty is the best policy. Certain actions can break trust, but an apology can help rebuild it.  In your explanation, it's important to detail why you acted the way you did. It shows that you care about how those around you are affected by your actions. It's important to address the person you're apologizing to by name, regardless of their status. Having an open conversation can help both of you understand the other person better, and it can prevent an insincere apology from happening. If the mistake you made affected someone personally, it's important to validate the feelings of the other person. Having the courage to admit that you're sorry can make a huge difference in how people treat you.  Take responsibility for your actions and have a plan in place for how to make amends before you approach the appropriate person or people.  Having a plan in place shows that you're thinking about how to make things right. You may even want to read about examples of taking responsibility at work and model your behavior on whichever feels appropriate for the situation.  However, don’t get carried away and make promises you can’t keep. It's important to set goals that are realistic so that you can avoid repeating the mistake.  If your apology is accepted, you can then try negotiating a solution by asking the other person to reflect on the situation and consider their feelings.  After you apologize, make a greater effort to keep your promises and not repeat the same mistake. Doing so can help improve the situation and make the other person feel more comfortable. How to learn from mistakes at work It's important to come clean and admit your mistake, but it's also important to move forward with a positive mindset. You'll most likely feel a bit down about your mistake right after it happens. But by learning from it, you can improve and become more resilient in the long run.  Start by creating a plan for improvement. If you made a minor mistake, then creating personal goals and action plans will help you put those lessons into action. You can learn a universal lesson from nearly any situation, no matter how unique it is. For example, if you learned that a mistake was made because of your forgetfulness, implementing organizational strategies to improve your memory could help. Next, keep track of progress over time in a notebook or virtual document. Be sure to note the highlights along with the lowlights. Look for patterns. As they come up, add them to your action plan or personal goals list.  Monitor whether or not these changes have led to better, more consistent outcomes. If not, adjust and keep going.  Lastly, don't be afraid to ask for help if you're unsure which strategy or tool will work best for you. Managers are there to support your performance. If you approach them with honesty and vulnerability, they’ll likely be flattered you thought to ask. They may even offer advice or make changes that will improve productivity for you and the rest of the team.  In conclusion The pressure to perform at a high level can often result in mistakes and inefficient habits. Learn from your mistakes and take ownership of them. Communicate in an open and honest manner. Ask for or provide help when needed and remember that every new mistake is also an opportunity for better performance. How Wrike can help you avoid unnecessary mistakes at work With so many files, folders, updates, and chat threads to keep track of, mistakes are easily made when you try to get through your day without a work management platform. Wrike offers a variety of features to help you stay on top of your workload easily, and avoid unnecessary confusion that can lead to mistakes at work. Full project visibility, including real-time updates and approvals, means that you can ensure every stakeholder is informed of what you're working on, with your tasks going to the correct approver every time. One shared space with over 400 app integrations means communication has never been easier, no matter where you or your team are based. And Wrike's Automation Engine allows you to streamline your processes and automate the time-consuming admin tasks that, when tackled manually, can easily be done incorrectly.  Try it out for yourself with a free two-week trial.

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Inspire Your Students With 28 Creative Thinking Activities

January 20, 2023 //  by  Angie Starr

Do you shy away from creative activities because you are insecure about your own creativity? Do you think creativity is not educational?

Guess what. Creativity isn’t limited to art or music and every subject can incorporate creative thinking.

Creative activities involve imagination, problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration; which every student has the ability to do. And, there are no right or wrong answers!

Here are 28 activities to guide students in discovering and developing their creative talents. Happy creating!

1. What’s This?

Active your inner artist!

This is a modified version of the incomplete figure test. Have students create a shape or partial shape. Next, students will swap shapes with another student to create a picture. What will your students create?

Learn More: Raise Creative Kidz

2. 30 Shapes

It’s time to get into shape!

Do you see circles? I see a donut, a wheel, and a pizza. What will your students see when they look at 30 squares or 30 triangles? This creative activity has students turning a shape into a recognizable object within a set time.

Learn More: Club Experience

3. Continuous Line Drawing

Can you draw a picture without lifting your pen? Students’ creative and analytical thinking are activated when they draw a picture without lifting their pen from the paper. This is an excellent hand-eye coordination activity but also develops a sense of pride and accomplishment for the student.

Learn More: The Virtual Instructor

4. Add Something New

Try this creative and fun activity involving collaboration, and brainstorming. Show students a work of art such as Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Ask students what they would add to the painting. If possible, provide students with a printout of the artwork so that they can draw in their creative ideas.

Learn More: Byrd Seed

5. Strange Flavors

Who doesn’t love ice cream? Would you eat a strange flavor like Bug? Creative activities are deliciously fun when students get wild with recipe ideas. New ice cream flavors, unique pizza toppings, or outrageous sandwich ideas are just a few ways students can activate their taste buds and creativity!

Learn More: National Geographic Kids

6. Bad Ideas

Is it good to be bad? We’re always in search of great ideas. Let’s try a creative twist and think about bad ideas. What are some really bad ideas for products? What would be a bad recipe idea? Ask students why the ideas are bad so as to challenge their critical thinking skills.

Learn More: Lucid Spark

7. Classifying & Sorting

There’s more than one way to draw a straight line and there are many more ways to classify and sort! Give students an assortment of items and watch their cognitive and creative skills at work. Will students sort by color or size? What other categories can they come up with?

Learn More: Playing With Learning

8. Repurpose An Item

We can often be creatures of habit: A cup is used for drinking or a tennis ball is used for playing tennis. Students will look at everyday items with a fresh and creative perspective in this purposeful, repurposing activity. You’ll be amazed at the variety of new uses they come up with!

Learn More: PBS Kids

9. How Many Uses

This activity modifies the, “How many uses for a paperclip?” challenge. Students will show off their entrepreneurial knowledge whilst engaging in creative thinking by pitching an idea of how to use a ______ in a unique way.

Learn More: CANR.MSU.edu

10. Logo Makeover

Why do companies have logos? What was the reasoning behind the choice of logos for companies such as Apple or Amazon? If these companies decided to change their logo what would they come up with? Ask your students! Students will enjoy creating new logos for their favorite brands.

Learn More: ESL Brains

11. Create a New Word

If you show a picture of a person yawning, your students will know the person feels sleepy or bored. However, what if the person was sleepy and bored; what word could then be used to describe this feeling? “Slored”?  What new words can your students come up with?  

Learn More: Pinterest

12. Make a New Definition

Learning definitions from a dictionary is not a creative activity. Make learning new words a fun activity by having students create literal definitions or use funny descriptions to define a word. Linguistic and creative thinking skills will be put to work while helping students remember new information.

13. Invent a New Animal

What is a Gireetah? It’s an animal that is both a cheetah and a giraffe! Students will engage in critical and creative thinking to create a new species or combine two or more animals to create a new version of an amazing animal.

Learn More: NPS

14. Music as Art Prompt

Music is a creative teaching tool when we encourage students to use their 4 senses when listening to music. What colors would they associate with this song? What images come to their mind when they hear it? What flavor does the song have?

Learn More: Artful Parent

15. Superpower Surprise

Not all superpowers have to be about strength or speed. This is a creative activity that influences a student’s self-esteem and encourages empathy, and appreciation for their fellow classmates.

Students will assign a unique superpower to a fellow classmate based on the student’s talents or personality. 

Learn More: Classroom Communities

16. Describing with Adjectives

How attentive are you to your surroundings? When we look at an object we may focus on its size, color, and shape. If we look closer, we often discover new details we didn’t see before! Describing is a creative activity that stimulates observation and gets students comfortable with using adjectives.

Learn More: Easy English

17. Storytelling the Pixar Way

Storytelling may seem like a creative and fun activity but it can also create anxiety with regard to not knowing where to begin or what to include. The Pixar structure is a formula to help writers organize their ideas into a cohesive story. Analytical thinking, creative thinking, and collaboration are a recipe for a happy ending!

Learn More: Khan Academy Labs

18. A Lifetime Tale in Pictures

Are you still using post-reading comprehension questions? Transform your post-reading activities into creative activities. What was Harry Potter like as a child? What if Harry quit magic, what would be his new job? Take elements or characters from the story and have students use their imaginations to expand their storytelling skills. 

Learn More: Literacy Ideas

19. Blackout Poetry

Turn newspapers into a poetic masterpiece!

Blackout poetry will get students excited about reading a newspaper. Students will isolate and then piece together single words or short phrases from the newspaper to create poetry or a short story.

Learn More: Arapahoe Libraries

20. Shape Poem

A sentence doesn’t have to be written in a straight line. Students have the chance to get creative with their writing by using this shape poem. It’s as simple as choosing a favorite object and then creating the shape of the object using words that describe it. 

Learn More: Study.com

21. Preposition Poem

Did you know that grammar can promote creative thinking skills? Have students write a poem using only prepositions and no verbs.  If students struggle, give them a visual prompt and let their words do the talking. Don’t forget to provide an example!

Learn More: Flying Words

22. What If Conversations

What if it rained marshmallows? What if you were invisible for a day? Spark critical thinking and problem-solving skills with this inquisitive creative thinking game. Students can show off their creative skills by creating “What If” questions for their classmates. The best part is there are no wrong responses!

Learn More: The Big List Of 34 “What If” Questions For Kids

23. 6 Thinking Hats

Teach students to think about a problem or situation by looking at it from different perspectives with this creative activity called the 6 Thinking Hats. The 6 Thinking Hats ensures that all students are engaged in critical and creative problem-solving.

Learn More: Edugage

24. The 5 Whys

Students are curious and ask many WHY questions. The 5 Whys is a brainstorming tool that can help students identify the root causes of a problem. In this creative activity, the students are responsible for answering their own WHY questions to understand root causes and create solutions. 

Learn More: Peachey Publications

25. The 9 Whys

The 9 Whys focus on reflection and purpose. Why shouldn’t we use our cell phones in the classroom? Students have the opportunity to ask and answer WHY questions in a group or interview format to gain an understanding of a situation and build creative thinking skills.

Learn More: Carsten Lützen

26. Negative Brainstorming

Negativity can promote creative thinking! When students brainstorm, they are generating ideas. However, not all brainstorming sessions are productive. Negative or reverse brainstorming techniques encourage students to think of all the ways an idea can fail or go wrong. From the negative, they reflect on the opposite to generate solutions.

Learn More: Model Teaching

27. The Frayer Model

Make words exciting again! Do your students look bored when they learn new vocabulary words? Definitions alone word do not inspire creative thinking skills. The Frayer Model is a creative activity to activate students’ curiosity, critical thinking, and ability to connect prior knowledge to new knowledge.  

Learn More: Teach Hub

28. SCAMPER

SCAMPER is an activity to foster out-of-the-box thinking in any subject. This creative activity involves strategies that students apply to a question or problem. 

• S – Substitute
• C – Combine
• A – Adapt
• M – Modify
• P – Put to another use
• E – Eliminate
• R – Reverse

Creative thinking skills are fostered when we allow students to generate ideas or responses that are not contained to a single correct answer.  

Learn More: PBL Project

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14 Best Team Building Problem Solving Group Activities For 2024

The best teams see solutions where others see problems. A great company culture is built around a collaborative spirit and the type of unity it takes to find answers to the big business questions.

So how can you get team members working together?

How can you develop a mentality that will help them overcome obstacles they have yet to encounter?

One of the best ways to improve your teams’ problem solving skills is through team building problem solving activities .

“86% of employees and executives cite lack of collaboration or ineffective communication for workplace failures.” — Bit.AI

These activities can simulate true-to-life scenarios they’ll find themselves in, or the scenarios can call on your employees or coworkers to dig deep and get creative in a more general sense.

The truth is, on a day-to-day basis, you have to prepare for the unexpected. It just happens that team building activities help with that, but are so fun that they don’t have to feel like work ( consider how you don’t even feel like you’re working out when you’re playing your favorite sport or doing an exercise you actually enjoy! )

What are the benefits of group problem-solving activities?

The benefits of group problem-solving activities for team building include:

• Better communication
• Improved collaboration and teamwork
• More flexible thinking
• Faster problem-solving
• Better proactivity and decision making

Without further ado, check out this list of the 14 best team-building problem-solving group activities for 2024!

Page Contents (Click To Jump)

Popular Problem Solving Activities

1. virtual team challenge.

Virtual Team Challenges are popular problem-solving activities that involve a group of people working together to solve an issue. The challenge generally involves members of the team brainstorming, discussing, and creating solutions for a given problem.

Participants work both individually and collaboratively to come up with ideas and strategies that will help them reach their goals.

Why this is a fun problem-solving activity: Participants can interact and communicate with each other in a virtual environment while simultaneously engaging with the problem-solving activities. This makes it an enjoyable experience that allows people to use their creative thinking skills, build team spirit, and gain valuable insights into the issue at hand.

Problem-solving activities such as Virtual Team Challenges offer a great way for teams to come together, collaborate, and develop creative solutions to complex problems.

2. Problem-Solving Templates

Problem-Solving Templates are popular problem-solving activities that involve a group of people working together to solve an issue. The challenge generally involves members of the team utilizing pre-made templates and creating solutions for a given problem with the help of visual aids.

This activity is great for teams that need assistance in getting started on their problem-solving journey.

Why this is a fun problem-solving activity: Problem-Solving Templates offer teams an easy and stress-free way to get the creative juices flowing. The visual aids that come with the templates help team members better understand the issue at hand and easily come up with solutions together.

This activity is great for teams that need assistance in getting started on their problem-solving journey, as it provides an easy and stress-free way to get the creative juices flowing.

Problem Solving Group Activities & Games For Team Building

3. coworker feud, “it’s all fun and games”.

Coworker Feud is a twist on the classic Family Feud game show! This multiple rapid round game keeps the action flowing and the questions going. You can choose from a variety of customizations, including picking the teams yourself, randomized teams, custom themes, and custom rounds.

Best for: Hybrid teams

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Coworker Feud comes with digital game materials, a digital buzzer, an expert host, and a zoom link to get the participants ready for action! Teams compete with each other to correctly answer the survey questions. At the end of the game, the team with the most competitive answers is declared the winner of the Feud.

How to get started:

• Sign up for Coworker Feud
• Break into teams of 4 to 10 people
• Get the competitive juices flowing and let the games begin!

Learn more here: Coworker Feud

4. Crack The Case

“who’s a bad mamma jamma”.

Crack The Case is a classic WhoDoneIt game that forces employees to depend on their collective wit to stop a deadly murderer dead in his tracks! Remote employees and office commuters can join forces to end this crime spree.

Best for: Remote teams

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: The Virtual Clue Murder Mystery is an online problem solving activity that uses a proprietary videoconferencing platform to offer the chance for employees and coworkers to study case files, analyze clues, and race to find the motive, the method, and the individual behind the murder of Neil Davidson.

• Get a custom quote here
• Download the app
• Let the mystery-solving collaboration begin!

Learn more here: Crack The Case

5. Catch Meme If You Can

“can’t touch this”.

Purposefully created to enhance leadership skills and team bonding , Catch Meme If You Can is a hybrid between a scavenger hunt and an escape room . Teammates join together to search for clues, solve riddles, and get out — just in time!

Best for: Small teams

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Catch Meme If You Can is an adventure with a backstory. Each team has to submit their answer to the puzzle in order to continue to the next part of the sequence. May the best team escape!

• The teams will be given instructions and the full storyline
• Teams will be split into a handful of people each
• The moderator will kick off the action!

Learn more here: Catch Meme If You Can

6. Puzzle Games

“just something to puzzle over”.

Puzzle Games is the fresh trivia game to test your employees and blow their minds with puzzles, jokes , and fun facts!

Best for: In-person teams

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Eight mini brain teaser and trivia style games include word puzzles, name that nonsense, name that tune, and much more. Plus, the points each team earns will go towards planting trees in the precious ecosystems and forests of Uganda

• Get a free consultation for your team
• Get a custom designed invitation for your members
• Use the game link
• Dedicated support will help your team enjoy Puzzle Games to the fullest!

Learn more here: Puzzle Games

7. Virtual Code Break

“for virtual teams”.

Virtual Code Break is a virtual team building activity designed for remote participants around the globe. Using a smart video conferencing solution, virtual teams compete against each other to complete challenges, answer trivia questions, and solve brain-busters!

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Virtual Code Break can be played by groups as small as 4 people all the way up to more than 1,000 people at once. However, every team will improve their communication and problem-solving skills as they race against the clock and depend on each other’s strengths to win!

• Reach out for a free consultation to align the needs of your team
• An event facilitator will be assigned to handle all of the set-up and logistics
• They will also provide you with logins and a play-by-play of what to expect
• Sign into the Outback video conferencing platform and join your pre-assigned team
• Lastly, let the games begin!

Learn more here: Virtual Code Break

8. Stranded

“survivor: office edition”.

Stranded is the perfect scenario-based problem solving group activity. The doors of the office are locked and obviously your team can’t just knock them down or break the windows.

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Your team has less than half an hour to choose 10 items around the office that will help them survive. They then rank the items in order of importance. It’s a bit like the classic game of being lost at sea without a lifeboat.

• Get everyone together in the office
• Lock the doors
• Let them start working together to plan their survival

Learn more here: Stranded

9. Letting Go Game

“for conscious healing”.

The Letting Go Game is a game of meditation and mindfulness training for helping teammates thrive under pressure and reduce stress in the process. The tasks of the Letting Go Game boost resiliency, attentiveness, and collaboration.

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Expert-guided activities and awareness exercises encourage team members to think altruistically and demonstrate acts of kindness. Between yoga, face painting, and fun photography, your employees or coworkers will have more than enough to keep them laughing and growing together with this mindfulness activity!

• Reach out for a free consultation
• A guide will then help lead the exercises
• Let the funny videos, pictures, and playing begin!

Learn more here: Letting Go Game

10. Wild Goose Chase

“city time”.

Wild Goose Chase is the creative problem solving activity that will take teams all around your city and bring them together as a group! This scavenger hunt works for teams as small as 10 up to groups of over 5000 people.

Best for: Large teams

Why this is an effective group problem solving activity: As employees and group members are coming back to the office, there are going to be times that they’re itching to get outside. Wild Goose Chase is the perfect excuse to satisfy the desire to go out-of-office every now and then. Plus, having things to look at and see around the city will get employees talking in ways they never have before.

• Download the Outback app to access the Wild Goose Chase
• Take photos and videos from around the city
• The most successful team at completing challenges on time is the champ!

Learn more here: Wild Goose Chase

11. Human Knot

“for a knotty good time”.

The Human Knot is one of the best icebreaker team building activities! In fact, there’s a decent chance you played it in grade school. It’s fun, silly, and best of all — free!

Why this is an effective group problem solving activity: Participants start in a circle and connect hands with two other people in the group to form a human knot. The team then has to work together and focus on clear communication to unravel the human knot by maneuvering their way out of this hands-on conundrum. But there’s a catch — they can’t let go of each other’s hands in this team building exercise.

• Form a circle
• Tell each person to grab a random hand until all hands are holding another
• They can’t hold anyone’s hand who is directly next to them
• Now they have to get to untangling
• If the chain breaks before everyone is untangled, they have to start over again

Learn more here: Human Knot

12. What Would You Do?

“because it’s fun to imagine”.

What Would You Do? Is the hypothetical question game that gets your team talking and brainstorming about what they’d do in a variety of fun, intriguing, and sometimes, whacky scenarios.

Best for: Distributed teams

Why this is an effective group problem solving activity: After employees or coworkers start talking about their What Would You Do? responses, they won’t be able to stop. That’s what makes this such an incredible team building activity . For example, you could ask questions like “If you could live forever, what would you do with your time?” or “If you never had to sleep, what would you do?”

• In addition to hypothetical questions, you could also give teammates some optional answers to get them started
• After that, let them do the talking — then they’ll be laughing and thinking and dreaming, too!

13. Crossing The River

“quite the conundrum”.

Crossing The River is a river-crossing challenge with one correct answer. Your team gets five essential elements — a chicken, a fox, a rowboat, a woman, and a bag of corn. You see, the woman has a bit of a problem, you tell them. She has to get the fox, the bag of corn, and the chicken to the other side of the river as efficiently as possible.

Why this is an effective group problem solving activity: She has a rowboat, but it can only carry her and one other item at a time. She cannot leave the chicken and the fox alone — for obvious reasons. And she can’t leave the chicken with the corn because it will gobble it right up. So the question for your team is how does the woman get all five elements to the other side of the river safely in this fun activity?

• Form teams of 2 to 5 people
• Each team has to solve the imaginary riddle
• Just make sure that each group understands that the rowboat can only carry one animal and one item at a time; the fox and chicken can’t be alone; and the bag of corn and the chicken cannot be left alone
• Give the verbal instructions for getting everything over to the other side

14. End-Hunger Games

“philanthropic fun”.

Does anything bond people quite like acts of kindness and compassion? The End-Hunger Games will get your team to rally around solving the serious problem of hunger.

Best for: Medium-sized teams

Why this is an effective problem solving group activity: Teams join forces to complete challenges based around non-perishable food items in the End-Hunger Games. Groups can range in size from 25 to more than 2000 people, who will all work together to collect food for the local food bank.

• Split into teams and compete to earn boxes and cans of non-perishable food
• Each team attempts to build the most impressive food item construction
• Donate all of the non-perishable foods to a local food bank

Learn more here: End-Hunger Games

People Also Ask These Questions About Team Building Problem Solving Group Activities

Q: what are some problem solving group activities.

• A: Some problem solving group activities can include riddles, egg drop, reverse pyramid, tallest tower, trivia, and other moderator-led activities.

Q: What kind of skills do group problem solving activities & games improve?

• A: Group problem solving activities and games improve collaboration, leadership, and communication skills.

Q: What are problem solving based team building activities & games?

• A: Problem solving based team building activities and games are activities that challenge teams to work together in order to complete them.

Q: What are some fun free problem solving games for groups?

• A: Some fun free problem solving games for groups are kinesthetic puzzles like the human knot game, which you can read more about in this article. You can also use all sorts of random items like whiteboards, straws, building blocks, sticky notes, blindfolds, rubber bands, and legos to invent a game that will get the whole team involved.

Q: How do I choose the most effective problem solving exercise for my team?

• A: The most effective problem solving exercise for your team is one that will challenge them to be their best selves and expand their creative thinking.

Q: How do I know if my group problem solving activity was successful?

• A: In the short-term, you’ll know if your group problem solving activity was successful because your team will bond over it; however, that should also translate to more productivity in the mid to long-term.

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Adults Get Creative: Problem-Solving Activities

As adults, we often face different challenges in our personal and professional lives. These challenges require effective problem-solving skills. Engaging in problem-solving activities can help us sharpen our critical thinking and creativity.

In this article, we will explore a range of fun and engaging problem-solving activities that adults can participate in to enhance their ability to think outside the box and find innovative solutions to everyday problems. Whether it’s solving riddles, participating in escape room challenges, or engaging in group brainstorming sessions, these activities offer valuable opportunities for adults to flex their problem-solving muscles.

Why Solving Problems Matters for Grown-ups

Solving problems is important for adults, especially in the workplace. It helps them enhance their risk-handling abilities, improve communication skills, and increase productivity. When adults work together to solve tough problems, it fosters better communication and teamwork. This helps team members understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses, making collaboration more effective.

Creative problem-solving activities enable adults to develop a proactive mindset and think critically, preparing them for future challenges. By honing their problem-solving skills now, adults can equip themselves with the abilities necessary to navigate unforeseen obstacles in the future, making them more adaptable and resilient in a rapidly changing work environment.

How Solving Tough Stuff Helps You at Work

We talk better when we solve stuff together.

Solving problems together is beneficial for improving communication and teamwork. It fosters open dialogue and encourages individuals to listen to each other. This promotes trust and rapport among team members, leading to a more cohesive work environment.

Solving tough stuff as a group contributes to better communication and collaboration in the workplace. It allows team members to share ideas, think critically, and align their efforts to achieve common objectives. It also encourages the diverse expertise of team members to be utilized effectively, enhancing problem-solving capabilities and strengthening collaboration.

These activities prompt team members to communicate more effectively and empathize with each other. This results in improved working relationships and the development of collective problem-solving skills within the team.

Getting Smarter at Work by Solving Stuff

Creative problem-solving is important for adults in the workplace. It helps with risk management , communication, and productivity. When adults work together on tough problems, they develop a proactive mindset and improve decision-making. These skills are important for handling complex projects in a team. Problem-solving activities help with thinking outside the box, analytical skills, and logical reasoning, all of which are important for workplace challenges.

Thinking Ahead: How Solving Problems Now Helps Tomorrow

Problem-solving skills are important for adults and their careers. They help improve communication, collaboration, and adaptability.

Solving tough problems now can benefit someone in the future by fostering creativity , analytical thinking, lateral thinking, and logical reasoning.

Thinking ahead and solving problems now can contribute to a person’s success in the long run. It can promote a proactive mindset, better risk handling, improved productivity output, and better decision-making skills.

These skills are important for workplace success and personal development.

Cool Games that Make You Think Fast

Play detective with espionage games.

Playing espionage games can help adults improve their problem-solving skills. Games like Espionage! and Art Heist challenge players to think quickly and strategically. By practicing problem-solving in a fun way, the learning process becomes more enjoyable and memorable. These activities are great for team building, enhancing collaboration, and improving communication.

Crack the Code in Van Gogh’s Art Heist

Players can solve the code in Van Gogh’s Art Heist. They’ll use their problem-solving and logical reasoning skills to decipher clues and puzzles. Working in teams, they strategize to recover the stolen artwork and identify the thief.

The game emphasizes the importance of teamwork and effective communication. It encourages players to collaborate closely to overcome challenges and reach the goal.

Participating in the game helps players develop their critical thinking and decision-making skills. It prompts them to think creatively and make informed decisions under pressure. The game also fosters a proactive mindset and strengthens communication and leadership skills.

Wizards’ Battle: Who’s the Smartest

“Wizards’ Battle: Who’s the Smartest” is a game that promotes critical thinking and problem-solving skills. It offers an imaginative and dynamic role-playing scenario. Players are prompted to develop unique and innovative strategies to outsmart their opponents. This involves creative and logical thinking.

The game challenges players to think creatively and strategically. They must make quick decisions and adapt to changing situations in the battle.

Players will benefit from the game as it promotes adaptability, quick thinking ability, logical reasoning, and motivation skills. They engage in a collaborative effort to solve problems and achieve their objectives.

Secret Words and Crosswords: Puzzle Time

Playing puzzle games like “Puzzle Time” has many benefits. It can help improve curiosity, concentration, creativity, and problem-solving skills. Adults can expand their vocabulary, enhance cognitive abilities, boost memory, and reduce stress by solving secret words and crosswords. Engaging in these activities can also improve communication, lateral thinking, and logical reasoning, leading to better decision-making abilities and quick-thinking.

“Puzzle Time” also helps develop problem-solving skills by encouraging strategic thinking, associative thinking, and spatial reasoning. It promotes effective time and resource management, adaptability, perseverance, and team collaboration and communication.

“Puzzle Time” features a variety of puzzles and games, such as secret words, crosswords, Sudoku, riddles, word search, escape rooms, and treasure hunts. These games are designed to offer word and number challenges, improve lateral thinking, and enhance teamwork, making them a fun way for adults to hone their problem-solving skills and work together effectively.

Lost in Space: What Would You Do?

When you’re lost in space with limited resources and communication, you need problem-solving skills and creativity to survive. Prioritizing problem-solving and decision-making in this high-stress and uncertain environment is crucial. Strategies like staying calm, focused, and communicating clearly with team members, as well as using available resources effectively, are vital for survival.

Drawing inspiration from well-known individuals and their problem-solving approaches can offer new perspectives and innovative ideas in these dire circumstances. Being adaptable, collaborative, and creative in problem-solving is key to overcoming the challenges of being lost in space.

Build the Highest Spaghetti Tower

Building the highest spaghetti tower is a challenging and fun activity. It helps develop teamwork and problem-solving skills among adults.

By working together to create a stable structure using limited resources, participants learn to communicate effectively. They also understand each other’s strengths and collaborate on finding creative solutions to a common goal.

Engaging in challenges that require problem-solving and creativity fosters a sense of camaraderie. It also encourages out-of-the-box thinking, resilience, and adaptability.

Building the spaghetti tower necessitates critical thinking. Participants need to strategize, innovate, and come up with unique solutions to the problem at hand.

It also promotes innovation by urging individuals to think creatively and experiment with different approaches to build a sturdy tower.

Through this activity, adults can enhance their critical thinking, analytical, and decision-making skills. These skills are essential for effective problem-solving and innovation in various professional settings.

Off to Space: The Frostbite Challenge

“Off to Space: The Frostbite Challenge” is an activity that promotes teamwork and problem-solving skills. In this simulation, teams navigate space with limited resources to survive a frostbite situation. It encourages quick thinking, effective communication, and collaboration to find innovative solutions. Participation can lead to benefits like improved risk handling, enhanced communication, increased productivity, and a proactive mindset.

Strategies include brainstorming, effective communication, using available resources, and adapting to change. The activity aims to encourage critical thinking, decision-making, and effective problem-solving within a team.

Twisty Puzzles and Brainteasers

Escape rooms: can you get out.

Escape rooms are designed to be exciting and challenging. They involve problem-solving activities, collaboration, time constraints, and immersive storytelling.

Participating in escape rooms can improve problem-solving skills for adults. It helps in thinking critically and analytically, fostering adaptability and teamwork.

Strategies for solving puzzles and escaping from an escape room involve effective communication, strategic thinking, resourcefulness, and approaching challenges from different angles.

These activities offer an engaging and interactive way for adults to work on their decision-making skills and creativity.

Treasure Hunts: Search for Hidden Clues

Treasure hunts are a fun way to boost problem-solving skills. Participants use logic and critical thinking to find hidden clues and the treasure. This activity encourages creativity and thinking outside the box as people work together to interpret the clues.

Using treasure hunts to develop problem-solving skills has many benefits. It improves critical thinking, analytical skills, perseverance, motivation, and quick thinking. Solving puzzles under time constraints also helps develop a proactive mindset and decision-making skills.

Treasure hunts also promote teamwork and collaborative problem-solving. Participants need to communicate effectively, share ideas, and work together to find and interpret clues. This fosters improved team collaboration, communication, adaptability, and logical reasoning within a group.

Poems and Stories: Who Can Make the Best?

Creativity and storytelling are important in problem-solving. They help people think innovatively. By mixing poetry and storytelling into problem-solving, people can use their imagination to find unique solutions.

To create problem-solving poems and stories, individuals need strong analytical, lateral thinking, and communication skills. They should identify the core issue, think critically, and develop a narrative that captures the problem and offers a resolution. Using metaphor, symbolism, and vivid imagery makes the story emotionally engaging.

Poems and stories can inspire others to solve real-world issues by connecting emotionally and conveying a sense of urgency. Through storytelling, individuals can raise awareness, evoke empathy, and motivate others to take action. This makes poems and stories powerful tools for driving problem-solving efforts.

Choose Your Path in Adventure Games

Playing adventure games is a great way to improve problem-solving skills. These games require players to make strategic decisions and think about potential outcomes, which can boost analytical thinking and quick decision-making. These skills are important in both personal and professional situations, helping individuals handle risks, communicate effectively, and stay proactive.

In adventure games, players must plan their moves and consider different scenarios to solve challenges and puzzles. This enhances their strategic thinking, decision-making, lateral thinking, logical reasoning, and ability to work under pressure.

Dumbest Idea Wins: Be Silly and Smart

Silliness and smarts together can help problem-solving. It encourages creativity, thinking outside the box, and finding different ways to solve problems.

For instance, playing ‘Dumbest Idea Wins’ can lead to better solutions. It lets people think of outrageous ideas without worrying about being judged. This can spark unconventional ideas that may lead to more practical and effective ones.

Using the ‘Dumbest Idea Wins’ concept can enhance teamwork. It creates an environment where team members can freely share ideas without fear of criticism. This can improve communication, idea generation, and team bonding, resulting in better problem-solving.

Steps to Be a Problem Solving Pro

Get ready: prep your brain.

It’s important to prepare your brain for problem-solving. Developing these skills can improve your work performance. Practicing creative problem-solving activities helps you think critically, make better decisions, communicate effectively, work collaboratively, and adapt to new challenges.

These skills are vital in project management. They lead to better risk handling, increased productivity, and a proactive mindset. Solving tough problems can benefit your work performance by enhancing your ability to think outside the box, analyze complex situations, and develop innovative solutions. These skills can also improve decision-making, communication, and project management.

To become a problem-solving pro, you can enhance your critical thinking and decision-making skills. Engage in activities like brainstorming, gamification, word and number challenges, social deduction games, and role-playing exercises. By participating in these activities, you’ll develop skills like creative problem-solving, analytical thinking, lateral thinking, perseverance, motivation, adaptability, quick thinking, and logical reasoning. These skills are essential for becoming a proficient problem solver in project management and other professional fields.

Make a Plan: Setting Up for Success

Solving tough problems at work can enhance an individual’s decision-making and critical thinking abilities. By solving tough problems, the individual learns how to handle complexities and uncertainties. This leads to improved risk management in the workplace. Problem-solving skills prompt employees to think innovatively and foster a proactive mindset. This contributes to increased productivity and improved communication within a team.

Making a plan is crucial for setting up success. It provides a structured roadmap, enabling individuals to foresee potential obstacles and strategic measures to overcome them. A well-thought-out plan facilitates effective time management, resource allocation, and goal attainment.

Becoming a problem-solving pro involves practicing creative problem-solving activities, developing analytical skills, and cultivating a general ability to think out of the box. Activities such as:

• “40-20-10-5”
• “Brainstorm Ideas”
• “Gamification”
• “Egg Drop Idea”

enhance critical thinking and decision-making skills. Meanwhile, “Legoman,” “Espionage!” and “Online Escape Rooms” promote adaptability and team collaboration.

Do It: Putting Your Plan into Action

To put your plan into action effectively, you should:

• Communicate the desired outcome and steps to the team.
• Assign roles and responsibilities.
• Establish a timeline for execution.

An example of this is the “Reverse Pyramid” activity, which involves teams working together to flip a pyramid shape. Teams collaborate, communicate effectively, and adapt as needed to accomplish the task.

It’s also important to encourage adaptability, collaboration, and creative thinking. For instance, the “Dumbest Idea First” exercise requires participants to think of the most absurd solution before analyzing and brainstorming more feasible options. This allows teams to assess and reflect on different approaches, leading to more refined and innovative solutions.

Make It Better: How to Improve Your Ideas

Problem-solving skills are very important for adults at work. They help with risk management, communication, and productivity. To get better at problem-solving, try activities like “Dumbest Idea

First,” “Reverse Pyramid,” and “Human Knot.” These games help with creative problem-solving, thinking outside the box, perseverance, and teamwork. Games like Espionage!, Art Heist, and Online Escape Rooms also improve critical thinking and decision-making. Playing these games in person or online is a fun way for teams to get better at problem-solving.

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