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20 Problem Solving Activities to Improve Creativity

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”

creative problem solving exercises

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Top 15 Problem-Solving Activities for Your Team to Master

May 27, 2022 - 10 min read

Brianna Hansen

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

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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.

creative problem solving exercises

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 Hansen

Brianna is a content marketing manager at 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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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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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! )

Team Building Problem Solving Group Activities

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”.

Human-knot

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”.

Team-building-activity

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

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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Outback Team Building & Training

17 Unbeatable Team Building Problem Solving Activities

17 Unbeatable Team Building Problem Solving Activities featured image

Problem-solving is a critical skill for professionals and with team building problem-solving activities, you can sharpen your skills while having fun at the same time.  

Updated on August 31, 2021

In the professional world, one thing is for sure: problem-solving is a vital skill if you want to survive and thrive. It’s a universal job skill that organizations seek in new potential employees and that managers look for when considering candidates for promotions.  

But there’s a problem.  According to Payscale , 60% of managers feel that new grads entering the workforce lack problem-solving abilities – making it the most commonly lacked soft skill.  

Problem-solving skill needs to be practiced and perfected on an ongoing basis in order to be applied effectively when the time comes. And while there are tons of traditional approaches to becoming a better problem-solver, there’s another (much more interesting) option: team building problem solving activities. 

The good news? This means learning and having fun don’t have to be mutually exclusive. And you can create a stronger team at the same time. 

11 In-Person Team Building Problem Solving Activities for Your Work Group  

1. cardboard boat building challenge, 2. egg drop , 3. clue murder mystery, 4. marshmallow spaghetti tower  , 5. corporate escape room, 6. wild goose chase, 7. lost at sea  , 8. domino effect challenge, 9. reverse pyramid  , 10. ci: the crime investigators, 11. team pursuit, 5 virtual team building problem solving activities for your work group  , 1. virtual escape room: mummy’s curse, 2. virtual clue murder mystery, 3. virtual escape room: jewel heist, 4. virtual code break  , 5. virtual trivia time machine.

  • 6. Virtual Jeoparty Social

There are a ton of incredible team building problem solving activities available. We’ve hand-picked 11 of our favorites that we think your corporate group will love too. 

a cardboard boat building challenge for problem solving team building

Split into teams and create a cardboard boat made out of just the materials provided: cardboard and tape. Team members will have to work together to engineer a functional boat that will float and sail across water without sinking. Once teams have finished making their boats, they will create a presentation to explain why their boat is the best, before putting their boats to the test. The final challenge will have teams racing their boats to test their durability! Nothing says problem-solving like having to make sure you don’t sink into the water!

egg drop is a great team building problem solving activity

Every day at work, you’re forced to make countless decisions – whether they’re massively important or so small you barely think about them.  

But your ability to effectively make decisions is critical in solving problems quickly and effectively.  

With a classic team building problem solving activity like the Egg Drop, that’s exactly what your team will learn to do. 

For this activity, you’ll need some eggs, construction materials, and a place you wouldn’t mind smashing getting dirty with eggshells and yolks.  

The goal of this activity is to create a contraption that will encase an egg and protect it from a fall – whether it’s from standing height or the top of a building. But the challenge is that you and your team will only have a short amount of time to build it before it’s time to test it out, so you’ll have to think quickly! 

To make it even more challenging, you’ll have to build the casing using only simple materials like: 

  • Newspapers 
  • Plastic wrap
  • Rubber bands
  • Popsicle sticks
  • Cotton balls

Feel free to have some fun in picking the materials. Use whatever you think would be helpful without making things too easy! 

Give your group 15 minutes to construct their egg casing before each team drops their eggs. If multiple eggs survive, increase the height gradually to see whose created the sturdiest contraption.  

If you’re not comfortable with the idea of using eggs for this activity, consider using another breakable alternative, such as lightbulbs for a vegan Egg Drop experience. 

solving a crime is a great way to practice problem solving skills

With Clue Murder Mystery, your team will need to solve the murder of a man named Neil Davidson by figuring out who had the means, motive, and opportunity to commit the crime.

But it won’t be easy! You’ll need to exercise your best problem-solving skills and channel your inner detectives if you want to keep this case from going cold and to get justice for the victim.

do a spaghetti tower for team building problem solving activity

Collaboration is critical to problem solving. 

Why? Because, as the old saying goes, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This expression reflects the fact that people are capable of achieving greater things when they work together to do so. 

If you’re looking for a team building problem solving activity that helps boost collaboration, you’ll love Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower.  

This game involves working in teams to build the tallest possible freestanding tower using only marshmallows, uncooked spaghetti, tape, and string.  

The kicker? This all has to be done within an allotted timeframe. We recommend about thirty minutes.  

For an added dimension of challenge, try adding a marshmallow to the top of the tower to make it a little more top heavy.  

Whichever team has the highest tower when time runs out is the winner! 

corporate escape rooms are unique team building problem solving activities

If you’ve never participated in an escape room, your team is missing out! It’s one of the most effective team building problem solving activities out there because it puts you and your colleagues in a scenario where the only way out is collaboratively solving puzzles and deciphering clues.  

The principle is simple: lock your group in a room, hide the key somewhere in that room, and have them work through challenges within a set time frame. Each challenge will lead them one step closer to finding the key and, ultimately, their escape.    

At Outback, we offer “done-for-you” escape rooms where we’ll transform your office or meeting room so you don’t have to worry about:

  • Seeking transportation for your team 
  • Capacity of the escape rooms  
  • High costs 
  • Excessive planning  

That way, you and your team can simply step inside and get to work collaborating, using creative problem solving, and thinking outside the box.   

wild goose chase is a great scavenger hunt problem solving team building activity for work

In this smartphone-based scavenger hunt team building activity , your group will split into teams and complete fun challenges by taking photos and videos around the city. Some examples of challenges you can do in this activity are:

  • Parkour:  Take a picture of three team members jumping over an object that’s at least waist-high.
  • Beautiful Mind:  Snap a photo of a team member proving a well-known mathematical theorem on a chalkboard.
  • Puppy Love:  Take a photo of all of your team members petting a stranger’s dog at the same time.

It takes a ton of critical thinking and problem-solving to be crowned the Wild Goose Chase Champions!

your teammates will love lost at sea team building activity

Can you imagine a higher-pressure situation than being stranded at sea in a lifeboat with your colleagues? 

With this team building problem solving activity, that’s exactly the situation you and your group will put yourselves. But by the time the activity is over, you’ll have gained more experience with the idea of having to solve problems under pressure – a common but difficult thing to do. 

Here’s how it works. 

Each team member will get a six-columned chart where: 

  • The first column lists the survival items each team has on hand (see the list below) 
  • The second column is empty so that each team member can rank the items in order of importance for survival  
  • The third column is for group rankings  
  • The fourth column is for the “correct” rankings, which are revealed at the end of the activity 
  • The fifth and sixth columns are for the team to enter thee difference between their individual and correct scores and the team and correct rankings 

Within this activity, each team will be equipped with the following “survival items,” listed below in order of importance, as well as a pack of matches:  

  • A shaving mirror (this can be used to signal passing ships using the sun) 
  • A can of gas (could be used for signaling as it could be put in the water and lit with the pack of matches) 
  • A water container (for collecting water to re-hydrate) 
  • Emergency food rations (critical survival food) 
  • One plastic sheet (can be helpful for shelter or to collect rainwater) 
  • Chocolate bars (another food supply) 
  • Fishing rods (helpful, but no guarantee of catching food) 
  • Rope (can be handy, but not necessarily essential for survival) 
  • A floating seat cushion (usable as a life preserver)  
  • Shark repellant (could be important when in the water) 
  • A bottle of rum (could be useful for cleaning wounds) 
  • A radio (could be very helpful but there’s a good chance you’re out of range) 
  • A sea chart (this is worthless without navigation equipment) 
  • A mosquito net (unless you’ve been shipwrecked somewhere with a ton of mosquitos, this isn’t very useful) 

To get the activity underway, divide your group into teams of five and ask each team member to take ten minutes on their own to rank the items in order of importance in the respective column. Then, give the full team ten minutes as a group to discuss their individual rankings together and take group rankings, listed in that respective column. Ask each group to compare their individual rankings with those of the group as a whole. 

Finally, read out the correct order according to the US Coast Guard, listed above.  

The goal of this activity is for everyone to be heard and to come to a decision together about what they need most to survive.  

If your team works remotely, you can also do this activity online. Using a video conferencing tool like  Zoom , you can bring your group together and separate teams into “break-out rooms” where they’ll take their time individually and then regroup together. At the end, you can bring them back to the full video conference to go through the answers together. 

colleagues thinking outside the box with a domino effect challenge team building problem solving activity

Many problems are intricately complex and involve a ton of moving parts. And in order to solve this type of problem, you need to be able to examine it systematically, one piece at a time.  

Especially in the business world, many problems or challenges involve multiple different teams or departments working through their respective portions of a problem before coming together in the end to create a holistic solution. 

As you can imagine, this is often easier said than done. And that’s why it’s so important to practice this ability.  

With a collaborative team building problem solving activity like Domino Effect Challenge, that’s exactly what you’ll need to do as you and your group work to create a massive, fully functional chain reaction machine. 

Here’s how it goes. 

Your group will break up into teams, with each team working to complete their own section of a massive “Rube Goldberg” machine. Then, all teams will regroup and assemble the entire machine together. You’ll need to exercise communication, collaboration, and on-the-fly problem solving in order to make your chain reaction machine go off without a hitch from start to finish. 

reverse pyramid is a team building activity that makes colleagues think about problems in new ways

Being a great problem-solver means being adaptable and creative. And if you’re looking for a quick and easy team building problem solving activity, you’ll love the reverse pyramid. 

The idea here is simple: break your group out into small teams and then stand in the form of a pyramid.  

Your challenge is to flip the base and the peak of the pyramid – but you can only move three people in order to do so.  

Alternatively, rather than doing this activity with people as the pyramid, you can do another version –  the Pyramid Build  – using plastic cups instead.   

This version is a little bit different. Rather than flipping the base of a pyramid to the top, you’ll need to build the pyramid instead–but in reverse, starting from the top cup and working down. 

With this version, you’ll need 36 cups and one table per group. We recommend groups of five to seven people. Give your group 20 to 30 minutes to complete the activity. 

To get started, place one cup face down. Then, lift that cup and place the subsequent two cups underneath it. 

The real challenge here? You can only lift your pyramid by the bottom row in order to put a new row underneath – and only one person at a time can do the lifting. The remaining group members will need to act quickly and work together in order to add the next row so that it will balance the rest of the pyramid. 

If any part of your pyramid falls, you’ll need to start over. Whichever team has the most complete pyramid when time runs out will be the winner!  

solving a crime is a great way for team members to use problem solving skills

The value of being able to approach problems analytically can’t be overstated. Because when problems arise, the best way to solve them is by examining the facts and making a decision based on what you know. 

With CI: The Crime Investigators, this is exactly what your team will be called upon to do as you put your detective’s hats on and work to solve a deadly crime. 

You’ll be presented with evidence and need to uncover and decipher clues. And using only the information at your disposal, you’ll need to examine the facts in order to crack the case. 

Like many of our team building problem solving activities, CI: The Crime Investigators is available in a hosted format, which can take place at your office or an outside venue, as well as a virtually-hosted format that uses video conferencing tools, or a self-hosted version that you can run entirely on your own.  

team pursuit team building is great for problem solving skills

Each member of your team has their own unique strengths and skills. And by learning to combine those skills, you can overcome any challenge and solve any problem. With Team Pursuit, you and your team together to tackle challenges as you learn new things about one another, discover your hidden talents, and learn to rely on each other.

This team building problem solving activity is perfect for high-energy groups that love to put their heads together and work strategically to solve problems as a group.

colleagues doing a virtual team building problem solving activity

If you and your team are working remotely, don’t worry. You still have a ton of great virtual team building problem solving options at your disposal.

virtual escape room mummys curse

In this virtual escape room experience, your team will be transported into a pyramid cursed by a restless mummy. You’ll have to work together to uncover clues and solve complex challenges to lift the ancient curse.

team members doing a fun virtual clue murder mystery

You’ve probably never heard of a man named Neil Davidson. But your group will need to come together to solve the mystery of his murder by analyzing clues, resolving challenges, and figuring out who had the means, motive, and opportunity to commit a deadly crime. 

This activity will challenge you and your group to approach problems analytically, read between the lines, and use critical thinking in order to identify a suspect and deliver justice.  

escape rooms are fun and unique team building problem solving activities

If you and your team like brainteasers, then Virtual Escape Room: Jewel Heist will be a big hit.  

Here’s the backstory.

There’s been a robbery. Someone has masterminded a heist to steal a priceless collection of precious jewels, and it’s up to you and your team to recover them before time runs out.

Together, you’ll need to uncover hidden clues and solve a series of brain-boggling challenges that require collaboration, creative problem-solving, and outside-the-box thinking. But be quick! The clock is ticking before the stolen score is gone forever.

try virtual code break as a way to use problem solving skills with teammates

With Virtual Code Break, you and your team can learn to be adaptive and dynamic in your thinking in order to tackle any new challenges that come your way. In this activity, your group will connect on a video conferencing platform where your event host will split you out into teams. Together, you’ll have to adapt your problem-solving skills as you race against the clock to tackle a variety of mixed brainteaser challenges ranging from Sudoku to puzzles, a game of Cranium, riddles, and even trivia. 

Curious to see how a virtual team building activity works? Check out this video on a Virtual Clue Murder Mystery in action. 

trivia is a great problem solving activity for colleagues

Step into the Outback Time Machine and take a trip through time, from pre-pandemic 21st century through the decades all the way to the 60’s. 

This exciting, fast-paced virtual trivia game, packed with nostalgia and good vibes, is guaranteed to produce big laughs, friendly competition, and maybe even some chair-dancing. 

Your virtual game show host will warm up guests with a couple of “table hopper rounds” (breakout room mixers) and split you out into teams. Within minutes, your home office will be transformed into a game show stage with your very own game show buzzers! 

And if your team loves trivia, check out our list of the most incredible virtual trivia games for work teams for even more ideas.

6.  Virtual Jeoparty Social

Virtual Jeoparty Social is a fun high energy virtual team building activity

If your remote team is eager to socialize, have some fun as a group, and channel their competitive spirit, we’ve got just the thing for you! With Virtual Jeoparty Social, you and your colleagues will step into your very own virtual Jeopardy-style game show—equipped with a buzzer button, a professional actor as your host, and an immersive game show platform! Best of all, this game has been infused with an ultra-social twist: players will take part in a unique social mixer challenge between each round. 

With the right team building problem solving activities, you can help your team sharpen their core skills to ensure they’re prepared when they inevitably face a challenge at work. And best of all, you can have fun in the process. 

Do you have any favorite team building activities for building problem-solving skills? If so, tell us about them in the comments section below! 

Learn More About Team Building Problem Solving Activities  

For more information about how your group can take part in a virtual team building, training, or coaching solution, reach out to our Employee Engagement Consultants.     

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Creative games and exercises to spur creativity in the workplace

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Think that only traditionally creative roles like artist, designer, and writer benefit from using creativity in the workplace? Think again! Innovation, growth, and change are powered by creative thinkers throughout an organization, whatever their role. Using creative games, creativity exercises, and brainstorming can help you shift perspectives, try new things, become more open-minded, and free any creative blocks too!

If you’re feeling a lack of creativity in the workplace or want to find new ways of thinking creatively as a team, the creative activities and group exercises below are a great way to jumpstart your creative process while also having fun and building better team connections. 

It’s so easy to get bogged down in the stress and admin of your job and lose sight of how you might do things differently or find joy in the tasks you complete or the company you share at work. We’ve put together this collection of creative games in the hope they help you and your team find ways to be more creative!

Let’s dive in! 

Creative games for getting to know others

Creative games for generating new ideas, exercises to support creativity at work, creative activities to improve team connections, creative exercises for radical planning, creativity exercises to promote reframing and metaphorical thinking.

  • Rules and frameworks to spark and guide creativity

Why is creativity in the workplace important? 

Finding space to introduce more creativity into the workplace yields benefits for both organizations and individuals . Not only can it improve outcomes and create innovation, but it can help managers and employees communicate more effectively and improve job satisfaction too. 

Remember that creativity is not the sole preserve of more traditionally creative roles like designer or writer. Being a more creative problem solver and able to bring a creative approach into your day-to-day work is vital for everyone – whether you are a developer, support agent, manager, or something else entirely! 

It’s worth mentioning that creative thinking and creativity in general doesn’t just mean being able to draw, paint or write. Being a creative thinker means being able to see things from different perspectives and try new and creative approaches to solving problems, generating ideas and working with others . You can apply a creative approach to most tasks, challenges and roles and see better outcomes as a result. 

Interested in seeing ways to improve your creative thinking skills and see examples of how creative thinking has helped us solve challenges? Check out our collection of 19 creative thinking skills and how to use them ! 

In the following sections, w e’ll explore creative games and creativity exercises you can use when generating new ideas, breaking the ice or warming up a group, and many more workplace scenarios . By using these creative thinking techniques and methods as a team, you can find more creative solutions and have fun too. Let’s get started!

Breaking the ice in a team meeting with creative games or approaches is a great way of enabling a group to bring themselves more fully to the meeting while also having fun. Kicking things off creatively is also a great way to warm everyone up and pave the way for further creativity, whether you’re trying to find new solutions, solve problems or effectively collaborate.

Try some of these creative games for getting to know each other the next time you bring a team together and let us know how they went in the comments!

3 Question Mingle

  • The Time Machine

Doodling Together

Break the ice with the four quadrants activity.

  • Build a Shake  

Being creative often means finding ways to express your interests openly and clearly. When first getting to know others, finding ways to bring yourself more fully into the conversation can help break down barriers while also improving communication and understanding. 

With 3 Question Mingle, participants are invited to create three questions they would like to ask other members of a group. Invite them to be as creative, thoughtful, and curious as they would like. By creating space for more self-initiated and personalized communication, participants can take ownership of the getting to know you process while being creative.  

3 Question Mingle   #hyperisland   #team   #get-to-know   An activity to support a group to get to know each other through a set of questions that they create themselves. The activity gets participants moving around and meeting each other one-on-one. It’s useful in the early stages of team development and/or for groups to reconnect with each other after a period of time apart.

The Time Machine  

For some groups, traditional ways of getting to know each other can be awkward or forced. Avoid these potential stumbling blocks by inviting a group to be creative in their initial exchanges with an activity like The Time Machine. 

In this creative game, ask participants to share where they would like to time travel to, who they might like to meet and whether they would just want to visit or stay. By using a clear framework with scope for creativity, you can enable a group to communicate easily while also bringing themselves into the conversation. 

The Time Machine   #get-to-know   #ice breaker   #remote-friendly   Encourage creative thinking and getting to know each other better with a short round of ‘time travel’ questions to each of your participants.

Drawing, collaboration, and creativity go hand-in-hand. In this creativity exercise, invite the group to first draw a shape on a postcard or piece of paper before then passing it on. The next person then makes a person, animal or object from the shape before passing it on again. After several rounds of iteration, the postcard grows collaboratively from a single shape into a finished product. The results of this game are often amusing, varied and creative, and it’s a great way to help a group connect and build creative confidence too! 

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

Sharing something of ourselves within a safe, supportive framework can be transformative when it comes to getting to know others. Magic Box is a creative game that is especially good for groups that might contain introverts as well as extroverts. Start by creating a box full of objects (virtual works fine too!) and invite a group to pick an object from the box without thinking too much about it. Next, each person shares with the group who they are, why they’ve chosen the object and what they think the connection between the object and the workshop might be. 

Finding ways for everyone in a group to contribute safely and also bring some of their personality into the workshop space can be hugely generative at the start of a creative process. Give it a go!  

Magic Box   #team   #ice breaker   #get-to-know   #teambuilding   #remote-friendly   Ice breaking at the beginning of the workshop/meeting

Quotes  

Looking to others for inspiration is a key aspect of thinking creatively. This creative icebreaker helps a group tap into existing wisdom while also helping them get to know one another. 

Start by assembling a collection of quotations prior to a session and inviting each member of the group to select a quote from the pile. Participants then pair up and discuss what the quote means to them, whether it is meaningful and what thoughts it brings up. Having a ready-made talking point not only makes the getting to know you process easier but it also creates a framework for deeper and more creative thinking.  

Quotes   #ice breaker   #energiser   #online   #warm up   #remote-friendly   For participants to get acquainted with each other in a meaningful way

Creative exercises often work best with a simple, easy to follow framework that allows for self-expression. This icebreaker activity is a proven way to help a team get acquainted and spur creativity too! 

Start by having participants divide a piece of paper or online canvas into four sections. Ask the group to then draw a response to four questions in each section without using text. By having to draw an answer to each question and then invite the group to interpret and debrief together, this activity helps promote visual thinking and self expression too!

Break the Ice with The Four Quadrants Activity   #team   #icebreaker   #get-to-know   #teambuilding   The Four Quadrants is a tried and true team building activity to break the ice with a group or team. It is EASY to prep for and set up. It can be MODIFIED to work with any group and/or topic (just change the questions). It is FUN, COLORFUL and VISUAL.

Build a Shake

Combining creativity with physical activity is a great way to get to know people. Not only is it engaging and fun, but it promotes a different approach than visual or written responses that can work well for certain groups. In this creative game, have the group break out into pairs and create a two-step handshake – encourage them to be as wild and creative as they like. 

Once everyone has practiced, have everyone find a new partner and decide which shake to add additional steps to. Socially distancing or working remotely? Try creating a sequence of hand signals instead. Having rules or restrictions in place can actually create more creative responses! 

Build-a-Shake   #teampedia   #energiser   #get-to-know   #opening   #team   How to introduce yourself in a fun, creative way? Build a handshake!

One of the most common forms of using creativity at work is when it comes to brainstorming and finding new ideas. Whether it’s using games that draw on traditional creative skills like drawing, exercises that challenge you to think outside the box, or simply creating space for fast ideation, these creative exercises are a great way to kickstart any brainstorming session. What’s more, you’ll find that engaging with creative exercises can help everyone apply more creative approaches elsewhere after the session. Let’s take a look!

Bad Idea Brainstorm

The paper clip method.

  • Apple Drawing Ideation

One Word Method

Mash up innovation, cover story, walking brainstorm.

What better way to start a section on creative brainstorming than with a creativity exercise that turns the process on its head? With Bad Idea Brainstorm, start by writing the problem you are trying to solve on a post-it or inside a virtual whiteboard. Then, invite the group to come up with the worst possible ways to handle the problem. 

Afterwards, share and reflect before trying to remix or reverse some of the bad ideas into good ones. By approaching the challenge in this way, you can fire-up a group’s creative muscles and generate some laughter too!  

Bad Idea Brainstorm   #brainstorming   #creative thinking   #idea generation   Name all the bad ideas to make room for good ones. Coming up with the perfect solution right off the bat can feel paralyzing. So instead of trying to find the right answer, get unstuck by listing all the wrong ones.

Creative games that challenge a group to think of new and alternative uses for existing items can be an effective way to catalyse creative thinking. With The Paper Clip method, task participants come up with as many different uses for the humble paper clip as they can in a short amount of time. This creativity exercise is a great warm-up before a more focused brainstorming activity but can also be used as a standalone exercise to show the value of quick ideation and alternative thinking – all hallmarks of creativity! 

The paper clip method   #sharing   #creativity   #warm up   #idea generation   #brainstorming   The power of brainstorming. A training for project leaders, creativity training, and to catalyse getting new solutions.

Apple Drawing Ideation 

Part of promoting creativity in the workplace is acknowledging that different approaches work for different people. For a more relaxed, image-based variation on some of the concepts of The Paper Clip method, why not try this creative drawing exercise?

In Apple Drawing Ideation, task participants split into groups and take it in turns to fill a grid with 30 different pictures of apples. By mindfully reflecting on the process, you can highlight some key creative thinking concepts: that quantity is a condition for quality; building on the ideas of others is necessary and useful; the ideas we come up with are often similar. 

Apple-Drawing Ideation   #hyperisland   #innovation   #idea generation   The purpose of this simple exercise is to demonstrate three key principles useful for creativity and idea generation: quantity is a condition for quality; building on the ideas of others; the ideas we come up with are usually all the same. The format is simple, with small groups standing and drawing apples. At the end of the exercise, the whole group reflects and draws out learnings and reflections.

Simplicity is often a key element of starting people on the path towards being more creative at work. By removing the pressure or barriers to entry, creative games like One Word Method are great for enabling a group of people to engage creatively.

Start by posing a central topic or challenge and ask the first person in the group to respond to the topic with just one word. The next person then adds a second word with the goal of forming a sentence. Not only can this game be a fun, creative warm-up, it can also help a group stretch some key creative muscles and see how important effective collaboration is to any process.

One Word Method   #product development   #idea generation   #creativity   #ice breaker   #online   #warm up   Creating a sentence relating to a specific topic or problem with each person contributing one word at a time.

Some of the best ideas come from combining unlikely elements. In this creative activity, tap into the potential of unexpected combinations and rapid ideation for fun and creative results! Begin by asking the group to brainstorm on three different areas such as technologies, needs, existing services and add all the ideas to a whiteboard. Next, have everyone combine two of the ideas to form a new concept at speed. 

By combining ideas in this way, exciting and unexpected new concepts can be born very quickly and creatively. Be sure to debrief afterwards so you can help cement the learnings of this creative game into something the group can carry forward into future projects!

Mash-Up Innovation   #hyperisland   #innovation   #idea generation   Mash-ups is a collaborative idea generation method in which participants come up with innovative concepts by combining different elements together. In a first step, participants brainstorm around different areas, such as technologies, human needs, and existing services. In a second step, they rapidly combine elements from those areas to create new, fun and innovative concepts. Mash-ups demonstrates how fast and easy it can be to come up with innovative ideas.

Speculating about what the future might hold and combining words and images are two classic methods of creative expression. With this creative game, invite your group to tap into this fertile creative ground by first imagining an expansive and ideal future state for your organisation. Next, split into sub teams that each create a cover page for a magazine based on your achieving this future state, complete with quotes, images and a headline too! By running this exercise with multiple groups you can not only share different perspectives but find common ground and places for further creative exploration!

Cover Story   #gamestorming   #idea generation   #organizational development   #vision   #strategy   Cover Story is a game about pure imagination. The purpose is to think expansively around an ideal future state for the organization; it’s an exercise in visioning. The object of the game is to suspend all disbelief and envision a future state that is so stellar that it landed your organization on the cover of a well-known magazine

High intensity creative games can be an effective way to find new perspectives and generate lots of ideas, but they’re not for everyone! Finding time and space for reflection, observation and a quieter approach to building on one another’s ideas is an alternative approach that really works. 

Start by creating a large live or virtual space for people to place their ideas and invite them to silently brainstorm responses to a central challenge or topic. Next, invite each team member to walk around the room or virtual space and add additional ideas, responses or post-its to everyone else’s sections. Remember to use a “yes, and” approach to help people try and build on ideas, rather than point out weakness and you’ll help create a reflective, generative atmosphere for ideation!     

Walking Brainstorm   #brainstorming   #idea generation   #remote-friendly   This introvert-friendly brainstorming technique helps groups of any size to generate and build on each other’s ideas in a silent but dynamic setting. As the participants keep moving, the exercise is ideal to kick-off a full day workshop or re-energize the group after lunch.

Creativity without direction or support can sometimes lead to ineffective outcomes. While it’s important to be creatively free at work, particularly during the early brainstorming stages, it’s also worth acknowledging that being creative alone is not enough. These exercises and activities can help support creativity through fast, effective research, task management, and more.

Rapid Research

Lightning demos, stakeholder round robin brainstorm.

  • Simple Ethnography
  • Walking Questions

I Notice, I Wonder

Maintaining creative energy while also sourcing alternative viewpoints and gathering research can be a tricky balance to maintain. Rapid Research is a simple exercise that invites group members to quickly contact a co worker or other party outside of the workshop and solicit input on a creative problem, challenge or product they are working on. Not only can this input be surprisingly useful but doing so in this format means the group can see the benefit of sourcing opinions quickly and without breaking creative flow.

Rapid Research   #hyperisland   #innovation   #idea generation   A simple exercise that complements exploratory, discursive, and creative workshops with insights and opinions from outside. Use this exercise when brainstorming ideas, developing a new product or service or creating a strategy or plan that will include others. Participants phone a co-worker and ask them questions relevant to the task. This quickly generates meaningful input from a range of “outside” perspectives. Often, participants will be surprised at how simple it was to solicit this input and how valuable it is to the process.

Looking to others for inspiration is a great way of supercharging your creativity and most of the challenges you and your organisation face will not be unique. By looking to see how other individuals and teams have solved similar difficulties, you can explore ways of thinking which may not have occurred to you and use the research to creatively inform how you approach problem solving. Lightning Demos adds the additional wrinkle of presenting inspirations in a timeboxed fashion, asking you to both critically and creatively present what you have learned.   

Lightning Demos   #design sprint   #innovation   #idea generation   This is an exercise to inspire your team with products or services that they think they can use as inspiration for their concepts in the next phases of their design sprints.

When in full creative swing, it can be easy to lose sight of opinions and experiences outside of your own. Any creative process can benefit from the insight and knowledge of other groups, particularly if the solution or challenges touches many departments or disciplines. 

With this activity, create a separate flipchart for each different stakeholder perspective and invite someone from that group to brainstorm responses to your central question. Rotate between flipcharts to help a group understand a problem from the perspective of others before then inviting them to build on those ideas. The end result is a growth in understanding and a multifaceted response to the challenge you face – great for improving creativity in the workplace! 

Stakeholder Round Robin Brainstorm   #idea generation   #brainstorming   #perspectives   #remote-friendly   #online   A divergent process to generate ideas and understanding from different perspectives.

Simple Ethnography  

First-hand experience is always valuable when trying to creatively solve any problem or challenge. If you or your group is lacking perspective or needs additional user feedback in order to move forward with a project, this activity is a great way to support the process. 

Start by inviting your group to immerse themselves in the company of those with experiences relevant to the challenge being faced. Ask your group to observe and interact with your target group using the simple ethnography framework and collect their findings. By gaining insights and debriefing on what was learned, your group can better inform any project or creative process with quality data and learnings. 

Simple Ethnography   #innovation   #issue analysis   #liberating structures   You can enable participants to find novel approaches to challenges by immersing themselves in the activities of the people with local experience—often their colleagues on the front line or anyone who uses their product or service. You open the door to change and innovation by helping participants explore what people actually do and feel in creating, delivering, or using their offering. Their observations and experience can spur rapid performance improvements and expedite prototype development. The combined observations may make it easy to spot important patterns.

Walking Questions  

All teams are a bastion of knowledge and insight that doesn’t always surface. Some workshop formats, working practices or personality types aren’t great conditions for everyone and so finding a low-impact way to share knowledge and best practices can help everyone contribute and share knowledge in a way that works for them. 

In this exercise, have each person write a question they would like answered on the top of a sheet of paper. Pass this to the next person, who writes an answer to the question alongside their name. By passing these papers between the group, you can crowdsource different opinions and skill sets on a problem swiftly and effectively, with scope for followup if necessary. A great way to kick-off a creative process on the right foot! 

Walking questions   #what if learning style   #idea generation   #learning   This is a great facilitation technique to answer open questions of trainees with a “What if” learning style. It prevents the facilitator from answering all questions herself. With this method trainees can:  close knowledge gaps find solutions for personal problems imagine themselves using their new knowledge in future and prepare themselves for obstacles

Sometimes the best thing you can do to help solve a creative challenge is to give it some space and take time to reflect in a new setting. With this exercise, participants are invited to go to a busy place that resonates with the design challenge and sit quietly for thirty minutes and observe. They then write down those things that stick out as things they notice and then add a thought or curiosity that comes up too. By closely observing others and reflecting on what stood out and what curiosites this raised, your group can then bring any learnings back to their practice and find further places for investigation. 

I notice, I wonder   #design   #observation   #empathy   #issue analysis   Learn through careful observation. Observation and intuition are critical design tools. This exercise helps you leverage both. Find clues about the context you’re designing for that may be hidden in plain sight.

As children, we’re often invited to work on creative things in an effort to connect with others, share an experience and grow. This is no different for adults! Coming together around a creative premise or with an activity designed to help us think creatively is a great way to improve teamwork and help build a sense of togetherness. Try these creative activities to help a group think more creatively and communicate more effectively too! 

Open Questions Role Play

Blind drawing, paper telephone, marshmallow challenge.

  • Who are you? The Pirate Ship Exercise

Lego Challenge

Telling our stories.

Active listening and effective communication are both key creative thinking skills, and role-playing games such as this one are highly effective in promoting these skills. In Open Questions Role Play, a group is invited to ask open questions based that must contain a word from the previous response.

For example, if the volunteer’s first comment was that they saw a squirrel on the way to the workshops, the next question must reference the squirrel but also be open in nature. By following this game through multiple rounds, participants not only learn to creatively respond to what is being said, but must also learn to better listen and think about how they are communicating with others.  

Open Questions – Role Play   #communication   #skills   #active listening   An extract from Rudyard Kipling’s poem in “The Elephant’s Child” literally OPENS up  opportunities to practice a key skill as part of a communication skills course as well  as allied skills in active listening and observation.

Being able to effectively articulate what we’re thinking while also being able to interpret what others are saying is a crucial skill for effective communication and when collaborating creatively with others. In this creative activity, one person in a pair or small group must describe an object without revealing what it is.

For example, they might describe a tree but aim not to directly give away that it is a tree. The rest of the group must interpret what is being said and draw what they think it is. Not only can this creative game be fun and challenging but it can help impart the importance of clear, effective communication when collaborating, particularly on creative projects!  

Blind Drawing   #teambuilding   #communication   #creative thinking   #remote-friendly   Test your communication and interpretation skills with Blind Drawing!

A great team activity based on a classic party game, Paper Telephone is a fun, effective creative game that generates laughs as well as creativity. Start by having each participant sit in a circle and write a sentence on a piece of paper. They then pass the paper to the next person who has to create a visual representation of the sentence. This image is then passed on to the next person who has to write a new sentence based on the image. Repeat until the stack of images and sentences returns to the original writer and share the results. 

You’ll find the results of this creative game often vary wildly from the original source and spur laughter while also demonstrating the importance of clarity, creativity and different ways of thinking. 

Paper Telephone   #teampedia   #ice breaker   #creativity   #team   #action   Paper Telephone is a mix of two methods, “Telephone” and “Pictionary”. It is a creative game aiming to fasten the get-to-know each other phase of the team while having a good time.

Our first response to a question isn’t always the best one. Being asked to further clarify, add depth or respond further can bring up more creative, useful responses and bring us closer to more impactful learnings. From another perspective, learning to listen to what has been said and ask further questions in a way that is mutually useful is another important creative skill. 

With this creative communication game, you can do both! Invite a group to start with a simple question and ask why questions again and again until the deepest, most fundamental point of the topic is reached. You’ll be surprised by how much deeper a conversation can go with the right approach and how much information might otherwise stay buried!  

Nine Whys   #innovation   #issue analysis   #liberating structures   With breathtaking simplicity, you can rapidly clarify for individuals and a group what is essentially important in their work. You can quickly reveal when a compelling purpose is missing in a gathering and avoid moving forward without clarity. When a group discovers an unambiguous shared purpose, more freedom and more responsibility are unleashed. You have laid the foundation for spreading and scaling innovations with fidelity.

Team games that invite creative solutions are great for bringing a group together in a common purpose while also inspiring new ways of thinking. If the activity also happens to be fun, even better!

Marshmallow Challenge is a creative game for small groups that challenges teams to build the tallest freestanding structure they can with a limited assortment of materials. By being asked to come up with a creative solution and explore them as a team, your groups will need to exercise many key creative skills in a short period of time – great for improving creative thinking and team building too! 

Marshmallow Challenge   #hyperisland   #team   A team-building activity in which teams must compete to build the tallest free-standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow. It emphasizes group communication, leadership dynamics, collaboration, innovation and problem solving strategy. The Marshmallow Challenge was developed by Tom Wujec, who has done the activity with hundreds of groups around the world. Visit the Marshmallow Challenge website for more information.

Who Are You? The Pirate Ship Exercise

Reflecting on our roles within a team through a creative lens can be an especially engaging way to improve group dynamics. Our idea of who we are and how we fit within a team might not match with how other people see us. With this creative exercise, ask your participants to look at the image of the pirate ship and explain who they believe they are on the boat and why. By defining ourselves within a creative context, we can consider our roles from a new perspective and reflect more openly on what we bring to a team currently and what more we could do in the future.

Who are you? The pirate ship exercise (dinámica del barco pirata)   #team alignment   #team   #remote-friendly   #teamwork   #warm up   #icebreaker   This an easy but powerful exercise to open a meeting or session and get participants to reflect on their attitudes or feelings about a topic, in the organization, team, or in the project.

Complex projects with lots of moving parts and stakeholders from different departments benefit massively from creative thinking. Balancing individual and group needs with those of a larger organisation is often a difficult act to get right. With Lego Challenge, small groups are tasked with co-creating a structure as a team while also aiming to fulfill a secret assignment known only to them. This activity is great for helping a group learn how to balance needs more effectively while finding creative solutions in a collaborative space. Also, it has 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.

Whether it’s to a group of friends at work, or to our families around the dinner table, storytelling is a creative skill that most of us use every day. Leverage this natural inclination to tell stories with this creative technique in order to build trust, promote openness and help everyone in a group bring themselves into work. 

Start by asking participants to individually answer questions relating to childhood, young adulthood and now before turning them into a story to share with the group. Thinking creatively about how to create a narrative from the raw material of our lives and present it to a group can be emotionally gratifying while also helping bring a group together. 

Telling Our Stories   #hyperisland   #team   #teambuilding   To work effectively together team members need to build relations, show trust, and be open with each other. This method supports those things through a process of structured storytelling. Team members answer questions related to their childhood, young adulthood, and now; then weave them into a story to share with the rest of their team.

A common misconception of planning and organization is that it is a purely administrative process with no scope or need for creative thinking. When it comes to balancing budgets, planning with agile or lean thinking methodologies, being a creative thinker who can explore alternatives while still seeing the bigger picture can help create faster, more successful outcomes. Radical planning is a means to reconsider how you might approach your work and is a great way of bringing creativity meaningfully into your day-to-day working practices. 

  • 15% Solutions

Backcasting

Future mapping, gap analysis, making space with triz, 15% solutions  .

One of the major benefits of radical planning is being free to find quick, easy-to-implement solutions and try them out. Making immediate changes in a small, test environment can help generate solutions, save time and empower a group to make an impact. 

15% Solutions is a creative exercise that invites a team to reconsider where they can make an impact at their own discretion and without needing too many additional resources. By discovering where they might be able to find an extra 15% and create bottom-up solutions, you can really help a group bring creative thinking into their work.

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.

A simple and effective way to reframe the planning process is by starting not from the beginning state but instead, working backwards from the desired goal. We can often find it difficult to know where to begin when planning complex projects, particularly if the end result is ill-defined. 

With this creative thinking activity, a simple reorganization of the normal planning process helps your team see a process more clearly and think methodically about all the steps involved and how best to achieve them. Try this creative planning method if you’re finding more traditional approaches leave you stuck or you think your team is getting lost along the way! 

Backcasting   #define intentions   #create   #design   #action   Backcasting is a method for planning the actions necessary to reach desired future goals. This method is often applied in a workshop format with stakeholders participating. To be used when a future goal (even if it is vague) has been identified.

Effectively imagining the future often means successfully analyzing trends past and present, and identifying patterns that might inform any creative planning process. Future Mapping is a great method for supporting creative thinking and can help develop a shared understanding among the group too. 

Start by asking participants to review key trends from last year and this year ahead of forecasting trends and patterns for three years into the future. By then reflecting both as groups and individuals, your team can identify what patterns and trends might be most important both personally and professionally in the future and then build creative strategies and plan around them too. 

Future Mapping   #hyperisland   #innovation   The purpose of Future Map is to create a shared view of industry trends in the recent past, present, and future. In the workshop, participants map key trends from the past year, the current year, and three years ahead. They then review the map, identify patterns and discuss the relevance of different trends. It is useful for supporting discussion and debate around high-level themes: society, technology, politics, etc.

Effective planning is often about correctly identifying what can help you reach a desired goal and assigning tasks to help your team reach that goal. With this creative thinking technique, your team will explicitly consider the gap between your desired future state and current position and brainstorm all the things that contribute to creating the gap between your current and desired positions.

By reframing the process to focus first on what the potential gaps might be before then figuring out how to resolve each of them, your team can proactively move towards the desired state and plan more effectively.  

Gap Analysis   #project planning   #reflection   #planning   ##project review   ##problem solving   #online   Determine the gap between the present situation and a desired future state

Some planning processes can be hampered by what we might assume is the right way to proceed. When organizations develop tried and tested ways of working, habits that might actually harm creativity or the efficacy of the project can emerge.

Making Space with TRIZ is a creative thinking activity that empowers a group to challenge accepted ways of doing things and create space to come up with new, better ways of working. Start by asking a group to consider what we must do in order to achieve a terrible result can surface problematic items that can then be challenged and turned into more productive methods.

This kind of creative reframing or your working processes can be instrumental in helping a team plan more effectively and also create an effective space to challenge norms and solve deeper organizational problems .

Making Space with TRIZ   #issue analysis   #liberating structures   #issue resolution   You can clear space for innovation by helping a group let go of what it knows (but rarely admits) limits its success and by inviting creative destruction. TRIZ makes it possible to challenge sacred cows safely and encourages heretical thinking. The question “What must we stop doing to make progress on our deepest purpose?” induces seriously fun yet very courageous conversations. Since laughter often erupts, issues that are otherwise taboo get a chance to be aired and confronted. With creative destruction come opportunities for renewal as local action and innovation rush in to fill the vacuum. Whoosh!

Approaching problem solving or ideation in a new way or from a fresh perspective is a hallmark creative skill. It’s not always easy to bring this kind of creative thinking into the workplace, and so creative games that can help us tap into metaphorical or perspective-shifting frames of mind can be especially helpful.

By helping us change our approach or perspective, these activities can pave the way for innovation and help us reconsider problems or situations effectively. Let’s take a look! 

Forced Analogy

The thing from the future.

  • Make it personal
  • Distance Makes The Brain Grow Stronger

Most creative games and creativity exercises aim to help change our perspectives or find new ways of thinking subtly or by gently guiding us in the right direction. With Flip It, why not try using this approach obviously and directly? 

Start by writing down concerns and ideas relating to fear before then reversing each of the statements into a hopeful statement. This simple flipping approach can help your group see how a shift in perspective can be transformative when approaching a problem solving process and thinking about the future. 

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.

Placing one object, idea or person in the context of another can be a great way to inspire creative thinking and help people reconsider things they might take for granted. In this creative game, have people quickly find an object of their own or choose from a collection of objects matching a description like, “something blue” or “something that makes you happy.” 

Once everyone has their object, challenge them to articulate how their object might correspond with their feelings on a subject, problem, themselves or another subject. You can even go further by inviting more metaphoric thinking and asking further questions – if for example, this hairbrush is the company and you are a bristle then what is the handle? The results are often fun, illuminating and can help prime a group for further creative activities. 

Forced Analogy   #divergent thinking   #zoom   #virtual   #remote-friendly   People compare something (e.g. themselves, their company, their team) to an object.  

Creating tangible, physical objects as part of a group process can turn a run-of-the-mill workshop into something fun, memorable, and creatively engaging. With this creative activity, first present a selection of objects and invite the group to imagine them as objects that have time-traveled from the future.

Have each person select an object, consider what it might do, and then improve it with craft materials available on the table. When the objects are complete, each person presents their prototype to the group and considers how it might help the team reach an ideal future state. 

As a creative game that encourages physical creation and abstract thinking, this is a great way to galvanize a group and engage them in ways that might not often happen in regular work! 

The Thing from the Future   #imagination   #storymaking   #idea generation   #issue analysis   Help a group to time-travel and tap their imagination by fictional objects. With tangible objects and the stories your participants make up w/ them you’ll get so much richer inputs and context to inform joint visioning / strategizing: The future doesn’t look that far away when you can pick it off the shelf.

Make it Personal

Connecting with an idea, product or service on a personal level isn’t just a creative way of thinking – it can help improve connections with team members too and job satisfaction too. This creative thinking game tasks a group to create a persona for the product, idea or experience and build a dating profile to match.

By creatively considering how we might present and discuss a product if they were a person, we can highlight strengths, weaknesses, and attractive qualities that can help us reconsider what we’re working on. Bonus points for writing a quippy Tinder bio to go with the personal ad! 

Make it personal   #creative thinking   #creativity   #idea generation   #ideation   Build personas of ideas, products or experiences. Imagine your product is a person. What’s its name? What would its ideal date night be? Does it prefer the beach or the woods? This exercise is a playful way to nail down the essence of your idea, product, or service. Use it in ideation or as a way to hone an existing concept.

It can be easy to get carried away with good ideas or feel held back by seemingly massive problems. Recontextualising what is helping a group move forward alongside what might be holding it back can really help a team make purposeful progress. 

Speed Boat is a creative thinking activity that asks participants to imagine that their product or organization is a boat and that there are elements pushing the boat forward (the engine), as well as some pulling it back (anchors). Brainstorming these elements in a new context can help new perspectives surface, and gathering them together can help foster shared understanding. Follow up with dot voting and reflection to really cement the learnings and collectively decide on future actions too.

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.

Distance Makes the Brain Grow Stronger

Have you ever noticed how it’s often easy to give someone else advice, while trying to give yourself advice feels difficult? Using a creative game to shift your perspective and tap into this element can make all the difference when trying to solve problems, particularly those that relate to you personally. 

In this creative activity, share the two handouts among the group equally and tell everyone to work on the handout individually and solve the problem as quickly as possible. (At this stage, everyone will assume they have the same handout!) Then, debrief the activity by noting that the solution is the same on the two different handouts, the only difference is whether the reader is involved or not.

Using this technique as a basis to discuss how psychological distance can help us solve problems creatively and with a measure of abstract thinking is then something your group can take forward in the future!

Distance Makes The Brain Grow Stronger   #creativity   #problem solving   #thiagi   #action   This interesting exercise replicates research done by Evan Polman of New York University and Kyle Emich of Cornell University on construal level theory. You can find more information about this theory by visiting this page in Psychlopedia: http://www.psych-it.com.au/Psychlopedia/article.asp?id=79 The participants work with two different versions of the same problem. One version describes a problem faced by someone else while the other version identifies the problem confronting the reader. The debriefing suggests that it is easier to come up with creative solutions when people are thinking for someone other than themselves.

Rules and frameworks to spark and guide creativity 

One misconception about creativity is that it best functions when we are given complete freedom. Often, it can be creatively energizing to be given a framework or ruleset to work with and around, rather than being given free reign. Think of how hard it can be to approach a blank piece of paper, rather than responding to a prompt or question.

These creative techniques tap into the idea of using frameworks and rules to help shape and inform a creative process. They can be especially useful if you’re helping a group start to use creative thinking at work and they’re uncertain about how to begin.

Brainstorm Questions Instead of Solutions

The creativity dice, idea & concept development.

  • Six thinking hats

Some of the best creative games and activities are based around the implementation of a simple rule in order to guide a group’s creative thinking. Something as simple as having a rule to brainstorm questions relating to a problem before coming up with any potential solutions can help promote creative thinking. 

With this creative thinking game, invite your group to work with questions instead of solutions and initially reserve judgement on those questions. Once you’ve had a round of brainstorming, then invite your group to reflect on which questions prompt further ideas and potential solutions and follow those further. By approaching the creative brainstorming process with a simple caveat, you’ll find the results are quite different and generative too!

Brainstorm questions instead of solutions   #questions and answers   #brainstorming   When we are given a problem our reflex is to find answers. But it can be difficult to leave the comfort zone and to come up with creative answers. This exercise will encourage to think out of the box.

Want to develop an even more effective set of creative rules? Why not have a group create their own framework and identify only what they need to move forward? With Min Specs, first have a group brainstorm all the do’s and don’ts of approaching and completing a current challenge, project or initiative. Next, ask your team to reduce the list to the bare minimum you need in order to achieve your goal. 

The result is a list of minimum specs you can use as a framework for moving forward swiftly, effectively and in a way the group have all agreed on. Applying this can remove roadblocks, push a team forward and help inform creative projects – all with a self directed list you can amend and update in the future.   

Min Specs   #innovation   #issue analysis   #liberating structures   By specifying only the minimum number of simple rules, the Min Specs that must ABSOLUTELY be respected, you can unleash a group to innovate freely. Respecting the Min Specs will ensure that innovations will be both purposeful and responsible. Like the Ten Commandments, Min Specs are enabling constraints: they detail only must dos and must not dos. You will eliminate the clutter of non-essential rules, the Max Specs that get in the way of innovation. Often two to five Min Specs are sufficient to boost performance by adding more freedom AND more responsibility to the group’s understanding of what it must do to make progress. Out of their experience in the field, participants shape and adapt Min Specs together, working as one. Following the rules makes it possible for the group to go wild!

Inviting elements of chance into a creative space is a common artistic practice. With this creative game based on rolling a dice to dictate your approach to a problem, you can actively pursue one line of thought while incubating another. 

Start by writing down a short phrase that encapsulates the target of your creative thinking or a problem you wish to work on. Next, roll a dice and spend 3 minutes on an activity based on the result. This might be writing a specification, investigating further, ideating or something else entirely. By moving quickly between tasks, you’ll find that one thought is left hanging and given time to develop while considering another thought. The results can be surprising and by having a ruleset to follow, your group can avoid getting stuck on deciding on an approach.

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.

Ernest Hemingway’s six-word short story – “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.” is famous for its ability to cram so much meaning and feeling into an incredibly small space. This creative game invites a group to do the same by trying to encapsulate their ideas or thoughts on a subject into a six-word sentence.

By needing to be succinct and clear while cutting away fluff, the six-word sentence can help reveal and refine the core of an idea. We love creative activities that ask a group to think both creatively and critically and deploy some deeper thinking. This is a simple-to-understand framework you and your team can use again and again!

6 Words   #ufmcs   #red teaming   This tool is designed to help critical thinkers focus on a core idea by writing a short phrase summarizing their thoughts into a set number of words that are clear, concise, and accurate. This idea is based on a complete short story written by Ernest Hemingway: “For sale, baby shoes – never worn.” Six Words forces people to synthesize their ideas in a succinct and meaningful way, cutting away fluff and distilling the idea to its bare essence.

Free ideation and brainstorming can be great when starting a creative process but without further direction or refinement, those ideas can get lost in development hell. This creative thinking framework from Hyper Island is a means to not only start generating ideas, but to iterate, develop and select the best.

If your team needs a little direction or you find that you get stuck in the post-ideation phase, this method is a great way of guiding a project to completion. Want the short version? Check out the ideation tools section for a set of alternative ways of thinking you can use to bring creative ideas to the fore!

Idea & Concept Development   #hyperisland   #innovation   #idea generation   Ideation and Concept Development is a process for groups to work creatively and collaboratively to generate creative ideas. It’s a general approach that can be adapted and customized to suit many different scenarios. It includes basic principles for idea generation and several steps for groups to work with. It also includes steps for idea selection and development.

Six Thinking Hats

All creative processes benefit from working with others. As a team gets used to one another, you’ll often find that each person tends to occupy a certain role based on their skills and interests. You might have one person who is great at coming up with wild ideas and another who is more analytical and can see potential areas for caution easily. While this is helpful, it can also be creatively energizing to mix these roles up and push people gently out of their usual positions when generating ideas or working on something creatively. 

In this creative activity, invite participants to see the current challenge or project from one of six perspectives before then swapping. By imposing a ruleset to how we think and approach a project, we can unearth things we might otherwise have missed and challenge our assumptions too. 

The Six Thinking Hats   #creative thinking   #meeting facilitation   #problem solving   #issue resolution   #idea generation   #conflict resolution   The Six Thinking Hats are used by individuals and groups to separate out conflicting styles of thinking. They enable and encourage a group of people to think constructively together in exploring and implementing change, rather than using argument to fight over who is right and who is wrong.

Over to you

Being creative makes us happy and more productive. We hope that with these creativity exercises and creative games, you and your team can be more creative at work and find new ways of thinking, whatever your organisation or role.

Want to learn more about how to improve your creative thinking skills and explore creativity in more depth? Our guide on improving and using creative thinking skills at work is a great place to start! 

Have some thoughts on how else you might bring creativity into the workplace or want to share some creative activities you’ve used? We’d love to hear from you in the comments section below!

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></center></p><h2>13 Problem-Solving Activities & Exercises for Your Team</h2><ul><li>December 4, 2023</li><li>Project Management</li><li>21 min read</li></ul><p><center><img style=

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Sudoku

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.

Escape

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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:

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:

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:

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:

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!

creative problem solving exercises

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 brainstorm warm up exercises

6 brainstorming warm-up exercises to activate your creativity

Reading time: about 8 min

  • Organization and evaluation
  • Teamwork and collaboration

At its foundation, brainstorming is a creative activity. It fosters out-of-the-box thinking to solve complex problems and deliver creative solutions. But creativity isn’t just a tap you can turn on and off. It’s a skill and a muscle that needs exercise. And just like any muscle, you should warm up your creative muscles before exercising them.

Jumping into a brainstorming session “cold” can reduce your and your team’s effectiveness. Your brain needs to warm up to perform at its best. 

So before you head to your next brainstorming session, learn how brainstorming warm-ups can help you, and try these brainstorming warm-ups to get the creative juices flowing. 

The benefits of brainstorming warm-up activities

You might think that brainstorming itself is a warm-up exercise that kickstarts creative thinking. But if you go into an ideation session without prepping, it will take longer for you to access your creativity and get into the “zone” mentally. Like a cup of coffee before an early-morning meeting, brainstorming exercises charge your mental batteries and get you ready for the task ahead.

Plus, brainstorming is about more than individual ideas. It’s also about collaboration.  

The best brainstorming sessions are about tapping into people’s collective creativity, bouncing thoughts off each other, and building on one another’s ideas. To do this successfully, team members have to trust one another and feel safe and comfortable enough to share openly—even if their thoughts are outlandish, unconventional, or not yet fully formed. 

And this is where warm-up activities can come in handy. 

Creative warm-up exercises help teams loosen up, break the ice, build trust, and shift their mental focus into a more relaxed and creative headspace. In other words, brainstorming warm-up exercises help get your mental gears moving before ideation sessions so that you and your team are ready to hit the ground running with original ideas.  

Top 6 brainstorming warm-up exercises 

How exactly do you warm up a brain? (Hint: It’s not by wearing a beanie.) 

Try the following brainstorming exercises to help you stretch your creative muscles and boost your innovation and problem solving skills.  

1. Alternate Uses

Alternate Uses is an ideation exercise that boosts divergent, out-of-the-box thinking.  

How it works:

  • Set the timer for three minutes.  
  • Pick an ordinary object, like a toothbrush. 
  • Jot down as many ideas as you can of alternate ways you could use that object. For example, a toothbrush could be used to clean things, brush your eyebrows, or create a fun paint splatter effect for an art project.
  • Go around the room and have each team member share their favorite ideas. 

This is a fun and easy exercise that works for groups of all sizes. And by the end, you should have a wide mix of practical, unusual, and silly ideas. You might even be surprised at how creative you can get after a couple rounds of exercises. This activity is a great way to warm up your brain and get comfortable with your team before diving into a serious brainstorming session.

brainstorm warm up exercises

2. Bad ideas

Brainstorming is all about generating ideas without judgment. The more creative and weird, the better! But getting people to share unpolished thoughts is easier said than done. 

The Bad Ideas exercise helps your team approach ideas with an open mind by encouraging them to consider all the possible benefits and applications of even the wildest proposals.

How it works:  

  • Get in groups of two or three people. 
  • Assign each group an objectively bad idea, like “Sandpaper Socks” or “Ketchup-flavored Popsicles.”
  • Give the groups five minutes to discuss all the potential benefits, uses, and selling points for their assigned product. 
  • Have each group pitch the team on their bad idea. 

Have fun with it. Bad Ideas is a simple activity that can kickstart out-of-the-box thinking and help your team focus on benefits and possibilities rather than all the ways an idea could fail—which is the perfect mindset for generating exciting and original ideas during your formal brainstorming meeting. 

brainstorm warm up exercises

3. The expert

The Expert is a lot like the Bad Ideas exercise. The goal is to get into an open mindset that focuses on possibilities instead of roadblocks. 

  • Assign one person to be “the expert.”
  • Have the rest of the group shout out two unrelated nouns. These will be combined into a new “product.” For example, let’s say the team suggests “table” and “sneaker.” The product would be a “sneaker table” or “table sneaker.”
  • The assigned person then acts as the expert of that product and tries to sell the team on all its wonderful benefits and features. 

This is a challenging exercise and does put your “expert” on the spot. But if your team is game, it’s a great way to help your group think on their feet and creatively solve problems.  

brainstorm warm up exercises

4. Run-on story

You may have played this game during a party ice breaker. The Run-On Story is when a group creates a story one sentence at a time. 

  • Pick a moderator and have them share a simple prompt (like “Harry’s beach vacation”). Keep it simple and broad so the group can fill in the details as they go.
  • Go around the room, one person at a time. Each person shares one sentence that continues the story. 
  • Keep going until the story finds a natural conclusion or after you’ve gone around the group a few times. 

The Run-On Story activity is an exercise in improvisation, which relies on quick thinking and creativity. It also encourages active listening as each person has to pay attention to how the story is unfolding so they can add to the narrative constructively when it’s their turn. 

These are essential skills for brainstorming, too. Teams that listen and collaborate well during an ideation session are better able to build on one another’s ideas to create innovative solutions (and they often end up with surprising conclusions).

5. Write with both hands

The left and right sides of our brains control different areas of thought and function. The left hemisphere primarily controls our logical and pragmatic thought (and the right side of our body). The right hemisphere controls our creative, spatial, artistic, and imaginative cognition (and the left side of our body). 

Brainstorming works best when both l imaginative ideas and logical problem-solving skills work together. This creative warm up exercise helps you tap into both sides of your brain function.

  • Give a blank sheet of paper and two pencils to each person. 
  • Instruct each person to write their full name simultaneously with both hands in opposite directions. So, your right hand would write your name normally while your left hand would write your name backwards, in a mirror image, right to left. 

This might be difficult at first, but stick with it. Once your group has mastered their names, you can up the ante by prompting them to draw a picture. Drawing simultaneously like this activates both sides of the brain and warms up your focus and attention to detail. 

From jumpstarting your mental process to breaking the ice with your team, creative warm-up exercises can help you go into your next ideation session primed for collaborative and creative brainstorming.

6. Do you agree?

Lucid’s Visual Activities are dynamic, engaging team activities that help you gain insights, understand opinions, and analyze data. They make it easy to catch up, align, and make decisions. Use one of our existing icebreaker templates or create your own, and in seconds, your team can gain consensus on their favorite books, the best burger toppings, and much more.

This activity is simple enough in concept, but it can really facilitate interesting discussions and promote creative individuality among your team, leading to unique ideas and perspectives.

  • Open a Lucidchart document or Lucidspark board, and select the Visual Activities icon from the navigation menu on the left-hand side.
  • Search for “Do you agree?” in the search bar and click on it.
  • Take time to personalize the statements your team will express opinions on, and add more if you’d like.
  • Preview your changes and click Save changes when you’re finished.
  • Click Share for a link to send your team members.
  • Once your team members follow the link, they can each click Start and click and drag each sticky note to the matrix. They’ll click Submit at the bottom once they’re finished.

When your whole team has submitted their answers, the responses will be presented visually so you can immediately identify and discuss commonalities and differences. Defend your most controversial thoughts, identify opinions you agree on, and more. This activity challenges individuals to think about their unique opinions and can set them up to give authentic opinions later in a brainstorm.

creative problem solving exercises

Now that you’ve got your team’s creative juices flowing, use these tips and tricks to facilitate ideation sessions in Lucidspark.

About Lucidspark

Lucidspark, a cloud-based virtual whiteboard, is a core component of Lucid Software's Visual Collaboration Suite. This cutting-edge digital canvas brings teams together to brainstorm, collaborate, and consolidate collective thinking into actionable next steps—all in real time. Lucid is proud to serve top businesses around the world, including customers such as Google, GE, and NBC Universal, and 99% of the Fortune 500. Lucid partners with industry leaders, including Google, Atlassian, and Microsoft. Since its founding, Lucid has received numerous awards for its products, business, and workplace culture. For more information, visit lucidspark.com.

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Top 50 problem solving activities, games & puzzles for remote teams

Blockchain and Crypto / March 6, 2022 by admin

Here is a list of the top 50 problem solving activities, games & puzzles best suited for remote teams. Read on!

What are problem solving activities?

The success of a company or organization depends heavily on the managers’ ability to help workers develop their problem solving skills. Problem solving activities that address areas such as teamwork and cooperation, adaptability or reinforcement of decision-making strategies help.

All processes of problem solving begin with the identification of the problem. The team will then evaluate the possible course of action and select the best way to tackle it. This needs a profound understanding of your team and its core strengths.

Not only among corporates, but problem solving activities find their use in educational settings as well. Students who are good at solving problems will become much more successful than those who are not. Remote work and education are on the rise.

Enabling smooth interpersonal communication to solve problems can become a task in these situations. However, engaging all the people concerned in problem solving activities before shifting to the remote space can ease the process.

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Key skills evaluated in problem solving activities

Problem solving skills refer to the necessary thinking skills that an individual or group uses when met with a challenge. Many issues require the use of several skills; others are easy and may require only one or two skills. These are some skills that help to solve problems,

  • Communication skills
  • Decision-making skills
  • Analytical thinking
  • Negotiation skills
  • Logical reasoning
  • Persistence
  • Lateral thinking

Problem solving skill examples

Several problems occur at the workplace. Problem solving skills can be technical problems that occur on websites or apps or addressing client concerns. Problems could be simple or complex. Business managers spend time and resources to solve problems.

They encourage their team to improve their analytical and logical abilities. Common issues in companies can be exploding data or changing technology, or financial management.

Did you know? Emotional intelligence plays a crucial role in problem solving!

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Problem solving scenarios

Many problem solving scenarios occur at work. The basis to solve any problem is to evaluate and arrive at a solution. Analytical skill or problem solving ability is a skill many employers evaluate while hiring candidates.

Strong problem solving skills can be an asset to any organization. Organizations organize problem and solution activities to improve the problem solving abilities in the workplace.

1. Decision making games

Businesses are looking for new and innovative ways to stimulate their staff. Decision making games help employees to learn new skills and work effectively as a team. Decision making activities help to improve the creative problem solving and decision-making skills of the team. Here are some best Decision-making games,

1. Dumb Idea first – This game gives a hypothetical problem that could occur in your company. Ask each manager to think of the dumbest solution to the problem. After compiling the list of the ideas, the team reviews them.

You have a brainstorming session to make the “dumb ideas” feasible. This problem solving exercise underlines the importance of out-of-box thinking.

Benefits: Decision-making skill

Time duration: 10 to 15 minutes

Team size: 2 to more team managers

Material: Paper and pencil

2. Egg Drop Idea – The objective of the game is to build a container to protect the egg when dropped from a specified height using the material provided. Each team nominates a presenter who explains why the egg will survive the fall.

Once they have presented the idea, the team drops the egg to check if the idea has worked. Egg drop pyramid activities like the marshmallow challenge help teams to think on their feet.

Benefit: Decision-making skill and is a top problem solving skill example

Time duration: 15 – 30 minutes

Team size: 6 or more

Material: A cartoon of eggs, aprons to protect clothes, material for packing (cardboard, tape, elastics, plastic straws, etc.), material to clean up.

Instructions:

  • Every team gets an egg and should choose from the building materials. 
  • Grant everyone 20-30 minutes to build an egg carrier and guard against breaking. 
  • Remove each egg carrier from a ledge (that is, over a balcony) to see which carrier prevents it from cracking. 
  • If several eggs survive, continue to heighten until only one egg remains.

3. Dog, Rice, and Chicken – The dog, rice, and chicken game can be fun decision-making activities for adults. In this game, one team member plays the farmer, and the other team members are villagers who advise him. The farmer has to take three items chicken, dog, and rice across the river by boat.

There are the following constraints:- only one item can be carried on the boat. He cannot leave the chicken and dog alone because the dog will eat the chicken. He cannot leave the chicken alone with the rice because the chicken will eat the rice grains.

Benefit: creative problem solving examples that are applicable at work.

Time duration: 10-15 minutes.

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2. Teambuilding puzzle

Team building exercises are fun and creative ways to get your team to work together and improve problem solving skills.

1. Lost at Sea – In this game, you and your friends have chattered a yacht to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. Since you do not have any navigation experience, you hire a captain and a two-person crew. Unfortunately, the crew and captain die when a fire breaks out on the yacht.

The yacht is severally damaged and is sinking. You and your friends have managed to save 15 items and a lifeboat. Your task is to rank the 15 items while you are waiting to be rescued. The activity lost at sea team building underlines the importance of problem solving skills in the workplace.

Benefits: Team building exercise and interaction

Time duration: 30 to 40 minutes

Team size: 4 to 6

Material: Lost in sea ranking for interaction chart for each member

2. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower – The marshmallow team-building activities have the goal of building the tallest tower as quickly as possible. To make the task more challenging the marshmallow is placed at the top of the tower. This is a fun puzzle activity for team building.

Benefit: Teambuilding puzzle

Time duration: 30 minutes

Material required: 20 sticks on raw uncooked spaghetti, a marshmallow, masking thread, and yarn of thread.

3. Go for Gold – This is an example of a marshmallow challenge similar to activities. The objective of this exercise is to create a structure using pipes, rubber tubing, and cardboard to carry a marble from point A to point B using gravity.

Benefit: team building problem solving scenario examples

Team size: Minimum 6 persons

Material required: Each member has different material

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3. Work Problem Solving

Work problem solving activities help to use the skills you used in problem solving activities in your workplace.

1. Create your own – this game aims to create a brand new problem solving activity for the organization. The team can brainstorm for 1 hour. After one hour each team has to give a presentation about their activity outlining the key benefits.

Benefit: Understanding the problem solving process. Build creativity, improve negotiation, and Decision-making skills

  • When the participants arrive, you declare that they will create an original problem solving activity on their own, rather than spending an hour on an existing problem solving team-building exercise. 
  • Divide members into teams and encourage them to develop a new problem solving team-building exercise that will fit well with the organization. The activity should not be one they have engaged in or heard of before.
  • Every team has to show their new activity to everyone else after an hour and outline the main benefits.

2. Shrinking Vessel – make a shape on the floor using a rope where all the team members can fit. Reduce the size every 10 -15 minutes. The real challenge for the team is figuring out how to work together and keep everyone together.

Benefits: Adaptability and cognitive diversity

Material: Rope and large room

  • Place on the floor a big circle of rope. Position your whole team inside the circle. 
  • Lessen the circle size steadily. When it gets smaller, advise the team to keep the entire team inside the circle. Nobody must move out of the loop. See how small you can make the area until it cannot remain inside.

3. Legoman – the team is divided into groups of two or more people. Select an impartial individual who will make a structure in 10 minutes. Each team will compete to recreate it in fifteen minutes. Only one person is allowed to see the structure. They need to communicate vital parameters like color, shape, and size.

Benefits: Communication

Tools: Lego

4. What Would X Do – This problem solving activity stimulates teams to think of new ideas.

  • Benefits: Instant problem solving
  • Time Duration: 10-15 minutes
  • Materials Required: N/A
  • Let every team pretend to be someone famous. 
  • Every team needs to address the issue as if they were a famous person. Which are the choices they would consider? How will they do this? 
  • It helps all to consider options they may not have initially thought of.

Tip: Before you decide, a problem is worth solving, weigh the risks of solving it versus not solving it. 

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4. Team building riddles

Team building riddles are a great way to show the team group problem solving is usually more effective.

1. Barter puzzle – the team is broken into groups. Give each team a different jigsaw puzzle to solve. The groups have to complete the puzzle at the same time. The twist in the game is that some pieces of their puzzle belong to other puzzles.

The goal is to complete the puzzle before the other teams. Each group has to come with their method to convince other teams to handover the pieces they need, either by bartering pieces or donating time to the other teams. This puzzle piece team-building activity helps teams to collaborate.

Benefit: Team building and negotiating.

Material: Jigsaw puzzle for each team

Time: 30 minutes

2. Scavenger Hunt – in this game, each team has a list of the article to locate and bring back. The goal of the game is to finish the assigned list first. In the scavenger hunt, the team has a time limit to make the game more challenging. You have the flexibility of having the hunt outside or within the premises. The team-building puzzle game helps the team to look for creative solutions.

3. Escape – the goal is to solve clues and find the key to unlock the door in a limited time. Hide the key and a list of clues around the room. The team has 30 to 60 minutes to figure out the clues and unlock the door.

Benefit: Team building exercise

Material: Rope, key, lockable room, 5 to 10 puzzles

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5. Work together problems

Work together on problems helps to underline the need to collaborate while solving issues at work. Group challenge activities help the team work well together.

1. Bonding belt – each group is divided into 5 to 6 participants, who are bound together with rope or tape so that their movements are limited. The team has to reach from point A to point B, and the time is recorded. The teams collaborate to beat their previous score.

Benefits: Helps the team to collaborate and skills for problem solving scenario/

Time: 20 to 30 minutes

Material: Cling film, belt, or rope

2. Scramble puzzle – the team members with blindfolds sit in a circle with the puzzle. The teammate without the blindfold sits outside the circle, with their back to the group. The blindfolded group tries to assemble the pieces of the puzzle. The outsider who has the same puzzle gives the team instructions to solve it.

Benefits: trust, leadership, and communication

Material: Preschool-level puzzles and blindfolds.

3. Flip it over – this is a classic work-together problem. In this game, 6 to 8 participants stand together on a blanket/towel/tarp. The challenge is to flip over the blanket or reverse it. The rule is that none of the participants can leave the blanket.

Benefit: Work together exercise

Duration: 30 minutes

Material: Blanket

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6. Team building survival games

Team building survival games helps to fine-tune problem solving scenarios that may occur at work. The activities encourage creative problem solving and decision making.

1. Stranded – Stranded helps in building effective communication. In this setting, the team is stranded in an office. The rooms will be locked, and doors and windows cannot be broken down. The team is asked to make a list of 10 items that they need to survive.

They need to rank items in the order of their importance. The team has to agree on the items and the order. Stranded is one of several popular survival team-building exercises.

Benefit: Team building and Decision-making exercises

  • Your team is stuck inside the building. Doors are closed, so there is no option to kick down the doors or smash the windows.
  • Grant the team 30 minutes to determine what ten things they need to thrive in the office and list them in order of importance.
  • The goal of the game is to get everyone to agree in 30 minutes about the ten things and their ranking.

2. Minefield – you randomly place items around the room or hallway and there is no clear path from one end of the room to another. The team is divided into pairs. One team member is blindfolded, and the other team member is the guide.

The guide navigates the blindfolded person across the minefield. The two partners cannot touch. This survival team-building activity underlines the need for clear communication.

Benefits: Communication and collaborative problem solving

Duration: 10-15 minutes

Material: Blindfold, empty room or hallway, and collection of random items.

3. Frostbite – in this survival scenario team-building exercise the team is trapped in Siberia. Each team has to elect a team captain. The team has to build a storm shelter with the material provided.

The twist in the game is the team captains cannot help physically since they have frostbite. Other team members are suffering snow blindness and are blindfolded. The electric fan will be turned on in 30 minutes to see if the shelter built will survive the storm.

Benefit: Leadership, skills action plan, and team building survival games

Team size: 4 to 5 members

Material: An electric fan, blindfold, simple building materials like cardboard paper, rubber bands, toothpicks, masking tape, straws, sticky notes, etc.

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7. Group decision making games

Group decision making games help encourage creative problem solving and decision making at work. Here is a bunch of group decision making games

1. Reverse Pyramid – the team members stand in a pyramid shape. The next step is to flip the base and apex of the pyramid. The limiting factor in only three persons can move.

Benefits: Group Decision-making and collaboration

2. Tower of Hanoi – in this game, there are three towers/posts/rods with 5 or more discs arranged conical shape with the smallest shape at the top. The objective of the game is to move the entire stack to another location retaining the shape. Some conditions of the games are only one disc can be moved at a time. Only the top disc can be moved. Another rule of the game is larger disc cannot be put on a smaller disc.

Benefits: This team-building exercise helps problem solving within the participants.

3. Human Knot – the team stands in a circle every person holds hands with a person not standing next to them. When everyone is cross-connected, the aim is to untangle the structure without letting go of anybody’s hand.

Benefit: group problem solving

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8. Funny problem solving games

We need to solve problems for personal and professional lives. Funny problem solving exercises are a light way. Funny problem solving can help reduce stress levels.

1. Pencil drop – in the pencil drop challenge, one end of the pencil is tied to a pencil and the other is tied around the waist of a team member. The other team member puts the pencil into the bottle placed below. The participants are not allowed to use their hands.

Benefit: Team bonding

Team size: 2 members each

Material: Some pencil and bottle

2. Blind drawing – this game requires two players to sit back to back. One participant describes an image in front of them without giving stating anything obvious. The other participant needs to draw it using the description. The outcome can be fun.

3. Be the character – in this activity, you pretend to be an imaginary character while trying to solve a problem. This game gives a unique perspective on your solution and whether the solution is feasible for other members.

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9. Group problem solving activities for adults

Group problem solving activities are very efficient, especially for adults. These can be used in any setting to enhance problem solving skills. 

1. Human Knots

  • Benefits: Communication skills, collaboration
  • Time Duration: 10 – 15 minutes.

This is one of the most straightforward group problem solving activities that can be done with any group. It facilitates communication and critical thinking in the face of a challenging and complex question. Various group members will possibly suggest a variety of solutions, and each will need to be reviewed and adopted by the organization as a whole.

  • Have the group stand in a small circle (make several circles when you are a larger group). Every person in the loop will hold the hands of 2 other people who are not directly next to them. That would make a messy crossed arms knot.
  • Ask the group to disentangle themselves without moving their hands at any point in time. They may be unable to disentangle completely to form a circle again. Still, they would have begun to work together to solve the problem by the end of the activity.

2. Frostbite 

  • Benefits: Leadership, decision-making, trust, adaptability
  • Time Duration: 30 minutes.
  • Materials Required: An electric fan, blindfold, simple building materials like cardboard paper, rubber bands, toothpicks, masking tape, straws, sticky notes, etc.

Your group is trapped in the barren deserts of Siberia, and a sudden winter storm is approaching. You have to create a shelter with only the materials in hand that can survive the storm’s harsh winds. The leader of your expedition was afflicted with frostbite in both hands, sadly, and all the others experience severe snow blindness.

  • Divide the group into clusters of 4-5. Every group will have to elect a chief. 
  • Group leaders are not allowed to use their hands to support the group in any way, and group members should be blindfolded during the exercise. 
  • The groups have 30 minutes to build a small tent structure that can withstand the wind from the fan’s highest location. 

3. Dumbest Idea First

  • Benefits: Critical thinking, creative problem solving, quick problem solving
  • Time Duration: 15 – 20 minutes
  • Materials Required: Pen or pencil, a piece of paper.

Dumbest Idea First is one of the most creative problem solving activities for groups. This can encourage your creativity by thinking out of the box and lead you to ideas that would typically sound too insane to work. You can broaden the possibilities by looking at these crazy solutions first, and find potential alternatives that might not be as obvious.

  • Present your team with a question. It could be a real-world dilemma facing the group, or it could be a created scenario. For example, your company attempts to beat a rival to win a high-paying customer contract, but the customer bends to your competitors. You have a short period before they make the final decision to change their mind.
  • With the given question, advise your group to come up with the dumbest ideas to tackle the issue. Anything can be written down. 
  • After each person has put forward a few ideas, go through the list, and analyze each plan to see which are the most feasible. List them from the highest level of feasibility to the lowest level.  

4. Wool Web 

  • Benefits: Leadership, communication
  • Time Duration: 30 minutes
  • Materials Required: Some balls of yarn.

As hard as replicating the magnitude of the real-world problems is, that is no excuse not to try! Wool web creates a dilemma that appears complicated at first, but groups will learn to break down complicated challenges into solvable problems one move at a time.

This happens by using the right strategy and working together. Undoubtedly, this is one of the most stimulating problem solving activities for adults.

  • Split the group into similarly large teams. Every time, it receives a yarn ball. 
  • Tell each team to turn the yarn ball into a vast web. Give them around 5-10 minutes to do this. When done, rotate all the teams so that every team is on a yarn web they have not set up. 
  • Every group must choose one person to untangle the web. That individual would be blindfolded and be guided by the rest of the team on how to unwind the web using only verbal instructions. The first team to achieve it wins the game.

5. Tallest Tower 

  • Benefits: Creative thinking, collaboration
  • Materials Required: 1 bag of marshmallows, one packet of uncooked spaghetti.

Simple building projects can help group members create strategies to overcome box issues. Tallest Tower is another one of the most creative problem solving activities. Groups will compete with only two materials to make the tallest tower in a fixed period.

  • Divide the group into two, which have an equal number of players. Provide 20 – 30 uncooked spaghetti noodles and 3-4 marshmallows to every team. 
  • Groups must compete in the provided period to build the tallest tower using only the materials supplied. A marshmallow has to be set at the top of the tower.

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10. Problem solving activities for students

Below is a bunch of problem solving activities for students and kids,

1. Brainstorm Bonanza – Brainstorm Bonanza is one of the best problem solving activities for students. As a teacher, making your students create lists relevant to something you are teaching at the moment can be a fantastic way to help them expand their knowledge of a subject when learning to solve problems.

  • Benefits: Problem solving
  • Materials Required: Pen and paper

1. If you are discussing a real, current, or fictional occurrence that did not work out well, let your students imagine ways that the protagonist or participants might have produced a better, more favorable result.

2. They can brainstorm independently or in groups. 

2. Clue Me In – this is one of the most enjoyable problem solving games. It facilitates logical thinking and cognitive development.

  • Benefits: Cognitive development, logical thinking
  • Time Duration: 20 minutes
  • Materials Required: A bag, clues, items as necessary
  • Select a collection of things relating to a specific occupation, social phenomenon, historical incident, object, etc.
  • Assemble individual objects (or pictures of things) commonly linked to the target response.
  • Place all of them in a bag (five-10 clues ought to be enough).
  • Then, have a student reach into the bag and take out clues one by one.
  • Select a minimum number of clues to draw before they make their first guess (two-three).
  • After that, the student should guess, pulling each clue until they think it is right.
  • See how quickly the student can solve the riddle.

3. Survivor Scenario – Create a hypothetical situation that allows students to think creatively to make it through. One example may be being stuck on an island, realizing that three days of help would not come.

The community has a small amount of food and water and has to establish shelter from the island’s objects. This would undoubtedly be one of the fascinating problem solving activities for students.

  • Benefits: Logical thinking, collaboration
  • Encourage working together as a group.
  • Listen to each student who has an idea about making it safe and secure across the three days.

4. Moral Dilemmas – Create several potential moral dilemmas that your students can face in life, write down, and place each object in a bowl or container. These things may include items like, “I’ve seen a good friend of mine shoplifting. What is it that I would do?” or “The cashier gave me an additional $1.50 in change after I purchased candy from the shop. What is it that I would do?”

  • Benefits: Logical thinking
  • Time Duration: 5 minutes per student
  • Materials Required: Container, bits of paper with moral dilemmas written
  • Ask every student to draw an item from the bag one after the other and read it aloud. 
  • They must then tell the class the response on the spot as to how they would handle the situation.

5. Problem solving box – this is an activity that will help on both cognitive and emotional levels for students. 

  • Benefits: Logical thinking, decision making
  • Materials Required: Box, paper, pen
  • Have your students design and decorate a medium-sized box with a top slot. Name it as the “Problem Solving Box.”
  • Invite students to write down anonymously and apply any concerns or problems they may have at school or at home, which they do not appear to be able to work out on their own.
  • Let a student draw one of the things from the box once or twice a week, and read it aloud.
  • Finally, as a group, let the class work out the best way students can approach the problem and eventually solve it.

Also Read: Invest large in bitcoins – get a profitable deal from a bitcoin OTC broker now!

11. Problem solving activities for kids

Below is a bunch of problem solving activities for kids,

1. Puzzle-solving – Solving puzzles is one of the best problem solving activities for kids out there. Essentially, every puzzle is a big collection of muddled-up items to figure out and bring back together again.

Kids must be introduced to puzzles with regularity. These are useful for improving skills in reasoning. The best kinds to choose from are wooden puzzles with a wooden frame. They last long, and the structure serves as the foundation to direct children during construction. 

  • Benefits: Reasoning skills
  • Time Duration: Varies
  • Materials Required: Puzzles according to the age level

Instructions: 

  • Show the kids a demo of how a particular puzzle can be solved. 
  • Then, let them choose a puzzle of their liking from the available choices. 
  • Ask them to solve their chosen puzzles. 

2. Memory Games – Memory games will improve memory and attention to detail for your child. 

  • Benefits: Attention to detail
  • Materials Required: Matching pairs of images
  • Using matching pairs of images and turn them all face down, shuffled, on a table.
  • Take turns to pick any two cards, and face them on the table.
  • You hold the cards if you turn over a similar pair, and if the pair does not match, turn the cards over before it is your turn to try again. 
  • A teacher/parent must encourage the kids to concentrate on where the pictures are, and seek to find a matching pair on each turn.

3. Building games – Construction toys like building blocks, wooden blocks, or legos should be a staple in a kid’s home every day. Playing with them is one of the most fun problem solving activities for kids. Anything that your child builds is a challenge as it involves thinking about what to create and how to put together the parts to get a workable and usable design. 

  • Benefits: Decision making
  • Materials Required: Construction toys.

1. Let your child build a challenge openly and often, and ask him/her to build a particular structure, with conditions. For instance:

  • Create two towers with a bridge that connects them.  
  • Create a creature that stands alone and has three arms.

2. Observe how your child uses trial-and-error before finding a way to bring the idea into motion.

4. Tic-Tac-Toe – this is an excellent game for teaching decision-making skills. It encourages kids to think before they act and weigh the potential consequences. 

  • Materials Required: Pencil, paper
  • Draw a simple tic-tac-toe table on paper or chalkboard.
  • Take turns to add a nought or a cross to the table to see who is the first to make a line of three.
  • Your kid will likely catch on in no time before placing their symbol and start thinking carefully.
  • Coloured counters or different items can be used to play this game as well.

5. Building a Maze – This activity is fun and fits for any age. It will also be a lot more enjoyable than doing a maze in an activity book, particularly for younger kids. 

  • Materials Required: Chalk
  • Draw a big maze with jumbo chalk on the paving. Make passages, including one or two, which end in an impasse. Teach your kid how to get out of it.  
  • Make the maze more complicated and add more dead-end passages as your child gets better at figuring out a path and finding the way out.

Also Read: Developing a blockchain – hire an expert blockchain developer now!

What is a problem solving process?

When a team or person faces an issue or obstacle, it can be tempting to quickly track a potential solution and set up a fast fix. This could happen without understanding the complexity of the problem and pursuing a systematic approach to seeking a solution.

The attempts to address issues or obstacles may become unstructured and frustrating without a consistent method. End-to-end processes for problem solving offer a mechanism for a community to tackle any size or nature, and see results. Problem solving activities for adults, kids, and students can help make the problem solving process very useful.

Army problem solving process

There are 7 steps to problem solving army model,

  • Recognize and define the problem – The first step army problem solving process is defining the problem precisely and determining the root cause.
  • Gather facts and make assumptions – You need to gather all information you have at your disposal. Common resources for information may be documentation and policies. Assumptions are unsubstantiated facts. Use facts rather than assumptions when you need to analyze the scope of the problem.
  • Generate alternatives – One of the key steps in military problem solving is finding ways to solve the problem. Ideally, it best to have multiple approaches to solve the problem. Take input from peers and subordinates if possible.
  • Analyze possible solutions – Analyze each possible solution with advantages and disadvantages. You evaluate each solution according to screening and feasibility criteria. Reject the solution when it fails in the screening process.
  • Compare Alternatives – Another crucial step in the army problem solving model is to evaluate alternatives for cost and benefits. You need to consider your experience and immediate future. Tabulating each solution with the pros and cons will help clear the picture.
  • Make an executive your decision – Make a decision and prepare an action plan, and put it in motion.
  • Assess the result – You need to monitor the implementation of the plan and modify it if required. Establishing critical steps and milestones will help to ensure success.

Army problem solving games

  • Capture the flag – the game helps in team building and army problem solving. Two teams compete against one another to retrieve a flag or object from the opposing team camp base and get into their camp base. This game is flexible, and ground rules need to be set before the game starts.
  • Paintball – Paintball is a fun military problem solving activity. You can have many modifications and variations of the paintball game. The aim is to fire paint pellets at the opposing team. Laser tag is another variation of the game.
  • Firing blind – Firing blind is a game where each team has a large number of water balloons. At the other end of the field has to hit the target is protected by a tarp from direct firing. The team has to hit the target that is covered. One team member acts as the observer and directs the team to hit the target with the water balloons.

Also Read: Interested in NFT – find an expert NFT consultant now!

Obstacles to problem solving

Problem solving can take time and patience, one of the best ways to solve any problem is pausing and evaluating the problem. Obstacles to problem solving are,

  • Misdiagnosis – Misdiagnosis is a common problem can occur due to preconceived idea, biases or judgments. Defining and having a concrete understanding of the problem is the first step in the problem solving activity. This can be difficult. If you are not careful, you may spend your time and resources solving the wrong problem and finding the wrong solution.
  • Communication bias – Communication barriers are caused when we are unable to explain the problem to the team, or presuming we know more than everyone else. Everyone on the team must be on the same page. You may need to acknowledge you have a limited understanding of the problem.
  • Solution bias – A common obstacle in problem solving is thinking there may be a universal solution or thinking the same solution can solve multiple problems. You need to evaluate a problem independently than try to force-fit a solution that worked previously.
  • Cognitive bias – One of the barriers to finding an effective solution is cognitive bias, or the tendency to jump to conclusions. To find solutions fast firms often end up with an irrelevant solution. This may cause more problems down the line.
  • Lack of empathy – Every problem is associated with human emotions or abilities. It is important to identify and recognize people affected by the problem or it will be difficult to find a solution that will solve help.

Also Read: Developing an NFT – hire an expert NFT developer now!

Famous virtual problem solving software

Traditionally watercoolers chat is a great way to bring people together and help team members interact with one another. A virtual water cooler has a similar concept where people interact in a similar virtual setting or a dedicated virtual room. It allows remote teams to bond. Software that offers virtual water coolers services,

  • unremot.com – provides users with a unique water cooler experience. The app provides unique solutions to remote teams.
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Informal Whatsapp group
  • Donut over slack channels

creative problem solving exercises

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17 Team Building Problem Solving Activities & Exercises

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Whether you work in an office or online, it is important to establish a strong foundation as a team. Good communication and collaboration skills are essential for any successful team, but problem-solving skills are what will help you through the tough times.

Life is unpredictable, which is why problem solving skills are critical to learn , starting at a young age. They help us deal with the curveballs that will inevitably be thrown our way from time to time… without spiraling off course into a panic .

Table of Contents

What Are Problem Solving Skills?

Problem-solving skills are the ability to identify and solve problems creatively and effectively . They involve analyzing a situation, coming up with a plan of action, and then following through with that plan. These types of skills are important in both personal and professional life.

In your personal life, you will no longer have the same constant helping hand or be able to make excuses as you could in childhood . When something happens, you will need to be able to figure out a way to fix it yourself. In your professional life, being able to solve problems quickly and efficiently will make you an invaluable asset to any team.

Why Problem Solving Activities Are Important In the Workplace

There are many benefits to having strong problem solving skills in the workplace. For one, it can help improve morale among team members. When everyone is working together to solve a problem, it can create a sense of camaraderie and teamwork .

It can also help hold team members accountable for their actions. If a problem arises, everyone will need to work together to solve it instead of placing the blame on one person. This will help create a more cohesive team that is better able to handle difficult situations.

Finally, problem solving skills can help improve productivity in the workplace. When problems are solved quickly and efficiently, it allows the team to move on to other tasks more quickly.

17 Problem Solving Activities

Activity #1. brainstorming.

This is a great activity for getting the creative juices flowing. Get your team together and have them come up with as many ideas as possible for solving the problem at hand. The more ideas, the better!

One way to start may be to ask everyone to write down their ideas individually, then have each person share their idea with the group. Once all the ideas are on the table, you can start to narrow down which ones are the most feasible.

Activity #2. Role-Playing

If you are ready to get the team members to think outside the box, have them take on different roles and come up with solutions from those perspectives. The roles can be anything from a customer to a company CEO.

Write down roles on a piece of paper and put them in a hat or bowl. Have each team member draw a role and then have them work on coming up with solutions from that perspective.

Activity #3. Logic Puzzles

These types of puzzles are great for testing your team’s critical thinking skills. There are a variety of different logic puzzles available online or in puzzle books .

problem solving activities for teens | creative problem solving activities for adults | virtual problem solving activities for students

Logic puzzles can be a great team-building activity as they require everyone to work together to find the solution.

Activity #4. Word Association

This is a simple but effective way to get ideas flowing. Write down a list of words or phrases related to the problem and then have your team come up with solutions based on those words.

Let's take the word “online safety” for example. Some potential solutions could be creating strong passwords, using two-factor authentication, or avoiding phishing scams or unnecessary social media use at work .

Activity #5. Debate

This activity will help get the team thinking about the issue from different angles . Have each team member take a side of the debate and then have them argue their points.

After everyone has had a chance to speak, have the team come to a consensus on the best solution.

Activity #6. Process Mapping

This activity is great for visual learners. Get a whiteboard or large piece of paper and map out the steps that need to be taken to solve the problem. This will help the team see the issue as a whole and spot any potential roadblocks.

Activity #7. Mind Mapping

This is similar to process mapping but is more focused on coming up with ideas. Write down the main issue in the center of the paper and then have team members come up with ideas that branch off from that.

Activity #8. Fishbone Diagram

If you are looking for another visual activity that can help a team see the different factors that contribute to a problem, try the fishbone diagram. Draw a large fish skeleton on a whiteboard or piece of paper and then have team members add in the different factors that contribute to the problem.

Activity #9. 5 Whys

Have the team start with the main issue and then each person takes turns asking “why” until you get to the root cause of the problem. Five times is usually sufficient to solve most problems. This is very effective for uncovering hidden problems.

One example may involve sales:

The problem is that our sales are down:

  • Why? Because we’re not getting enough foot traffic in the store.
  • Why? We’re not advertising enough.
  • Why? We don’t have the budget for it.
  • Why? There is too much inventory loss/theft.
  • Why? High employee turnover.

Activity #10. Scenario Planning

Think ahead and prepare for potential problems in the future. Have the team come up with different scenarios that could happen and then brainstorm solutions for each one. A perfect example may be different ways to escape the building in the event of an emergency.

One approach can involve escape routes, another can focus on the steps needed to shelter in place, and the last can highlight who is responsible for what during an evacuation.

Activity #11. SWOT Analysis

Before coming up with solutions, it is important to understand the different factors that could impact them.

The SWOT analysis activity will help the team identify the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats associated with the problem. This will help them come up with more informed solutions and deeper thinking.

Activity #12. Reverse Brainstorming

To prevent boredom, do what you can to get the team to think outside the box. Instead of brainstorming ways to solve the problem, have them come up with ways to make it worse. It may sound counter-productive but it can help the team see the issue from a different perspective and come up with more creative solutions.

problem solving exercises with answers | problem solving activities for students | problem solving team building activities virtual

Reverse brainstorming works by having the team come up with as many bad ideas as possible. Once they have exhausted all the ways to make the problem worse, they can then start thinking of ways to fix it.

Activity #13. Problem Solving Workshop

This is a more structured way of approaching problem solving as a team. It involves breaking the team into small groups and having each group come up with solutions to various specific problems.

Once all the groups have had a chance to share their ideas, the team can then vote on the best solution. You may want to start with a problem not directly related to the job and have the teams solve it. Next, ask them how the same approach can be used at the job. An example of this may include the team solving a Rubik’s Cube and then asking them how they can apply that same level of critical thinking to their work.

Now let's think about how to do team building and problem solving for the increasing number of people working remotely. Team building remotely may have its unique challenges but it is not impossible.

Remote Problem Solving Activities

Activity #14. coffee chat.

This is a great way to get everyone on the team introduced to each other, especially if you have new members coming on board. Set up a time for everyone to jump on a video call and chat over coffee (or tea!). This can be done weekly or monthly, depending on the size of the team. It is a great way to informally chat about issues and concerns and can get the ball rolling on real solutions.

During the early days of the pandemic, my writing group set aside the writing topic for a session and decided to do an online happy hour with great success. We got to chat about other issues not directly related to writing and we all got useful insights.

Activity #15. Show and Tell

Who says team building problem solving activities can't be fun? This is a nice way for everyone to get to know each other on a personal level. Have each team member choose an item from their home that has special meaning to them and do a “show and tell”. Ask if each person can find an object related to helping them do their job or something completely unrelated. This is a great way to build rapport, get to know each other on a personal level, and of course – solve certain problems.

For example, someone may demonstrate hand exercises or stretching techniques to help with issues that stem from sitting at a desk or typing all day.

Maybe people in the group struggle to use a certain design program or add attachments to emails. Someone can use screen share to show an easier way to do something that has stumbled their colleagues.

Activity #16. Virtual Office Tour

Another way to get everyone acquainted with each other and the idea of working from home is to do a virtual office tour. This can be done by having each team member give a quick tour of their home office (or workspace). This is also a great way to get everyone comfortable with using video conferencing if they are not already. The reality is, everyone is not accustomed to working from home yet and a virtual tour from someone more experienced may help ease anxiety and provide peer-to-peer teaching. I

Activity #17. Scavenger Hunt

A scavenger hunt can either be done in person or online. If you are doing it remotely, you can use a program like Zoom to break everyone into small groups. Give each group a list of items they need to find and set a time limit. The first team to find all the items (or the team with the most items) wins.

You can make the scavenger hunt related to work or you can make it more general. If you want to make it work-related, you can have teams find things like “a picture of someone wearing a hard hat” or “an item that starts with the letter E”. If you want to make it more general, you can have teams find items like “a picture of a pet” or “an item that is green”.

Final Thoughts about Problem Solving Activities

There are many benefits in the workplace to executing problem solving activities, whether in person or remotely. You can even conduct team building activities outdoors for a nice change of pace.

Team building exercises like these can help build rapport, provide peer-to-peer teaching opportunities, and help with critical thinking skills .

The most important thing is to find something that works for your team and that everyone is comfortable with. And with a little creativity, you can find ways to build your team no matter where they are located. You don’t need to be in close proximity to grow closer .

If you have children, you may want to check out 11 Fun Problem Solving Activities for Kids and 21 Fun Team Building Activities for Kids , as it’s never too young to teach this valuable skill.

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Problem Solving Activities to Improve Team Creativity

Problem Solving Activities to Improve Creativity

“Every problem has a solution. You just have to be creative enough to find it.”                                                                                                               – Travis Kalanick

Problem-solving is a skill that undoubtedly comes into play to improve creativity, execute and deliver projects delightfully. Strong problem-solving skills to improve creativity is a crucial asset for any team. Whether you’re a manager or fresher, easy problem-solving tactics will help you glide over tough decision-making faster and approach problems smartly.

For example, in project management, your team might find itself questioning things like “How would we handle tight deadlines while maintaining the quality consistently?” or “How do we ensure that we effectively track progress on multiple projects?”.

These are common challenges that are bound to arise on the job. However, being prepared and having the ability to handle difficult or unexpected situations is what will guide you to the end.

Luckily, there are many ways to develop problem-solving skills to create innovative solutions. Here’s how one can rewire the brain for problem solving and creativity. Let’s start with the basics!

What Are Problem Solving Activities?

Simply put, problem-solving activities are activities that help in building the capability to solve problems and overcome challenges. While finding effective solutions to complex problems isn’t easy, a step-by-step process of solving the problem at hand ensures that you implement the most effective solution.

One can resolve almost any problem by using the right techniques learned through various problem-solving exercises. All processes of problem-solving begin with identifying and defining the problem. Thereafter, one evaluates the possible course of action and selects the best approach for solving the problem.

For example, if you are starting an online store and have listed down all possible problems that can arise in the process, with the right problem-solving techniques you cannot only eliminate those issues but also can bring out the best possible solution to help you scale and grow. 

Problem-solving activities are highly sought-after activities that help in imbibing key problem-solving skills.

Let’s take a look at these skills.

  • Analytical skills
  • Adaptability, Quick thinking ability
  • Logical reasoning
  • Communication skills
  • Perseverance, Motivation skills
  • Collaboration
  • Team skills
  • Cooperation
  • Decision-making skills, Leadership skills
  • Visual perception skills
  • Critical thinking skills, Negotiation skills

Read More: Excel in Project Execution With These 5 Surefire Tips

The Importance of Developing Problem Solving Skills in Today’s Workplace

You may question: How will I benefit from developing problem-solving skills in my team members? Are these skills important for my team to attain business goals?

Well, have you ever found yourself saying, “Let’s think outside the box for this project” to your team? We are certain that you have, and that is exactly why you need to understand what it takes to level up your team’s ability to convert problems into actionable solutions for the team to succeed together. After all, company performance is closely tied to improving team members’ problem-solving skills.

Good problem-solving skills encourage quick and creative thinking, leading to better decision-making and ultimately increased company growth. Teams and leaders who approach problems thoughtfully perform better and find realistic solutions.

Let’s take a step back and understand ‘ What it takes ?’ to level up your team’s ability to convert problems into actionable solutions.

The secret to a thriving business lies in solving problems effectively. This is where good teams outshine the mediocre ones, isn’t it?

So how do the good teams do it?

Good teams approach problems in a fresh and creative manner at every step of the way. They have learned how to generate ideas and come up with out-of-the-box solutions. 

Guess what they have mastered?

Yes, problem-solving skills!

Here are a few advantages that you should expect from your teams that have acquired problem-solving skills:

1. Better risk handling

Managing risk means acknowledging that undesired or uncertain events may occur at any stage of the process. Problem-solving skills help in being confident of your capability to turn risks into opportunities by going beyond the expected.

2. Better communication

Problem-solving skills equip you with solving issues in a way that minimizes accusations and brings about a resolution regarding the problem. This efficient approach helps foster intra-team communication eventually leading to better understanding.

3. Improved productivity output

Adopting problem-solving techniques at the workplace has a positive impact on total productivity . Problem-solving skills help in implementing solutions in an effective and timely manner without any hindrance.

4. A proactive mindset

A proactive mindset enables identifying and executing the solution to a specific problem. Defining, generating, evaluating, and selecting the best solution is possible only when one has mastered the problem-solving skill.

Remember that not all problems are the same. Moreover, it is unlikely that the same solution will work each time for a particular problem. Scope and type of problems will vary according to the size, type, and goals of an organization. Likewise, solutions will be different for each. Thus, problem-solving skills are absolutely invaluable at the workplace.

20 Fun Problem Solving Activities to Improve Creativity

Problem-solving activities help in developing the skill of problem-solving by practicing exercises to equip a team or an individual with a convincing ability to handle and overcome problems and challenges. The below activities guide through the set of actions, approaches, and processes that one should undertake for devising strategies for solving a problem creatively.

1. Dumbest Idea First

Helps With: Creative problem solving

Why is creative problem solving important for problem-solving?

Creative problem solving allows you to relax your assumptions and approach a problem in an imaginative, unconventional way. The skill focuses on divergent thinking, thus redefining problem-solving.

What you’ll need: Nothing!

Directions:

Yes, this is an important activity for problem-solving. Encourage everyone to voice the absolute random and dumb solution to the problem in front of them. Who knows, you might just get an idea that can be shaped into an effective solution.

Come to think of it, most successful start-up ideas once seemed like the dumbest!

2. 40-20-10-5 

Helps With: Analytical skill

Why is an analytical skill important for problem-solving?

Analytical skill helps in assessing information and finding solutions using knowledge, facts, and data. This skill ensures that any solutions you implement are backed up logically and have been adequately thought out.

To apply this rule, explain your problem in 40 words. Cut it down to 20, then to 10, and finally to 5 words. This 5-word problem statement is the root of your problem and maybe even the solution!

3. Brainstorm Ideas

Helps With: Lateral Thinking

Why is Lateral Thinking important for problem-solving?

Lateral Thinking involves generating ideas using an indirect and creative approach that is not immediately obvious. It deals in insight restructuring and consciously coming up with alternative solutions for the given problem.

Brainstorming ideas is a powerful and one of the best problem-solving activities to get your team’s creative juices flowing.

The purpose of this activity is to produce as many new and creative ideas as possible.

Once the list of ideas is ready, you can then go on to explore the feasibility of each idea to arrive at the most suitable one.

4. Gamification

Helps With: Perseverance, Motivation skill

Why is perseverance important for problem-solving?

Perseverance is being absolute in purpose to continue in the pursuit of an idea or a goal despite setbacks and roadblocks. The quality is a given if you wish to develop the skill of problem-solving.

Why is motivation skill important for problem-solving?

Motivational skills can be defined as actions or strategies that elicit a desired behavior or response. To solve a problem, deriving self-motivation to get to the core of the problem is foremost.

We all have heard the phrase, “Work Hard, Play harder”. Guess it’s time to incorporate it into your work routine!

Gamification will turn ‘work’ into an entertaining and fun activity. You are required to set different types of rules and objectives for the team which they have to follow to earn desirable rewards that will let them win the game or should we say, solve the problem?

5. Shrinking Vessel

Helps With: Adaptability, Quick thinking ability

Why is adaptability important for problem-solving?

Organizations that can adapt quickly have an obvious advantage over their competitors as they have conditioned themselves to effortlessly adapt to changing circumstances while facing problems.

Why is quick thinking ability important for problem-solving?

If you are a quick thinker, that means that you act on problems easily, while being efficient and accurate in thought.

What you’ll need: A Rope/String

A Shrinking Vessel is a problem-solving activity with a simple concept. The idea is that you are in a situation of a sinking ship.

There is a predetermined space for the activity and the teams are divided equally. The entire team must work together to occupy a space, marked with a rope/string, that shrinks over time. It is the perfect game to bond with your teammates and craft a stellar creative strategy to be the last one standing.

6. Egg Drop Idea

Helps With: Logical reasoning

Why is logical reasoning important for problem-solving?

Logical reasoning measures your ability to reason logically by observing and analyzing circumstances. Logical reasoning aids in arriving at a rational conclusion about how to proceed.

What you’ll need: newspaper, plastic wrap, cotton, socks, and a handkerchief

The egg drop project involves designing a package or a container with everyday items that will keep an egg intact when dropped from a height.

Sounds fascinating, right?

It sure is! You can use whatever items or construction material you find around you and deem fit to save an egg. Some items that you may find around easily are newspaper, plastic wrap, cotton, socks, and handkerchief.

Reach out for these and more to save your egg!

Helps With: Communication

Why is communication important for problem-solving?

Being an effective communicator is essential to succeed and progress at the workplace. This is because one needs to successfully communicate ideas and recommendations for daily tasks and projects.

What you’ll need: Lego pieces

This is one of the most interesting team-building activities. This activity is all about observation and retention of design. For this activity, select an impartial individual to construct a random figurine using Legos in under 5 minutes.

Next, the competing teams have to replicate this structure in 10 minutes.

Sounds easy, right? Well, there’s a catch!

Only one person is allowed to look at the figurine at a time. The person has to then communicate the parameters like size, shape, color, etc. to his/her team members. Now, that’s some team-building activity!

8. Stranded

Helps With: Decision-making skill

Why is decision-making skill important for problem-solving?

Problem-solving and decision-making skills go hand in hand at work. Decision-making is an ongoing process in every organization whether big or small. Decision-making skills help in choosing between two or more alternatives to arrive at the best solution to implement.

What you’ll need: A room that can be locked

The setting is that your team will be locked in a room and will be given 30 minutes to choose 10 items that they will need for survival. Also, the items have to be chronologically listed.

9. Reverse the Pyramid

Helps With: Adaptability, Collaboration

Having adaptability skills means embracing problems with optimism. Adaptability reflects your willingness to respond to changing circumstances.

Why is collaboration important for problem-solving?

In the words of Peter Senge, “Collectively, we can be more insightful, more intelligent than we can possibly be individual”.

Collaboration facilitates the free exchange of ideas, knowledge, perspectives, and experiences leading to enhanced innovation.

This is one of the best problem-solving exercises for teams.

Make a team. Ask everyone to stand in the shape of a pyramid. Next, ask them to flip the base and the apex moving only 3 people.

Whichever team moves and forms the reverse pyramid fastest wins the activity.

10. Word on the Street

Helps With: Team skills

Why are team skills important for problem-solving?

Building strong team skills enables team members to come together for a common purpose. Employing team skills for problem-solving is a hallmark of high-performing teams.

It’s a fairly simple technique that involves interviewing all team members to gain their perspective on the solution that has been arrived at for a specific problem.

11. Human Knot

Helps With: Collaboration, Communication skills

Why are communication skills important for problem-solving?

When teams come together to solve a problem, no problem is big enough. Together, a team can overcome even the most difficult of obstacles. Active listening skills are an important element of communication skills.

Get ready for an entertaining problem-solving group activity!

Make everyone stand in a circle. Next, ask each one to hold hands with two people who aren’t directly standing next to them.

Now, ask them to untangle themselves and form a circle without letting go of anyone’s hand. Believe us, it’s going to be super fun watching them twist and turn to form the perfect circle.

12. Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower

Marshmallow Spaghetti Tower

Helps With: Collaboration

What you’ll need: Uncooked spaghetti, 1 marshmallow, tape, and a string/thin rope

In this activity, you simply have to make the tallest tower within the set amount of time.

You’re given a handful of supplies to work with. Your task is to build the tallest free-standing tower that supports a marshmallow at the top of the tower! You’re given 18 minutes to complete the challenge.

13. Minefield

Helps With: Team skill, Trust

Why is trust important for problem-solving?

A well-analyzed solution will fail if the team lacks trust while implementing the solution. Building trust within the team is the first step towards problem-solving.

What you’ll need: An empty room, blindfolds, common office items like table, chair, bag, bottle

Place some objects like a table, chair, bag, bottle, etc. on the floor to act as obstacles in this activity.

Divide teams into pairs and blindfold one of them. The person who is not blindfolded has to verbally guide the person in blindfolds to the other end of the room, avoiding the ‘mines’.

14. Bonding Belt

Helps With: Cooperation

Why is cooperation important for problem-solving?

Cooperation for problem-solving means being part of a cooperative team that identifies and listens to each other’s perspectives on the proposed solution and works together as a team.

What you’ll need: A firm rope

Make teams of 5-6 people. Tie them together by a firm rope, tightly wrapped around their waists. Ask them to move as one unit from point A to point B in as short a time as possible. The teams have to ensure they stay ‘bonded’ as one unit.

15. Frostbite

Helps With: Decision-making skill, Leadership skill

Why is leadership skill important for problem-solving?

Leadership involves keeping the team aligned, energized, and focused on a common business goal. The ability to stimulate, challenge, and inspire others to devise creative solutions is what adds up to leadership skills .

What you’ll need: An electric fan, a packet of construction materials like card stock, rubber bands, and sticky notes, etc, a blindfold

The scenario for this creative problem-solving activity is that your team is on arctic exploration. You have to separate everyone into different teams of 4-5 members. Each team will choose a leader among themselves who will lead them on this activity. The teams have to construct a shelter to protect themselves from the storm that will hit in precisely 30 minutes. The catch is that the team leaders will not work as they can’t move their hands due to frostbite. Further, all other team members are temporarily blind due to snow blindness. After the time is up, you can turn on the fan and see whose shelter can endure the high winds of the storm. Come on, let’s see which team withstands the snowstorm!

16. Idea Mock-Up

Helps With: Analytical skill, Decision making skill

In this activity, the solutions to your problems are supposed to be projected via mock-ups to ascertain the best solution for the given problem. This enables receiving the most accurate feedback on the proposed solutions.

17. Futures Wheel

Helps With: Visual perception skill

Why is visual perception skill important for problem-solving?

Visual perception skills are the ability to make sense of what the eyes see. It involves organizing and interpreting the information and giving it meaning.

What you’ll need: Pen and paper

If you’re looking to explore the structural consequences of a proposed solution, then this activity is your best bet.

You start with writing the name of the topic in the center. Next, you form the first layer of the wheel with consequences to the solutions. In the next layer, you may go deep into the consequences of these consequences themselves. Jot these down in the order of importance. Analyze each aspect and complete this activity within a time period of about 30 minutes.

This visual technique will make it easier for you to outline the best method to go ahead with to attain the desired outcome.

18. Be a Character

Helps With: Initiative

Why is initiative important for problem-solving?

Taking initiative is the ability to independently assess problems and initiate action to attain solutions. It is a self-management skill and requires rational persistence to be able to solve a problem successfully.

Fancied being an imaginary character from a movie or block? Or just fancied being a famous personality?

Well, now is the time to bring out your inner persona and approach the given problem with the outlook and the perspective of the character or person who you’ve always admired. Embody the character for 15 minutes and see how you approach the situation at hand.

19. End in Mind

According to Dr. Stephen R. Covey, all things are created twice – first in the mind and then in the real world.

Logical reasoning helps you reason through ideas and decisions following a series of steps to conclude. This approach leads to efficient problem-solving.

The end in mind activity allows you to question the ‘What’, ‘Why’, and ‘How’ of any problem. It brings purpose and clarity to the solution you seek. You basically backtrack your way into finding a solution.

20. Stop, Start, Continue

Helps With: Critical thinking skill, Negotiation skill

Why is critical thinking important for problem-solving?

Critical thinking refers to the ability to use knowledge, facts, and data to effectively share thoughts and make justifiable decisions. The skill includes analyzing information and formulating creative solutions to complex problems.

Why is negotiation skill important for problem-solving?

Having negotiation skills does not mean that you give in or instantly compromise every time someone disagrees with you. Having this skill means demonstrating open-mindedness to prospects and team members. Active listening is crucial to develop this skill.

A Stop, Start, Continue Approach is a feedback framework made up of three things that a team should stop doing, three things that a team should start doing, and three things that a team should continue doing as they move forward to achieve their problem-solving objectives.

The purpose of the above-listed activities is to train your mind to think about how to solve a problem in new ways and for greater success. The purpose is also to have some fun through these activities while upgrading your skills.

Read More: How to Solve Project Management Problems in The Modern Workplace

The 10-Step Process of Problem Solving Ability

This simple 10-step process will guide you in solving problems to improve creativity.

  • Define the Problem
  • Analyze the Problem
  • Specify Underlying Causes
  • Brainstorm Ideas
  • List Possible Solutions
  • Create Solution Mock-Ups
  • Measure the Business Impact
  • Establish the Best Possible Solution
  • Implement the Solution
  • Evaluate Progress

Read More: 16 Best Project Management Softwares for Creative Teams

The Four P’s to Problem Solving

The problem-solving process is cyclic in nature. This is because there are bound to arise new problems while managing a project that accordingly demands new solutions.

This is where you measure, understand, and diagnose the problem that you wish to solve. The activities 40-20-10-5 and Dumbest idea first help in initiating a problem-solving process.

This is where you organize everything and generate possibilities through activities like Brainstorming and Word of mouth .

This is where you visualize and execute your plan. Activities like Futures wheel and Stop, start, continue fall in this stage of problem-solving.

This is where you analyze the solution and check for further improvement. Stranded and Shrinking Vessel are the activities that develop decision-making skills leading to problem-solving.

Face Challenges Head-on With Quick and Easy Problem Solving Activities

Doesn’t it look like it’s all under control now? Well, to be perfectly honest, it takes time and practice to be an effective problem solver.

The way we approach problems at the workplace can be improved by indulging in proven activities that help build problem-solving skills to improve creativity.

Once you have covered the basics of how to go about the problem-solving process and have a can-do mindset, we are sure that there is absolutely nothing that can deter you from confronting problems head-on.

The listed activities are the easiest mechanism to follow to master the skill of effective problem-solving at the workplace. This course of action will enable you to exert full control towards sure shot success in improving creativity with constructive problem-solving activities.

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David Miller

About the author

David miller.

David is a Project Management expert. He has been published in elearningindustry.com , simpleprogrammer.com . As a project planning and execution expert at ProProfs, he has offered a unique outlook on improving workflows and team efficiency. Connect with David for more engaging conversations on Twitter , LinkedIn , and Facebook .

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Team Building Exercises – Creativity

Strengthening creative thinking in your team.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

creative problem solving exercises

Jessica has a great team. Each person she manages is capable, experienced and hard working. But in team meetings, people seem reluctant to share insights and ideas.

What's more, even though everyone respects one another's views, they seem afraid to say things that might be perceived as silly, off-the-wall or wrong.

Jessica wants her team meetings to buzz with activity. She pictures a scene where people bounce ideas around, inspiring and challenging one another with their creativity and passion. But the reality is quite different.

What can Jessica do to invigorate team meetings and give people the confidence to join in and be more creative?

This article looks at five team-building activities you can use to strengthen your team members' creative thinking and collaboration skills.

Supporting Creative Thinking

Creativity is essential for driving innovation and a commercially competitive spirit. Yet, as organizations grow, the structures they put in place to improve productivity and efficiency often stifle creativity.

When organizations focus on productivity, they impose rigid procedures that make it difficult for team members to be creative, so it's important that managers support creative thinking. According to business and management professors Nora Madjar, Greg Oldham and Michael Pratt , employees who felt they were supported in their creative endeavors demonstrated significantly greater creativity than those who didn't. [1]

Research also shows that managers who make it clear that they expect team members to work creatively are perceived as being more supportive of new ideas. [2] One way to do this is through creative thinking exercises that enhance and encourage creativity in your team.

Creativity exercises also help people relax and de-stress. By encouraging play, interaction and bonding, they also help to increase engagement and improve morale.

Creativity Exercises

Use the exercises below to help your team think more creatively , or to "jump-start" a stalled problem-solving session.

You can use them in various ways, for example with department-specific or cross-functional teams . You could also use them to strengthen trust and communication between senior leaders, middle managers and front-line employees.

Exercise 1: Brainstorming

No article about promoting creativity in groups would be complete without the all time classic – Brainstorming .

Use brainstorming whenever you need to generate new ideas. Deciding which ideas to use comes later.

People and Materials

  • Someone to record ideas.
  • Something to record them on: sticky notes, a whiteboard, a flip chart, etc.
  • Sticky dots.
  • Flexible: typically 15-20 minutes.

Instructions

Brainstorming was the brainchild of advertising executive, Alex Osborne, and quickly became the most widely used creativity technique in the world. Today, there are many different versions of the rules, but there were only four in Osborne's original account:

  • Focus on quantity.
  • Withhold criticism.
  • Welcome unusual ideas.
  • Combine ideas and link them together.

Advice for the Facilitator

By the end of the activity, your team should have come up with a large number of ideas, some of which could have great potential.

Rather than treating the exercise as an end in itself, and letting all those ideas go to waste, use Affinity Diagrams to group related ideas together. Then, invite people to vote on their favorite ideas using the sticky dots, and discuss why they thought those were the best. You could then schedule a follow-up session for the team to come up with a plan for implementing their ideas.

If there is time at the end of the brainstorming session, ask the participants whether they thought it was a useful exercise in terms of team building as well as idea generation. Discuss what skills people need to participate fully, such as listening , encouraging , and persuading others .

Exercise 2: Debate

Psychology Professor Charlan Nemeth, of Berkeley and the London Business School, challenges the orthodox view of brainstorming. Her research showed that the instruction not to criticize the ideas generated can be counterproductive. [3] Instead, brainstorming participants who freely debated came up with significantly more and better ideas, both in their meeting and afterwards, than their counterparts who conformed to the usual rules. Nemeth’s theory is that dissent invigorates our thinking, even if it can feel difficult.

This exercise gives your team the chance to experience increased creativity through debate. Together they’ll practice being open to hearing and suggesting new ideas, and help break down barriers to their performance in the future.

  • Present your group with a problem that needs to be solved.
  • Ask them to generate as many ideas as possible.
  • Freewheeling is welcome – encourage team members to say anything that comes to mind.
  • Encourage debate and discussion of ideas as they arise.

During a debating session, discussion – and even criticism – of one another's ideas is to be encouraged, but it is important that the participants focus on the problem at hand, and criticism is not allowed to become personal. You may wish to borrow the "rules" of Constructive Controversy to keep the debate positive and cooperative.

At the end of the session, ask each person to write down any ideas they had during the session that they did not express, and also any ideas they may have had now that the discussion is over. Don't force people to share these ideas publicly, but discuss, first, their reasons for not expressing ideas – was it a case of self-censorship, fear of disapproval, or simply that someone else was speaking at the time, and the moment passed?

Second, talk about the ideas that people had after the session was complete. Discuss how debating with others stimulates your thoughts. Sometimes, you need time to digest all that has been said so that, after a period of reflection, yet more ideas are generated. Talk also about how individuals felt when others criticized their ideas. Did it shut them down, or open them up to new perspectives?

When all the ideas have been collated, encourage the group to reach a consensus on the best solution using a technique like Multi-Voting , and consider arranging a follow-up session to begin implementing the best ideas.

Exercise 3: Rolestorming

Rolestorming is a type of roleplay activity. It's great for encouraging team members to lose their inhibitions by adopting another character. It also helps them explore different perspectives and opinions, opening their minds to different viewpoints and helping them come up with new ideas in the process.

Team members are asked to approach a specified problem or issue from someone else's perspective. This could be a world leader, a celebrity, a hero, another member of the company or team, or even a family member.

Use this exercise to help cross-functional teams understand one another's roles better. This is also an ideal activity for exploring ways to improve company procedures, by removing bottlenecks and making handovers between teams more efficient.

Rolestorming can also be used any time you need to spark fresh ideas and re-energize a brainstorming or problem-solving session.

  • Any number of team members – people can work on their own, or in pairs or small groups.
  • A list of "role models," each written on a small slip of paper. There should be enough role models for everyone taking part in the exercise.
  • Paper and a pencil for each person to jot down notes.
  • Flexible: Typically 15-20 minutes.
  • Ask everyone on your team to take a slip of paper.
  • Make sure each person knows who their role model is before you begin the activity. If they're unfamiliar with this person, let them choose again.
  • Tell everyone to think like their role model: how would this person approach the problem? Give them ten minutes to come up with as many ideas as possible.
  • Once the time is up, discuss each person or group's approach to the problem.

Write everyone's ideas on a whiteboard. Talk about how this activity helped them break their current thinking patterns and come up with fresh ideas.

If the activity involved pretending to be someone else from the group, consider allowing that person to give their perspective and facilitate further discussion about the implications of their role that may not be obvious to "outsiders." This will help the team to understand one another's roles and responsibilities more clearly, so that they can work together more efficiently in future.

Use role models that everyone will be familiar with.

If you are asking team members to think like one another, it may be safer to ask them to think like an unnamed person in that role (an account manager, a developer, a project manager, etc.), rather than risk things becoming personal.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to use leaders in the business world. Well-known figures from literature, history, movies, politics, and pop culture would work as well. Some examples include:

  • Sir Richard Branson.
  • Hillary Clinton.
  • Steve Jobs.
  • Mahatma Ghandi.

Exercise 4: Balloon Sculptures

Encouraging your team to "think out of the box" can be a great way to get them to drop their defenses and connect with one another.

In " Quick Team Building Activities for Busy Managers ," Brian Cole Miller suggests getting your team members to make balloon sculptures that reflect how they see the team. [4] For example, balloons that are linked together could represent interdependence, while ones that are touching show connectivity.

This team building activity spurs creative thinking and helps team members express their commitment to the group. It's also useful as a way to discuss difficulties and communication breakdowns when people are not cooperating well.

  • One long balloon for each team member, along with spares.
  • A number of balloon pumps (not necessary but helpful).

Instead of using balloons, you can build sculptures with building blocks, or even with your organization's products.

  • Give one balloon to each member of your team. Demonstrate how to blow the balloons up, leaving an inch or more at one end to give enough room to twist the balloon into the sculpture without bursting it.
  • Tell everyone to work together to build a balloon sculpture that represents the team.

The informal nature of this activity can be particularly useful for building a team where individuals have different levels of authority. Often at work, participants lower down the organizational hierarchy feel inhibited by a more senior person's status. A non-threatening activity like this, which does not call for people to demonstrate great knowledge or skills, can help people connect with one another.

Often, different roles will emerge within the group that do not reflect their formal roles in the organization. Natural leaders may emerge to organize the activity, and people who typically perform very structured roles may demonstrate surprising creativity and flair.

Once the activity is finished, talk to your team about their experience. Ask what they have learned about other participants that they didn't know before, and how they think this activity will benefit future teamwork. Consider conducting a Team Management Profile based on the exercise.

To complete the exercise ask a representative from the team to present the finished sculpture to you, to the group – or even to another team at work – and discuss what the final design represents.

Exercise 5: All the News

In " The Big Book of Leadership Games ," Vasudha Deming suggests this exercise, in which you ask your team to mock up a newspaper predicting future events in your organization. [5]

All the News allows team members to get creative about what they think will happen in the organization or department in the future. It also promotes collaboration, loyalty and a sense of empowerment, as they develop an appreciation of how each participant is capable of shaping future outcomes.

You may prefer to keep this activity for an occasion when you can dedicate more time to it, such as at a team building Away Day or company retreat .

  • Enough people for groups of three to four participants, or a larger group of six.
  • Photocopies of the instructions for each group.
  • A flip chart and marker.
  • Tape, scissors, glue sticks, and plenty of newspapers (spanning different days) for each group.

45 minutes to one hour.

  • Each group will put together a newspaper using headlines only (not full stories). If you have one large group, ask them to create a complete paper. If you have several small groups, ask each to create a different section of the newspaper.
  • With the help of the participants, list the different sections (international news, local news, sports, arts and entertainment, and so on) on the flip chart. Assign sections to each group.
  • Pass out the instruction sheet and go over it so that everyone understands what they're doing. Remember, the group will create a newspaper, or newspaper section, out of headlines only. Ask them to "report" on predicted events. Be creative in how you interpret each section. You could, for example, use the obituary section to cover future "deceased" policies, products or procedures.
  • Once everyone has finished, put the newspapers up on the wall so everyone can read them.

At the end of the activity, talk with your team about how it helped foster collaboration and spur creative thinking. Discuss Tuckman's stages of team formation and the Four Dimensions of Relational Work , and look at how the group evolved. What roles emerged? Did anyone adopt the role of "editor," for example, and how did everyone else feel about that?

Ask everyone how they came to an agreement about what to put in the paper. Encourage participants to discuss the implications of particularly interesting stories. What inspired them? What emotions do they arouse in others? Do people agree or disagree with the vision of the future that they convey? And what, if anything, do they think should be done about it?

Consider bringing the group together again some months later to revisit their newspaper and see if their vision of the future has changed at all. What do they think of their headlines now?

Creative thinking is essential in organizations today. It is necessary for driving innovation and competitive spirit and an excellent way to promote team building, communication, trust, and problem solving skills.

One of the best ways to build creative thinking skills is to use exercises that encourage "out-of-the-box" thinking. Five examples of creative team building exercise are:

  • Brainstorming
  • Rolestorming
  • Balloon Sculptures
  • All the News

[1] Madjar, N., Oldham, G.R., and Pratt, M.G. (2002) 'There's No Place Like Home? The Contributions of Work and Nonwork Creativity Support to Employees' Creative Performance,' Academy of Management Journal , Volume 45, Number 4, August 2002. (Available here .)

[2] Tierney, P. and Farmer, S. (2004) 'The Pygmalion Process and Employee Creativity,' Journal of Management , Volume 30, Number 3, June 2004. (Available here .)

[3] Nemeth, C. J., Personnaz, B., Personnaz, M., and Goncalo, J.A. (2004) 'The liberating role of conflict in group creativity: A study in two countries,' European Journal of Social Psychology , 34, 365-374. (Available here .)

[4] Miller, B. (2003). " Quick Team-Building Activities for Busy Managers ." New York: AMACOM.

[5] Deming, V. 2004. " The Big Book of Leadership Games ." McGraw-Hill.

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22 Creative Design Thinking Exercises to Bring Your Team Closer Together

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Design thinking exercises are crucial in fostering creative problem-solving, collaboration, and innovation. These exercises engage participants in a structured and iterative problem-solving approach, enabling them to explore, understand, and address complex challenges effectively.

Key takeaways:

  • Design thinking exercises are structured activities or methods used to encourage and facilitate collaboration.
  • These exercises foster creativity providing structured but open-ended frameworks for problem-solving.
  • The list of design thinking exercises is huge; in this article, we elaborate on 22 of them.

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What is the Purpose of Design Thinking Exercises?

The primary purpose of design thinking exercises is to cultivate empathy and a deep understanding of users’ needs and perspectives. By encouraging participants to step into users’ shoes through empathy mapping and user interviews, design thinking helps uncover valuable insights that inform the design process.

These design thinking workshops create a user-centered environment that encourages collaboration and creativity. These activities empower design teams to challenge assumptions, explore diverse perspectives, and approach problems from multiple angles.

Design Thinking Exercises for Empathy and User Research

These design thinking activities enable teams to gain empathy and a user-centric perspective during the research phase, informing the design process and ensuring solutions align with user needs.

  • Empathy mapping : Create visual representations of user perspectives by capturing their thoughts, feelings, actions, and aspirations. This exercise helps teams develop a deeper understanding of users’ experiences.
  • Persona development : Create fictional user personas representing different user segments based on research and insights. Personas humanize user data, making it easier for teams to empathize and design for specific user groups.
  • Customer journey mapping : Visualize users’ end-to-end experience as they interact with a product or service. This exercise helps identify pain points, opportunities, and moments of delight throughout the user journey.

Ideation and Brainstorming Exercises

team collaboration talk communication 1

Ideation and brainstorming exercises are essential to the design thinking process , aiming to generate a range of ideas and possible solutions. Designers use these exercises to foster creativity, drive collaboration , and explore new possibilities.

SCAMPER is an acronym that stands for S ubstitute, C ombine, A dapt, M odify, P ut to another use, E liminate, and R everse. This technique prompts designers to creatively explore different dimensions of a concept or problem, encouraging alternative perspectives and generating fresh ideas.

Brainstorming sessions

Brainstorming is a group activity that encourages free thinking and the rapid generation of ideas. Participants share their thoughts, build on each other’s suggestions, and explore various possibilities without judgment or criticism.

Crazy 8s is a fast-paced exercise that challenges participants to sketch eight ideas in eight minutes. This time-constrained activity encourages rapid ideation and pushes participants to think outside the box, resulting in diverse concepts.

Mind mapping and concept mapping

Mind mapping and concept mapping are visual techniques that help organize thoughts and ideas. By creating diagrams or visual frameworks, designers can explore connections, relationships, and associations between different concepts, stimulating further ideation.

Design studio workshops

Design studio workshops unite cross-functional team members to generate ideas and potential solutions collaboratively. Participants share their perspectives, expertise, and insights through structured exercises and facilitated discussions, resulting in more comprehensive and well-rounded concepts.

Worst possible idea

This exercise challenges participants to devise the worst possible ideas or solutions deliberately. By exploring extreme and unconventional concepts, designers can break free from conventional thinking and uncover unexpected insights or alternative paths.

The 5 Ws and H ( W ho, W hat, W hen, W here, W hy, and H ow) is a questioning technique that prompts participants to analyze and explore different aspects of a design challenge. By systematically considering these elements, designers can uncover new perspectives, identify potential gaps, and generate innovative solutions.

Prototyping and Testing Exercises

idea design brainstorm 1

These prototyping and testing exercises offer valuable opportunities for designers to gather feedback, iterate on ideas, and validate design concepts.

Paper prototyping

Paper prototyping is a low-fidelity technique where designers create rough sketches or wireframe mockups on paper. This exercise lets designers quickly iterate and gather feedback on a design concept’s overall layout, content, and flow.

Designers can use paper prototypes to simulate user interactions and test usability, compiling valuable insights before investing time and resources into digital prototypes.

Role-playing and simulation

Role-playing and simulation exercises involve participants acting out specific scenarios or user personas to understand user needs and behaviors better. By immersing themselves in the end user’s perspective, designers can empathize with their experiences, identify pain points, and uncover opportunities for improvement.

Wizard of Oz testing

Wizard of Oz testing is a technique where designers simulate the functionality of an interactive system while manually controlling it behind the scenes. This methodology allows designers to test user interactions and gather feedback without investing time and resources in developing a fully functional prototype.

By creating the illusion of an automated system, designers can observe user behavior, validate assumptions, and refine the design based on real-time feedback.

Collaborative Exercises for Teamwork and Co-creation

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Collaborative prototyping

Collaborative prototyping involves creating prototypes to test and validate design concepts within a day. Team members work in parallel on a single digital whiteboard and then collaborate using a design tool to build a prototype. By the end of the day, the team has a basic prototype to start the iterative process of prototyping and testing .

Co-design sessions

Co-design sessions bring together multidisciplinary team members and stakeholders to actively participate in the design process. These collaborative exercises foster teamwork and co-creation by leveraging the diverse perspectives and expertise of the participants. 

By involving various stakeholders in the design process, co-design sessions facilitate shared understanding, generate innovative ideas, and ensure that the final design reflects the collective input and insights of the team.

Collaborative sketching

Collaborative sketching involves team members collectively sketching ideas and concepts on a shared surface or whiteboard. This exercise encourages open collaboration and rapid idea generation.

By visually expressing their thoughts, team members can communicate ideas more effectively, stimulate creativity, and spark discussions. Collaborative sketching promotes a sense of ownership while fostering teamwork.

Storyboarding and visual storytelling

Storyboarding and visual storytelling exercises help teams convey design ideas and concepts in a narrative format. This technique involves creating illustrations or images that depict user interactions, scenarios, or journeys.

Storyboarding allows teams to visualize the user experience and identify gaps or opportunities in the design. Teams can communicate complex ideas, align design directions, and create engaging user experiences.

Design charrettes

Design charrettes are intensive collaborative workshops where team members solve design challenges within a set timeframe. These super-efficient sessions encourage active participation, foster creativity, and promote collective problem-solving.

Design charrettes often involve brainstorming, rapid prototyping, and iterative design exercises. By engaging in focused and time-constrained collaborative activities, teams can generate ideas, explore design alternatives, and make significant progress in a short period.

Design Thinking Exercises for Reflection and Learning

lo fi pencil

Rose, Thorn, Bud

The Rose, Thorn, Bud exercise is a reflection activity that encourages participants to share positive aspects (roses), areas for improvement (thorns), and potential opportunities (buds) in a given project or experience.

Rose, Bud, Thorn helps teams identify strengths, address challenges, and explore new possibilities with a structured framework for reflection. The exercise enables team members to learn from past experiences and apply those insights to future iterations or projects.

Post-it voting

Post-it voting is a simple and effective technique to gather insights and prioritize ideas within a group. Participants write their ideas or suggestions on individual sticky notes and then vote on the most valuable or relevant ones. 

This exercise promotes active participation and empowers team members to have a voice in decision-making. Post-it voting helps teams identify popular ideas, build consensus, and focus efforts on the most impactful concepts.

The Four Ls exercise ( L iked, L earned, L acked, and L onged for) provides a structured framework for reflection and feedback gathering. Participants share what they liked, learned, lacked, and longed for in a project or experience. 

The Four Ls encourages constructive feedback, helps identify areas of improvement, and uncovers growth opportunities. The exercise promotes open dialogue and creates a safe space for team members to reflect on their collective experiences and identify ways to enhance future outcomes .

Retrospective exercises

Retrospective exercises are reflective activities conducted at the end of a project or iteration to evaluate the team’s performance and identify areas for improvement. 

These exercises include team discussions, storytelling, timeline mapping, or even gamified approaches like “sailboat retrospective” or “stop, start, continue.” 

Retrospectives foster a culture of continuous improvement by providing a dedicated space for teams to reflect on their successes, challenges, and lessons learned. These exercises enable teams to optimize processes, enhance collaboration, and evolve their practices.

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

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  • 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.

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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:

The four stages of design thinking: clarify, ideate, develop, and implement

  • 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.

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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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Become a better critical thinker with these 7 critical thinking exercises

Become a better critical thinker with these 7 critical thinking exercises

Critical thinking is a skill you can use in any situation. Whether you're a student, entrepreneur, or business executive, critical thinking can help you make better decisions and solve problems.

But learning critical thinking skills isn't always an easy task. Many tools, techniques, and strategies are available, and choosing the right one can be challenging. Vague suggestions on the internet like "read more" aren't very helpful, and elaborate business examples don’t apply to many of us.

As average problem-solvers, we need actionable thinking exercises to improve our critical thinking skills and enhance our thinking processes. Regularly performing exercises that specifically stretch our decision-making and reasoning skills is the most effective method of improving our thinking abilities.

This article will explore several exercises that will help you develop critical thinking skills. Whether you are preparing for an exam, making an influential decision for your business, or going about your daily life, these fun activities can build your reasoning skills and creative problem-solving abilities.

Boost your logical thinking skills and start practicing a critical mindset with these 10 critical thinking exercises.

A Quick Look at Critical Thinking

As a thoughtful learner, you likely already understand the basics of critical thinking, but here's a quick refresher.

Critical thinking involves analyzing problems or issues objectively and rationally. Critical thinkers are able to understand their own biases and assumptions, as well as those of others. They’re also able to see the world from a different point of view and understand how their experiences impact their thinking.

Developing critical thinking skills is essential because it allows us to see things from multiple perspectives, identify biases and errors in reasoning, and be open to possible solutions. Making informed decisions is easier when we have a better understanding of the world around us.

Why We Need to Practice Critical Thinking

Critical thinking exercises: brain and four puzzle pieces

We aren't born with critical thinking skills, and they don’t naturally develop beyond survival-level thinking. To master critical thinking, we must practice it and develop it over time.

However, learning to think critically isn't as easy as learning to ride a bicycle. There aren't any step-by-step procedures to follow or supportive guides to fall back on, and it is not taught in public schools consistently or reliably. To ensure students' success, teachers must know higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) and how to teach them, research says.

Unfortunately, although teachers understand the importance of HOTS and attempt to teach it, studies show that their capacity to measure students' HOTS is low. Educator and author Dr. Kulvarn Atwal says, "It seems that we are becoming successful at producing students who are able to jump through hoops and pass tests."

As critical thinking skills become more important in higher grades, some students find it challenging to understand the concept of critical thinking. To develop necessary thinking skills, we must set aside our assumptions and beliefs. This allows us to explore and question topics from a "blank page" point of view and distinguish fact from opinion.

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7 Critical Thinking Exercises To Improve Your Critical Thinking Skills

Critical thinking exercises: steel model of the brain lifting dumbbells

The good news is that by assessing, analyzing, and evaluating our thought processes, we can improve our skills. Critical thinking exercises are key to this improvement. Our critical thinking builds and improves with regular practice, just like a muscle that gets stronger with use.

If you want to become a better critical thinker , here are some critical thinking exercises to try:

Exercise #1: The Ladder of Inference

You can exercise your critical thinking skills by using the Ladder of Inference model . This thinking model was developed by renowned organizational psychologist Chris Argyris. Each rung on the ladder of inference represents a step you take to arrive at your conclusions.

The decision-making process starts when we are faced with a problem or situation. As soon as we observe something problematic or important, we presume what is causing it, and then we use that assumption to draw conclusions. Based on those conclusions, we take action.

For example, say you're at a party and see a friend across the room. You catch their eye and wave, but they turn and walk away. Using the ladder, you might climb the rungs as follows:

  • Observe that your friend walked away.
  • Select a few details of the situation, including your wave and your assumption that they saw you.
  • Meaning is attached based on the environment, making you think your friend must have other people to talk to at the party.
  • Assumptions are made based on that meaning, assuming that means your friend doesn’t like you as much as them.
  • Conclusions are drawn from the assumption, and you determine that your friend must be mad at you or doesn't want you to be at the party.
  • Beliefs are formed, making you think you're not welcome.
  • Action is taken, and you leave the party.

In this example, you started with a situation (someone walking away at a crowded party) and made a series of inferences to arrive at a conclusion (that the person is mad at you and doesn't want you there).

The Ladder of Inference can be a helpful tool to frame your thinking because it encourages you to examine each step of your thought process and avoid jumping to conclusions. It's easy to make assumptions without realizing it, as in this scene. Perhaps your friend never even saw you wave from across the crowded room.

Exercise #2: The Five Whys

The "Five Whys" technique is an analytical skill that can help you uncover the source of a problem. The activity was created by Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of Toyota, and consists of repeatedly asking “why?” when a problem is encountered to determine its root cause.

This exercise can be difficult because knowing if you've discovered the source of your problem is challenging. The "five" in "Five Whys" is just a guideline — you may need to ask more. When you can't ask anything else, and your response is related to the original issue, you've probably arrived at the end.

Even if you need several rounds of questioning, just keep going. The important part that helps you practice critical thinking is the process of asking "why?" and uncovering the deeper issues affecting the situation.

For instance, say you're trying to figure out why your computer keeps crashing.

  • You ask " why ," and the answer is that there's a software problem.
  • Why? Because the computer keeps running out of memory.
  • Why? Because too many programs are running at the same time.
  • Why? Because too many browser tabs are open .
  • Why? Because multitasking is fragmenting your focus, you're doing too many things at once.

In this example, working through the "why's" revealed the underlying cause. As a result, you can find the best solution, which is concentrating on just one thing at a time.

Exercise #3: Inversion

Wooden blocks with seven black arrows and one red arrow

Inversion is another critical thinking exercise that you can use in any situation. Inversion is sort of like taking on the role of the devil's advocate. In this exercise, adopt the opposite view of whatever issue you're exploring and consider the potential arguments for that side. This will help broaden your critical thinking skills and enable you to see other perspectives on a situation or topic more clearly.

For example, let's say you're thinking about starting your own business. Using inversion, you would explore all of the potential arguments for why starting your own business is bad. This might include concerns like:

  • You could end up in debt.
  • The business might fail.
  • It's a lot of work.
  • You might not have time for anything else.

By exploring these potentially adverse outcomes, you can identify the potential risks involved in starting your own business and make a more sound decision. You might realize that now is not the right time for you to become an entrepreneur. And if you do start the company, you'll be better prepared to deal with the issues you identified when they occur.

Exercise #4: Argument Mapping

Argument mapping can be a beneficial exercise for enhancing critical thinking skills. Like mind mapping, argument mapping is a method of visually representing an argument's structure. It helps analyze and evaluate ideas as well as develop new ones.

In critical thinking textbooks, argument diagramming is often presented to introduce students to argument constructions. It can be an effective way to build mental templates or schema for argument structures, which researchers think may make critical evaluation easier .

Argument maps typically include the following:

  • Conclusion: What is being argued for or against
  • Premises: The reasons given to support the conclusion
  • Inferences: The connections made between the premises and conclusion

The argument map should be as clear and concise as possible, with a single word or phrase representing each element. This will help you make connections more easily. After the map is completed, you can use it to identify any weak points in the argument. If any areas aren't well-supported, additional premises can be added.

Argument mapping can be applied to any situation that requires critical thinking skills. The more time you take to map out an argument, the better you'll understand how the pieces fit together. Ultimately, this will help you think more creatively and critically, and make more informed decisions.

Exercise #5: Opinion vs. Fact

Critical thinking activities that focus on opinions and facts are particularly valuable and relevant new learning opportunities. Our constantly-connected world makes it easy to confuse opinions and facts , especially with sensationalist news articles and click-bait headlines.

How can you tell a fact from an opinion? Facts are generally objective and established, whereas opinions are subjective and unproven. For example, "the cloud is in the air" is a fact. "That dress looks good on you" is an opinion.

Practice your critical thinking skills by reading or listening to the news. See if you can identify when someone is stating an opinion rather than a fact. Ask yourself the following questions:

  • Who is saying what? What reasons might be behind their statements?
  • Does the claim make sense? Who would disagree with it and why?
  • How can you tell if the data is reliable? Can it be fact-checked? Has it been shared by other credible publishers?
  • How do you know whether or not the presenter is biased? What kind of language is being used?

This powerful exercise can train your mind to start asking questions whenever presented with a new claim. This will help you think critically about the information you're taking in and question what you're hearing before accepting it as truth.

Exercise #6: Autonomy of an Object

In her book " The Critical Thinking Tool Kit ," Dr. Marlene Caroselli describes a critical thinking exercise called "Living Problems, Lively Solutions." This exercise uses the autonomy of an object as a problem-solving tool to find a possible solution.

To do this, you'll personify your problem and place it in another context — a different time or place. This allows you to uncover unique solutions to the problem that might be tied to your mental associations with that setting.

For example, if your problem is poor time management , you might personify the issue as a thief of your time. The idea of a thief could make you think of jail, which might prompt thoughts of locking up specific distractions in your life. The idea of jail could also make you think of guards and lead you to the possible solution of checking in with an accountability buddy who can make sure you're sticking to your schedule.

The autonomy-of-object technique works because it stimulates thoughts you wouldn’t have considered without the particular context in which you place the problem.

Exercise #7: The Six Thinking Hats

Wooden blocks with different colored hats drawn on it

Designed by Edward de Bono, the Six Thinking Hats is a critical thinking exercise that was created as a tool for groups to use when exploring different perspectives on an issue. When people use other thinking processes, meetings can become challenging rather than beneficial.

To help teams work more productively and mindfully, de Bono suggests dividing up different styles of thinking into six categories, represented as hats:

  • The white hat is objective and focuses on facts and logic
  • The red hat is intuitive, focusing on emotion and instinct
  • The black hat is cautious and predicts negative outcomes
  • The yellow hat is optimistic and encourages positive outcomes
  • The green hat is creative, with numerous ideas and little criticism
  • The blue hat is the control hat used for management and organization

With each team member wearing a different hat, a group can examine an issue or problem from many different angles, preventing one viewpoint (or individual) from dominating the meeting or discussion. This means that decisions and solutions reached using the Six Thinking Hats approach will likely be more robust and effective, and everyone’s creative thinking skills will benefit.

Train Your Brain With Critical Thinking Exercises

Using critical thinking regularly in various situations can improve our ability to evaluate and analyze information. These seven critical thinking exercises train your brain for better critical thinking skills . With daily practice, they can become habits that will help you think more critically each day.

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Ask better questions and get better answers with ABLEs integrated web search, annotation and note-taking features. Check how ABLE helps you to improve your critical thinking.

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Break open your mind – Boost creative problem solving in 5 steps

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Have you ever wished you could be more creative ? Perhaps you need to solve a challenging problem or want to develop a novel idea? Or maybe you’re an organization that wants to encourage employees to be more creative in order to stay ahead of the competition? Today’s your lucky day! Read the following post to help understand and improve divergent thinking skills , which are responsible for creative thinking and problem solving.

Many people feel as though they’re just not creative types –they struggle to think outside the box or dive deep into their brain to come up with creative ideas and solutions. The good news is that you can improve your creative thinking . Specifically, you can practice something called “divergent thinking” that will help you think more creatively in the future.

“Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.” – Edward de Bono

Our team of PhDs have reviewed 100s of papers on creative problem solving, divergent thinking, associative networks, approach motivation, and incubation to bring you this post, which will hopefully be the starting point for great things to come.

Specifically, we are going to outline the key processes involved in creative thinking and give you the following 5 steps to help encourage and improve your divergent thinking and creative problem solving:

  • Exercise two types of thinking involved in creativity–divergent and convergent
  • Understand and capitalize on what happens in the brain during divergent thinking
  • Induce approach orientation before creative thinking
  • Take breaks in the process of creative thinking
  • Practice your divergent thinking skills by brainstorming, free writing, or playing a game

Step 1. Exercise two types of thinking involved in creativity–divergent and convergent

Creativity is characterized by novelty, and there are two broad processes that produce effective novelty: divergent and convergent thinking . Divergent thinking can be described as generating ideas. Convergent thinking occurs when people evaluate their ideas to reach appropriate conclusions. In this sense, convergent thinking judges the ideas that arise during divergent thinking to determine their suitability.

For example, a civil engineer might look at both steel reinforcing rods and spaghetti, and recognize that they have some similarities: long, tubular, sometimes flexible. This recognition requires observing and processing spaghetti in a different way than its intended use (divergent thinking). At this point, the engineer would assess that using spaghetti in place of metal rods would be a poor decision, and reject the idea as unfeasible (convergent thinking).

creative problem solving exercises

source – batesmeron.com

Exercise your divergent thinking. Follow these steps to test your divergent thinking skills:

  • Set a timer for three minutes.
  • Look around and find the object that is closest to you.
  • Start the timer.
  • Be as silly or “out there” as you would like.
  • Write down every idea, even if you think it’s bad.
  • When the three minutes are up, take a look at your list to see how many creative, or novel uses, you were able to come up with for the object.

Now evaluate your ideas based on the three aspects of divergent thinking:

  • Fluency – How many ideas did you come up with? Did you struggle to come up with uses, or did ideas flow quickly?
  • Flexibility – How diverse were the ideas? Did they tend to be similar to one another, or did they cut across many different types of uses?
  • Originality – How novel were the ideas? How did the uses you wrote down compare to the typical use of that object? Were they similar to the typical use or vastly different?

Exercise your convergent thinking. Next use your convergent thinking skills to determine which of the ideas is the most suitable.

Convergent thinking relies on knowledge and evaluation, which may require you to slowly build your experience and fact-base over time. By realizing that convergent thinking is a separate process from divergent thinking, you can practice allowing yourself to generate ideas without judgement. Then you can apply convergent thinking to evaluate the suitability of the ideas that you come up with through divergent thinking.

Let’s go back to the ideas generated from the divergent thinking exercise.

  • Pick out the most creative ideas you wrote down.
  • Examine each one to determine whether it is actually possible.
  • Use your logic and knowledge to narrow down the list of ideas to find the best one.

Another way to exercise your convergent thinking is with the Remote Associates Test , which presents three words and requires you to come up with a fourth word that links the original three together. For instance, when given the words “cottage”, “swiss”, and “cake”, the linking word is “cheese.”

Step 2. Understanding the importance of a defocused and associative brain

What’s happening in the brain. Before we jump into our tips for improving divergent thinking to maximize your creative potential, let’s take a look at what’s happening in the brain during divergent thinking.

Perhaps surprisingly, the brain is less active overall when engaging in divergent thinking. This is because divergent thinking leads to a state of low excitability and requires defocused attention rather than focused attention. Defocused attention allows people to process multiple aspects of a situation, and to activate additional neural structures in long-term memory (including the hippocampus and inferior frontal gyrus ) to find new associations.

Specifically, the brain activates memory traces (mostly in the left temporal, central, and parietal regions) that include primary associations, which are superficial representations. For instance, if you look at a tin can, your brain might make the primary association that it is a round, aluminum container.

This primary association is the gateway to more complex representations. For example, when your aluminum container association is activated, all other neural structures related to aluminum are also activated (e.g. pop can, window frame). Activating these secondary associations can, in turn, activate more complex and distant tertiary associations, such as recycling, durability, or even personal experiences related to tin cans. The deeper into the associative network you go, the more creative the ideas you generate are.

creative problem solving exercises

source – earth-chronicles.com

So how can you help cultivate a defocused, associative state of mind in order to improve your divergent thinking and generate more creative ideas?

Next we’ll discuss how to do just that by inducing an “ approach orientation ”, taking productive breaks, and practicing.

Step 3. Induce an approach orientation before creative thinking. That is, think about what you want to achieve, not what you want to avoid

There are two types of motivation that drive individuals – approach and avoidance motivation . When people are driven by approach motivation, they seek out what they want. In contrast, when people are driven by avoidance motivation, they try to avoid what they don’t want. For example, one person could decide to join a gym to get in shape (approach motivation), whereas another person might join a gym in order to not gain weight (avoidance motivation).

In the context of creativity, approach motivated people typically generate more creative ideas than those who are avoidance motivated. In an approach motivated state, people’s attention scope is broad, making it easier to access and restructure different mental associations . They don’t want to leave things out, even if they might be wrong.

In contrast, when in an avoidance motivated state, attentional scope is narrow, and people are more focused on local perceptual details. They don’t want to risk including something that might be incorrect. Research finds that cueing approach motivation, compared to avoidance motivation , can lead to greater creative insight and creative generation.

Getting into an approach state of mind:

  • Set aside a couple of minutes.
  • This can be anything, ranging from goals that are extremely short-term to ones that are very long-term. If you want to achieve it, write it down!
  • Make sure to include how and why achieving these goals will lead to positive outcomes in your life.

Not only does this put you in an approach state of mind, it also strengthens your goals.

Handling specific tasks or problems with an approach mindset:

What to do when you’re facing a task you really don’t want to complete or a problem you aren’t sure how to solve:

  • Think about the task.
  • For example, maybe you’re having an issue with your boss and don’t know how to talk to him or her. Instead of worrying about the outcome of your interaction, think about how overcoming this issue will be a learning experience and personal accomplishment.
  • For instance, if you resolve the issue with your boss, you will ultimately be more satisfied at work. This can have far-reaching benefits.

Step 4. Take a break.

One of the easiest ways to help your brain defocus and become more associative in order to bolster your divergent thinking skills is to simply take a break from what you’re doing.

Oftentimes when people put aside a complex problem, they experience an “aha” moment in which a solution emerges seemingly out of nowhere. Temporarily shifting focus away from an unsolved problem is called the incubation period .

Each time you come back to the problem after taking a break, you improve your performance by extending your mental search to previously unexplored areas.

Incubation is especially effective for creative problem solving. This reflects the fact that such problems often have a variety of possible solutions. When faced with a creative problem, individuals benefit from performing a wide search of their knowledge to identify as many relevant connections as possible with the presented stimuli.

Every time individuals re-approach the problem after taking a break, they improve their performance by extending their search to previously unexplored areas of their associative network.

Make the most of the incubation period

  • Take frequent breaks : By doing this, you engage in a more diverse mental search.
  • Take strategic breaks : By taking a break after you’ve spent time exhausting one line of thought, it is more likely that you will explore a new domain in your second phase of problem solving. However, the initial think-time doesn’t have to be long. It can be as short as 1 minute.
  • Take longer breaks : The longer the break you take, the more time your brain has to make associations, and the more original your ideas will be.
  • Take busy breaks: Maximize your incubation period by engaging in low demand tasks, such as easy Sudoku puzzles or simple crosswords that don’t require elaborate thought. This ensures that you actually stop directing your attention to the problem, and gives your brain a chance to process in the background.

Step 5. Practice 

In general, the best way to get better at something is to practice. There are a wide variety of methods people can use to practice divergent thinking, such as brainstorming, free writing, and playing games.

Brainstorm: Brainstorming is a tried and tested method of generating a large number of creative ideas. It’s important that when engaging in brainstorming, you do not simultaneously judge the ideas you’re generating.

Rather than putting on your convergent thinking cap, you want to remain in the divergent thinking mode and generate as many ideas as you can. Evaluating them comes later, after you’re finished brainstorming.

Pro tip : If your organization has several people working on a project, consider having them brainstorm individually before coming together to brainstorm collectively and discuss ideas. This has been shown to increase originality.

Free write : Free writing is another method of divergent thinking. When attempting to solve a problem, set aside a predetermined chunk of time (e.g., 5, 10, or 15 minutes) and record whatever ideas come to mind when writing about the problem or situation.

Don’t stop to think about what you’re writing or to proofread. Think of it as a stream-of-consciousness that should not be interrupted. When the allocated time is up, you can read through what you’ve written down and restructure or reorganize in whatever way is most useful to you.

Play a game: Games are a great and fun way to practice divergent thinking and making creative and unique associations. There are a wide range of games that capitalize on divergent thinking abilities, including Scattergories, Codenames, or Taboo .

creative problem solving exercises

source – oxfordgames.co.uk

Recap of Break open your mind – Boost creative problem solving in 5 steps

Overall, creativity and creative problem solving play important roles in not just your personal life, but your work life too. Divergent thinking is responsible for generating creative ideas, therefore it can be beneficial to capitalize on the techniques outlined in this blog. Next time you’re dealing with a problem and are having a difficult time coming up with a solution, use one (or more!) of the techniques outlined in this post.

  • Take a step back to consider the distinction between divergent and convergent thinking so that you know which type of thinking is more appropriate for the task at hand.
  • Remind yourself that it can be beneficial to be in a defocused and associative frame of mind.
  • Becoming more approach motivated – think about what you want to achieve and how it will benefit you.
  • Take a lot of breaks to stimulate incubation and more creative ideas.

creative problem solving exercises

source – unsplash.com

creative problem solving exercises

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COMMENTS

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