Goal
In brainstorming, we often need to come up with many ideas quickly. The expectation is not that all ideas are good, or even make sense, but to explore generating ideas quickly, in a supporting environment
Level of Difficulty:
Beginner
Participants:
3+
Instructions:
Orient yourselves in a circle. Choose someone to start and they turn to the person to their left and say “here is an object”. The object should be an everyday item that folks are familiar with. For instance, a baseball glove.
The person who receives the baseball glove then identifies five, non-baseball related uses for the item. For instance:
This baseball glove is also an oven mit.
Now, the entire group counts in unison:
ONE!
This baseball glove can also act as a vase for succulents
TWO!
This glove can be a hat
THREE!
This glove could be a slipper and keep one foot warm
FOUR!
And this glove can be a pillow
FIVE! WORK THAT BRAIN OUT!
At the fifth, and last item, we add the phrase “Work that brain out” to signify the conclusion. The person who just listed five things turns to the next person in the line and the game proceeds with a different object for each person, until everyone has gone.
Remote Teams
For remote teams, explore playing Soundball or another order defining task to have a clear progression of one person to the next. To keep momentum, I suggest breakout rooms of 3-4 participants to keep the game’s speed moving.
Practical Application:
How does the ideation get easier or harder as you count up to five? Does it feel easier going first or last in the group? How might be foster creative environments to identify new ideas more?
Collaborative Improv 