Creative Solutions

Creative Solutions

This activity encourages creative problem solving. Pick four or more different objects, such as a coffee can, a potato peeler, a knit hat, and a book. Split students into even teams. Now present a situation where each team has to solve a problem using only those objects. These scenarios can be anything from students are stranded on a desert island and must find a way to get off or survive to students must save the world from Godzilla. Give the teams five minutes to figure out an original solution to the scenario, including ranking each object based on its usefulness. When the five minutes are up, have each team present their solution along with their reasoning to the class. (Tip: Don’t make the scenarios so easy that it is obvious which objects will be most useful.)

Group Hop

Group Hop

This activity requires coordination and communication. Divide students into groups of between four and six people. Have the students in each group stand in a straight line with their right hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them and their left leg forward so that the person in front of them can hold their ankle. The group then sees how far they can hop along together without toppling over. Once groups get the hang of hopping, you can hold a competition to see who can hop the farthest or longest.

Storytelling Round-Robin

Storytelling Round-Robin

This activity helps students pool their creative resources. Students can sit in a circle or at their desks. The teacher will begin with the first line of the story, for instance, “Once upon a time there were three children walking through the forest … .” One by one, each student adds one sentence with new details to the story. The story cannot end until every student has participated. 

Not doing what I'm doing

 Not doing what I’m doing 

This activity is aimed at practising vocabulary and the ‘present continuous’ tense. It can lead to a very nice writing activity depending on the activities chosen by the students.

Procedure 

■ Students stand in a circle. One starts miming a simple action (e.g. brushing their teeth) and the person to their right asks them what they are doing.

 ■ They respond, giving any answer except what it is they are actually doing (e.g. ‘I’m sweeping the floor’). The student who asked the question then starts miming this new action (i.e. sweeping the floor). The person to the right asks what they are doing and the process is repeated. 

Variation ■ To make the game more difficult, the teacher gives the students two letters of the alphabet, which must be the initials of whatever actions they choose (e.g. R, L: reading a letter, riding a llama, rotating a lamp).

Never have I ever game

Never have I ever

This game is suitable for groups of around 15 students but if there are more students in the class they can be divided into groups. This is a ‘getting to know each other’ game, aimed at introducing or practising the present perfect as well. 

Procedure 

■ Sitting in a circle, students take turns to say things they have never done. The game begins with students raising one hand so that the others see five fingers (or both hands so as to show ten fingers if you have more time to spend on the activity). 

■ Then students take turns to say sentences containing things they have never done in their life. It could be something like ‘Never have I been to the seaside.’ If the other students have done that (i.e. been to the seaside), they have to drop one finger, now having four fingers up and one down. 

■ Students should be instructed that the sentences have to be true and they should think of things they haven’t done but the others might have done, because their aim is to make the other students drop their fingers while they keep theirs up so as to stay in the game as much as possible.

■ The game ends when all students have dropped all fingers and the winners are the last students to have any fingers showing. 

■ A possible follow-up would be asking students to write a short paragraph/story starting with the words: ‘Never have I ever’.