CREATIVE THINKING WARM-UPS - FBLA-PBL Thinking Warm-up Exercises Please do not just go with the first or obvious answer – Please play with possibilities. Please make sketches to

© Lumsdaine –Entrepreneurship, Innovation, & Creative Problem Solving | Dr. Boyce 1

Creative Thinking Warm-up Exercises

Please do not just go with the first or obvious answer – Please play with possibilities.

Please make sketches to help you visualize the problem; you will be surprised how fast

the answers will come to mind!

1. Recorded on side A of an old 45-rpm record is a musical number that lasts three

minutes and twenty seconds. How many grooves are there on side A of this old

record?

2. In a large box, there are six boxes, each of which contains three small boxes. How

many boxes are there in all?

3. Two cities are exactly 100 miles apart. Charley leaves City A driving at 30 mph and

Bertha leaves City B 30 minutes later driving 60 mph. Who will be closer to City A

when they meet?

4. How do you keep fish from smelling?

5. A woman went into a hardware store and priced certain items. She was told they

were 25 cents each. She replied, “I would like one hundred, please.” The clerk rung

up 75 cents on the register for the entire purchase. What did the woman buy?

6. A boy and a girl born on the same day of the same year with the same parents are not

twins. How is this possible?

7. Three friends are on a bike trip. When a severe storm threatens, they decide to rent a

room in a lodge instead of camping out. The proprietor quotes a price of ₤30 for the

room, so each bicyclist digs out a ten-pound note. Later, the proprietor finds that he

has overcharged the group by ₤5 and sends the errand boy to their room with the

change. The boy—of a practical mindset—thinks that the three guests would have a

hard time dividing up ₤5; thus he helps himself to two pounds (as a tip) and returns

three pounds to the guests. This means that each person in essence would have paid

₤9, with the errand boy having pocketed an additional ₤2, for a total of ₤29. Where

did the remaining pound disappear?

8. Please turn the six squares in the figure below into

five squares by moving just two lines to another

location.


Lateral Thinking Exercises

In the following problems, try to identify the problem-solving paradigm that is implied.

Then try to side-step it and look at the problem in a different way to come up with an

answer.

1. The butcher at Tony’s Meat Market is 41 years old, 6 ft 2 inches tall, wears an extra-

large shirt and a size 46 shoe. What does he weigh?

2. How many times can you take three from 25?

3. Here is an equation of Roman numerals, made with 10 sticks. It is incorrect. Can you

correct the equation without touching the sticks, adding new sticks, or taking away

any sticks?

X I + I = X

4. Shown below is a Roman numeral nine. By adding only a single line, please turn it

into a six. Please find two different ways for solving this problem.

I X

5. Take two apples from five apples. How many do you have?

6. A plane with English tourists on board flies from Holland to Spain. It crashes in

France. Where should the survivors be buried?

7. How many letters are in Mississippi?

8. What do you sit on, sleep on, and brush your teeth with?


Geometric Problems

a. Divide the triangle into four identical pieces.

b. Divide the trapezoidal shape to the right

into six identical pieces.

c. Divide the hexagon into eight symmetrical

identical pieces.

c. Divide the parallelogram into nine

identical pieces.

e. Divide the hexagon into eight

asymmetrical but identical pieces.

c. Divide the C shape into six identical pieces.


Sentence Problem

In how many ways can you complete the following sentence to get a true statement?

Please try to find at least eight different answers.

This statement has ____________________________________ “t” letters











Inventive Thinking Exercises

The Missing Baseball Problem

Inventive thinking is not limited to adults but can be done by people of all ages, as

illustrated by this problem. A young boy loved to play baseball, and he took his bat and

balls everywhere. However, when visiting his grandmother one day, he discovered that

he had brought his bat but had forgotten his balls. To prevent this from happening again,

he came up with an invention (which he patented and is now sold by Toys-R-Us). What

did he invent?

The Hanging Chain Problem

Imagine being in a totally empty room except for two chains that are hanging from the

ceiling. If you grab one by the hand and move toward the other, it is still about a foot too

far away for you to reach with your other hand. Yet the assignment is to tie the two

chains together. Describe or sketch at least two different solutions to solve the problem.

Hint: What is the real problem?

Moving the Transformer Problem

A transformer weighing two tons sits on a free-standing platform 4 ft above ground. Find

two ways for lowering the transformer to the ground without using a crane and without

destroying the platform or the transformer. Then discuss which of the solutions you

consider to be superior and why.

The Chocolate Candy Problem

You have brought a big box of chocolate candies to a party. These candies are shaped

like small bottles and are filled with thick raspberry syrup. When you pass the box

around, one of your friends wonders how the syrup was placed in the candy. Can you

think of at least two ways that these candies could be made? If you were the

manufacturer, which of your solutions would be the easiest and most economical to

produce? Would your solution work if the filling were cherry brandy, or how would you

have to change it?

The Soup Spoon Problem How could you feed one hundred people at the same time with one spoon?


Diagnostic Quiz

1. Which group was found to be the most creative?

NASA Engineers High School Teachers Homemakers Movie Producers College Students Journalists Abstract Painters First Graders

Auto Mechanics

2. Circle the figure that is different from all the others. Can you Explain why?

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e)

3. What do you see in the figure below?


5. Trace a path from Point A to Point B.

A

B

4. How many squares do you see?


Barriers to Communicating with a

Quadrant A Thinker:

__ Inarticulate, “off the track” talking.

__ Excessive chatter.

__ Vague, ambiguous instructions.

__ Illogical comments.

__ Inefficient use of time.

__ Lack of facts or data.

__ Inappropriate informality.

__ Overt sharing of personal feelings.

__ Not knowing the “right” answer.

__ Fear of challenge or debate.

__ Lack of factual “proof” for ideas.

__ Lack of clarity and precision.

__ Excessive use of hands or gestures.

__ Unrealistic touchy/feely approach.


Quadrant D Thinker:

__ Repetition.

__ Too slow paced.

__ ”Playing if safe” or “by the book.”

__ Overly structured, predictable.

__ Absence of humor and fun.

__ Lack of flexibility; too rigid.

__ Not “getting” concepts/metaphors.

__ Drowning in detail.

__ Too many numbers.

__ “Cant’s se the forest for the trees.”

__ Inability to talk about intangibles.

__ Narrow focus.

__ Resistance to new approaches.

__ Dry, boring topic or style.


Quadrant B Thinker:

__ Absence of a clear agenda.

__ Disorganized.

__ Hopping from topic to topic.

__ On and on and on and on.

__ Unpredictable.

__ Too fast paced.

__ Unclear instructions or language.

__ Too much beating around the bush.

__ Incomplete sentences.

__ Lack of closure.

__ Not letting a person finish thinking.

__ Lack of practicality.

__ Too many ideas at once.

__ Unexpected “off the wall” speech.


Quadrant C Thinker:

__ Lack of interaction.

__ No eye contact (depends on culture).

__ Impersonal approach or examples.

__ Dry, stiff, or “cold” interaction.

__ Insensitive comments.

__ No time for personal sharing.

__ Low recognition or praise.

__ Lack of respect for feelings.

__ Overly direct or brusque dialogue.

__ Critical, judgmental attitude/voice.

__ Being cut off or ignored.

__ Lack of empathy for others.

__ Avoidance of face-to-face meeting.

__ All data, no nonsense.

Barriers to Effective Communication or “What Can Drive People Crazy”

For good communication with a person with strong thinking preferences in a particular

quadrant, avoid the barriers for that quadrant.

1. Below, check the items that annoy you when done by others. Typically, the more checks

you have in a particular quadrant, the stronger your thinking preference in that quadrant.

2. Now check the barriers that you think are making your communication with others less

effective. Review this list with close friends, colleagues and family members—then learn

to overcome the most annoying habit barriers!

2-18


STRETCH~ERCISES (found by Simon Kirby, UK student, on www.creativitycentral.com)

The human mind, once stretched to a new idea, never goes back to its

original dimension.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Everyday try to do one or more of the following to enhance

CREATIVITY and brain activity:

Move your watch, ring, keys, wallet, pager, or pen to a new place for a

day, week, or month. Or do it with the wastepaper basket.

Brainstorm 25 alternate uses for a toothpick, a newspaper, a rubber

band, or an empty spool of thread.

Do all the scrabble, jumble, and puzzlers in the day’s newspaper.

Identify all the geometric shapes that you can see from where you are

standing (good exercise when you’re waiting in a queue).

Develop lots of uncommon answers to “How come it’s raining; traffic

is slow; school is out, etc.

Imagine and develop a conversation between a fishing lure & fish; a

bee & flower; a racket & ball.

Sit in a new place for meals, meetings, church, or temple.

Strike up a conversation with someone you don’t know or would

normally avoid.

Take a new or unfamiliar route to work today.

Use your non-dominant hand to eat, brush your teeth, dial the phone,

etc.

Listen to and try to appreciate a different style of music or point of

view; sample a new food in a restaurant.

Doodle through all your meetings and phone calls.

Take a walk or run—and greet each passerby with a smile.

Take regular breaks in your day to stretch and move about.

Practice telling what you like about an idea before expressing any

concerns you might have.

http://www.creativitycentral.com/

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CREATIVE THINKING WARM-UPS - FBLA-PBL Thinking Warm-up Exercises Please do not just go with the first or obvious answer – Please play with possibilities. Please make sketches to