When you take a long car ride with your children, do complaints of boredom and arguing siblings stress you out? I do. So before my family goes on a road trip, I would plan and pack in advance the toys, snacks, books and activities to occupy the children. This is to maintain my husband’s and my sanity while driving. We used to play ‘I spy with my little eye’ together as a family and the children would have an entertaining time guessing the object they spot from their surroundings. Now that they are older, more stimulating games are needed. Recently, I recalled the divergent thinking games I played with my students in a class on creative problem solving. These games are perfect for the long car rides and they foster collaborative learning too.
What is Divergent Thinking?
Divergent thinking is the ability to come up with multiple ideas/solutions to a problem. It is explorative in nature and encourages wild ideas. Although it does not equal creativity, divergent thinking is often used as an indicator of an individual’s creativity because coming up with multiple new ideas is a creative process that often leads to unique solutions and ideas. To develop creative and innovative thinkers, divergent thinking is definitely a skill we want our children to have.
The opposite of divergent thinking is convergent thinking, which is the ability to evaluate and identify one single/best solution to a problem. In formal schooling, we see a lot of convergent thinking taking place. Children are taught to get at the right answer in Math, Science, and even comprehension exercises. While convergent thinking develops critical and analytical thinking, there is a need for balance with divergent thinking. If the school environment does not provide enough opportunities for children to practise divergent thinking, is it any wonder that children grow up not being able to think out of the box?
The nature of divergent thinking games is to have prompts or problems that are open-ended, allowing for multiple ideas and solutions. Here are 3 games you can try playing at your next car ride.
#1 What Can This Be Used For?
Pack along a few objects and pass them around in the car, one at a time. As a family, take turns to share one possible use of them. To make it more fun, pick unusual objects where their uses may not be obvious to the kids.
Examples: Paper clip; rolled up butcher sheets; cup; flower pot; bag sealer; massager; door stopper; and nail filer.
Say: “this roll can be used as…” A roll of butcher sheets can be used as a baseball bat, a walking stick or a balance beam. Let your child imagine the roll changing in quantity, size, or length. Putting many rolls together can form a raft, a bed or the roof of a house. Children can imagine it as a long pole that serves as a pillar, for pole vaulting, or a tool to clean windows.
#2 Brainstorming Using Open-Ended Prompts
Get your kids to brainstorm as many ideas as they can based on open-ended prompts.
Examples
- Plan the most outrageous birthday party. Where will it be? When will you hold it? What food and activities will you have?
- How many ways can you think of to get an elephant into an apartment on the 10th floor?
- If you could build an underwater palace, what materials will you use? Why?
- If you could create the best backpack in the world, what special features would you want it to have? Why? (Anything is possible and the most funky idea wins!)
#3 Collaborative Story-Telling
Start a story, then have each family member add a line to develop the story. It’s good to set some rules for the game such as: the storyline can be wacky or weird but they must still make sense. The language must be polite. Nothing rude and no personal attack on their siblings.
Eg. Once, there was an unfriendly boy who didn’t have any friends…
To up the ante, prepare a few slips of paper with random words. As the story progresses, give out the slips to the children and they need to include the word in their storyline.
I hope you find these games useful and share with others.
References
- De Bono E, Zimbalist E. Lateral Thinking. Penguin; 1970
- Runco MA, Acar S. Divergent Thinking as an Indicator of Creative Potential. Creativity Research Journal. Published online January 2012:66-75. doi:10.1080/10400419.2012.652929
- Li Pamela, Divergent Thinking – 9 Powerful Ways To Nurture Your Child’s Creativity, updated on Apr 30, 2022, parentingforbrain.com