Creativity can help us improve all areas of our lives. If your creativity is a bit rusty, try one of the below exercises to fire up your imagination.
Not only are these exercises fun, but they can also get you in the mood to take your creativity further.
You might want to come up with some creative ideas to bring to work, to reinvigorate your relationship or just to make better use of your space at home.
Creativity isn’t just for artists. In fact, we can use creative thinking to improve all areas of our lives from our work to our relationships.
Creativity doesn’t have to mean painting a picture or penning a poem, it can be as simple as combing two things to make something new and original.
However, often we are out of practice at being creative.
Many of us haven’t really practised creativity since school, so we may feel a bit rusty.
But we do all use creativity every day, from choosing what to wear to planning what to have for dinner or thinking through a difficult conversation we need to have.
However, if you are stuck in a rut and your life seems a little flat and uninspiring, you might like to give one of these simple exercises a try to reignite your creativity.
Creativity exercises
- Wear clothes you have never worn together before
- Create something with technology – I made a cool quote picture using photo editing software
- Do a finger painting or a potato print
- Take a new route to work
- Take pictures of ten unusual things you see today
- Draw a picture of a plant or pet
- Pick up an old creative hobby you used to enjoy, such as playing an instrument or sewing
- Do something you haven’t done since you were a child – I chose fruit picking and playing in a paddling pool
- Write a short poem, limerick or haiku about something that happened to you today.
- Stay up late and watch the stars
- Ask someone you see today what their favourite book is and why. Then borrow it and read it.
- Get up at dawn
- Listen to a radio station you’ve never heard before
- Read a children’s book you once loved or try a completely new one
- Watch a film in a genre you don’t normally choose
- Make something with modelling clay – I made a cute incense burner in the shape of a tepee
- Buy a new perfume, aftershave, essential oil or home scent to awaken your sense of smell
- Listen to a type of music you don’t normally listen to.
- Take a bus or train journey somewhere new
- Spend ten minutes cloud watching
- Try a new recipe
- Do something brave, such as stand up comedy or bungee jumping
- Create something with stuff you already have at home. I used pretty wrapping paper to cover a plain notebook and made a key charm from old buttons
- Eat ice cream on a freezing day or hot soup when it is boiling outside
- Go to a restaurant and decide to try the third thing on the menu. Order and eat it whatever it is
- Rearrange the items on a shelf or mantelpiece
- Find ten things to give away to people who would really love them
- Make a collage from scraps of paper, fabric and any other pretty bits and pieces you have around
- Refinish an item of furniture
- Ask an older friend or relative about their childhood and young adulthood. Find out what was different then
- Go on a picnic or eat in the backyard. Wrap up warm if it is snowing!
- Buy something from goodwill
- Make a cocktail
- Take a bath in the middle of the day
- Get to know an acquaintance better
- Send a postcard from your hometown
- Eat with chopsticks or your fingers
- Set the table with the best china and glassware for an everyday dinner
- Sing along to an album you haven’t listened to for years. You know, the one you know every word to but would never admit it in public!
- Make something out of an old item of clothing. There are loads of ideas online, it could be anything from a cushion cover to a handbag
- Eat dessert before dinner
- Write a letter or notecard to an older relative
- Go paddling or swimming in a lake, stream or the ocean
- Take a nap in the middle of the day
- Walk someone’s dog (with their permission of course ;))
- Go bird watching
- Try a yoga pose
- Look through old letters, photos and certificates and find things about your past that you had forgotten
- Make up a bag of treats and luxuries for next time you have a lousy day
- See if you can still do a forward roll or stand on tiptoe or touch your toes
Closing thoughts
I hope you enjoyed reading these creativity exercises and I also hope you have also planned to give one of them, or some other creative idea a try soon.
You might be amazed at how much the simplest exercises can boost your motivation, imagination and creative thinking.
Even if you don’t end up feeling more creative, though I am sure you will, you will at least have tried something different and had some fun.