Second lowest among 64 countries, the Philippines ranked poorly in the recent creative thinking assessment by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). What does this mean for us parents and teachers as we face another school year?
It means that while we hit milestones and curriculum standards day after day, we should be strongly reminded that ultimately, we are preparing our kids to thrive in an unknown future, to be excellent in a job which may not currently exist, and to solve more distinct problems that require creative thinking, or thinking outside the box.
It does sound big and daunting – but surprisingly, five-minute activities like these added to your routine will help sharpen your kids’ minds to be the next big innovator or problem solver you aim for them to be!
Put your gazillion photos in your phone gallery to good use. This very simple task can be a good brain stimulating activity on a weekend morning for the whole family, or a prelude to a daily review of your kids’ lessons!
Material/s: A photo from your phone gallery, pen and paper
Task: Write an original caption for the photo using only 10-15 words. Aim for a caption no one else in the family or in class would think about.
Variation: When done in a group, you may reward the winner by actually using the caption in a social media post! If you have more time, you may also caption one picture after another. Just make sure to retain the time limit because spending too much time on it would reduce the challenge and fun!
Have you ever thought about renaming a film you’ve seen, a book you’ve read, or a song you sing? Now’s your chance to wear that writer hat!
Material/s: A digital movie poster of a film you’ve recently seen as a family, a book, or an audio file you can listen to while doing the activity!
Task: Encourage everyone to think of an alternative title to the movie, with the same number of words as in the original one. Challenge everyone to think of a title no one else in the family will easily guess or replicate!
Variation: Use a painting, sculpture, or a book cover in your home that everyone’s familiar with. You may also check out your kids’ current lesson in art for reference!
A story box is a container where your child’s favorite book is, along with a few materials that will help him or her tell the story. In this activity, there’s no book that holds the story together. Instead, the box holds a set of random objects that your family will use to create an original story. This is appropriate for kids of all ages!
Material/s: A small box or basket, six random objects from your house that can fit in the box, pen and paper
Task: Ask every member of the group to write a summary of an original story based on the six items in the box. The number of words in the summary should not exceed 150.
Variation: Younger kids may be asked to tell the story orally instead of writing it down. You may record the storytelling for reference or keepsake! You may also play with the items to include in the box. Make it thematic! For example, you place random toys one day, then kitchen objects the next, and so on.
A logo is a visual representation of an idea or a business. While your young ones can express creativity in words, they can also do so with a logo or an image loaded with meaning.
Material/s: Pen and paper or an app
Task: You’re putting up a family business. Devise a logo using only a set of objects (circle, square, rectangle, line) that may be repeated in the logo.
Variation: You may restrict the colors to be used, change the set of elements, or add only a word or words following a set number of characters.
There is always something in the family to celebrate, so invitation-designing skills are a must! This activity may seem too common and simple, but it also develops attention to detail and decision making skills, as the maker will have to think about what pieces of information to include in the invitation!
Material/s: Pen and paper or an app
Task: Design an invitation for a family member’s birthday party. Think about a kind of invitation you haven’t received yet, and would love to receive! Ensure that the idea is something the other members of the family wouldn’t think of.
Variation: Choose one or two objects as an inspiration for the design, and let everyone’s creativity flourish from there! Choose the top two designs and actually send them to your guests! (Who said invitation should only have one look?)
Have you ever caught yourself saying, “If only I were the mayor / governor / president of the Philippines, I would…” It’s time for you to be just that, right inside the corners of your home!
Material/s: Pen and paper
Task: Think of a social problem you usually encounter as a family (e.g. traffic congestion, long queues in hospitals, etc.) Write down three different ideas on how to solve or improve these situations and provide detailed descriptions for each.
Variation: You may do this activity as often as you can, most especially if there’s a pressing issue that affected your family or community (e.g. flooding, business closure, etc.)
Problems can only be solved if the root cause is identified. This activity probes you and your family to think about five different reasons on why a situation usually happens, with the aim of coming up with a solution.
Material/s: small strips of paper with different events relevant to your family, written in declarative sentences (e.g. “We don’t have enough money to buy our wants.” “We feel lazy to do house chores.” “We need to segregate our garbage.”)
Task: Family members take turns in drawing a small strip of paper bearing a sentence to read aloud. Then, other members of the family would ask, “Why?” five times. With each “Why?”, the member who read the sentence will come up with a reason for that situation.
Variation: You may change the tone of this activity! You can have serious or funny answers, depending on your personality or vibe!