A Creativity

Journal

sponge activities to bring out the

inherent creativity in your students

compiled by Shannan LaPorte, TAG teacher

based on the work of

E. Paul Torrance

in

The Search for Satori and Creativity, 1979

Introduction to the Creativity Journal

Creativity is digging deeper.

Creativity is looking twice.

Creativity is crossing out mistakes.

Creativity is talking/listening to a cat.

Creativity is getting in deep water.

Creativity is getting out from behind locked doors.

Creativity is plugging in the sun.

Creativity is wanting to know.

Creativity is having a ball.

Creativity is building sand castles.

Creativity is singing in your own key.

Creativity is shaking hands with the future.

From The Search for Satori and Creativity by E. Paul Torrance

Research shows that creativity is something that needs to be nurtured in order for

it to reach its fullest potential in young people. This creativity journal, inspired by

activity ideas in the book listed above, is meant to provide a springboard for bringing out

the creativity in elementary school students. The activities can be used as a daily journal,

or as “sponge” activities when a few minutes present themselves during the day. They

can also be used to generate other related activities.

It is important to give students time to work on the activities independently, as

well as time to share and discuss the ideas generated by the activities.

Creativity Journal: Fairy Tale Twist

Take a fairy tale that you know well (Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood,

etc.), and change one aspect of the story to make it funny. Write your new

fairy tale.

Creativity Journal: Poetry

Write a poem about any topic you choose. Use any form of poetry that you

choose.

Creativity Journal: In Another’s Eyes

Describe an argument you have recently had with someone else or observed

between two people. Write about the event from someone else’s point of

view. What was that person thinking? How did that person feel?

Creativity Journal: Inventions

Think of something you do every day, and how it could be made better,

easier, or more fun. Invent something that will help accomplish that goal.

Draw and describe it below.

Creativity Journal: Transportation

Brainstorm as many different and unusual ways as you can of transporting

someone or something from one place to another.

Creativity Journal: Word Connections

Make a list of 10 words that don’t seem to have anything to do with one

another. Then choose two of the words and explain how they are related.

Choose another two, and repeat. Continue.

Creativity Journal: The Seed

Imagine that you find an unusual seed lying on the ground. You take it

home and plant it. A few days later, it starts to grow from the ground. Draw

and describe the plant that is made from the seed. Explain why it is an

unusual plant.

Creativity Journal: Questioning

Draw an interesting picture in the top half of the rectangle below. Then

switch papers with a partner and write at least 5 questions about your

partner’s picture underneath it.

Creativity Journal: Pictures

In the space below, draw some lines, curves, and shapes that could be almost

anything. Then switch journals with a partner who has done the same thing.

Complete your partner’s picture.

Creativity Journal: Using Senses

Think about an experience lately, either at home, at school, outside, or

somewhere else, where you were able to use all or almost all of your senses.

Describe that experience, and include details about the senses in your

description.

Creativity Journal: Making Changes

Answer one or all of these questions in the space below:

What would you make invisible so that it would be funnier?

What would you make louder so that it would be more pleasant?

What would you make go backwards in order to improve it?

(source: Invitations to Thinking and Doing, Myers and Torrance, 1964, p. 13)

Creativity Journal: Play

Write a play for 2-3 characters. Include one or more elements of fantasy in

your play.

Creativity Journal: Possibilities

Answer one or more of the following questions below:

What would happen if pigs had wings?

What would happen if everyone’s hair turned green overnight?

What would happen if lions were the size of cocker spaniels?

(source: Invitations to Thinking and Doing, Myers and Torrance, 1964, p. 21)

Creativity Journal: Similes

You may be familiar with words that would complete the similes in the

traditional way. Whether you are or not, though, complete each simile with

something unique and interesting that no one else would think of.

funny as…

hard as…

wet as…

soft as…

nervous as…

crooked as…

Now make up a few interesting similes of your own?

(source: Invitations to Thinking and Doing, Myers and Torrance, 1964, p. 29)

Creativity Journal: Common Threads

Look at each group of three words below. Think carefully about the words,

and for each row write what all three words have in common.

nail ball drum

watch wagon airplane

blood newspapers air

poem skipping rope music

whale gopher horse

spelling diamond cutting arithmetic

Now write three words of your own, and explain what they have in common.

(source: Invitations to Thinking and Doing, Myers and Torrance, 1964, p. 33)

Creativity Journal: Titles

Write a really interesting story below, but don’t give it a title. When you are

through, swap journals with a partner. Give his or her story a title, and he or

she will do the same for your story.

Creativity Journal: Interesting Names

Sometimes stories contain characters with really interesting names. Create

three names (both first and last) for characters in a story. Swap papers with

a partner and write a story containing his or her character names. He or she

will do the same with yours.

Creativity Journal: What if…?

What if you woke up one day and everyone’s houses were right side up, but

the rest of the world was upside down? What would such a world be like?

Write about it.

Creativity Journal: Synthesizing

You will find a box in the attic. In the box are: a magnet, a can opener, a

baseball glove, a pair of panty hose, a saw, a tricycle, a jar, a sweater, and a

tennis racquet. You combine two or more of the items to make something

new. Describe what you made.

(Source: Invitations to Thinking and Doing, Myers and Torrance, 1964, p. 33)

Creativity Journal: Title First

Write down the most interesting story title you can. Then swap papers with

a partner. Write a story to go with your partners’ title, and your partner will

do the same for your title.

Creativity Journal: Explanations

You get on the bus one morning and the seats have been replaced with

canoes. What possible explanations are there for this? List as many as you

can.

Creativity Journal: Consequences

The Department of Transportation cuts down 100,000 trees in order to make

a new highway. What possible consequences are there from this action?

List as many as you can.

Creativity Journal: Humor

Draw a funny cartoon with a caption.

Creativity Journal: Solutions

You are in charge of the school store. You arrive one morning to find that

all of the things to sell at the store are gone. What possible solutions are

there to this problem?

Creativity Journal

Bibliography

Bartholomew, R. (1994). Assorted Creative Thinking Activities.

http://www.eduref.org/cgibin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/

Interdisciplinary/INT00007.

Mildrum, N. K. (2000). Creativity Workshops in the Regular Classroom. Roeper Review,

22(3), 162-165.

Myers, R. E. & Torrance, E.P. (1964). Invitations to Thinking and Doing. Boston: Ginn

and Company.

Smutny, J. F.(2001). Creative Strategies for Teaching Language Arts to Gifted Students

(K-8). ERIC Digest E612.

Torrance, E. P. (1979). The Search for Satori & Creativity. Buffalo: Creative Education

Foundation, Inc.