1. LET’S THINK!!LET’S THINK!!
An aid to creative thinking,
taken from Tony Ryan’s ’20 Thinker’s
Keys’.

2. Find 10 uses for old red
plastic noses.

3. How many different uses can you
think of for each of…
• a brick?
• a paper plate?
• a single sock?

4. Give 3 ways to…
• read a book that is 100 metres away
• keep your valuables safe without a
locker
• drink soup without a spoon

5. Work out 3 ways to –
•clean your teeth without a toothbrush
•cook toast without a toaster
•paint a chair without a paintbrush
•mow the lawn without a mower

6. How many ways can you:
• paint a house?
• wash an elephant?
• make new friends?
• turn a TV on?

7. • List things you can’t put in water
• List things you cannot measure
with a ruler
• List things you would not find in
Scotland
• List things you cannot do with a
pencil
CAN YOU:

8. Name 10 things that you
could not clean.
List 5 sounds that you
have never heard.
Name 10 things that you
could not photograph.
CAN YOU:

9. The Alphabet Key
Write an A-Z of…
•things in a school
•means of transport
•famous people
•foods
•sports

10. Brainstorm as many ways you canBrainstorm as many ways you can
to encourage people NOT toto encourage people NOT to
drive their cars to work.drive their cars to work.

11. List five possible questions for
which the answer is ‘Midnight’.

12. Key – INTERPRETATION
Describe an unusual situation and then think of some different
explanations for the existence of that situation.
JUSTIFICATION:
Another innovative thinking exercise. Develops the ability to
consider a wide range of consequences.

13. Give three possible reasons for each of these:
• a boy is running away from a woman carrying her handbag
• your next door neighbour carries a dog lead when he has no dog
• a man is on a cliff waving his arms about frantically

14. Solve the problem of two friends arguing by using:
Dice
Marbles

15. Solve the problem of getting wet in the rain by using:
A toilet roll
a paper plateand

16. Solve the problem of being bored by using:
A pencil and five old compact discs

17. You need to retrieve your kite from a very tall tree
without breaking it, by using only:
•a packet of sweets
•a hairbrush
•a comic
How would you do this?

18. We would be better off if:
• dogs could talk to us
• school started at age 20
• children taught each other
State how and why these
ideas might work.

19. What do the following have in
common…
• a toilet and a car
• a cat and a book
• a flower and a packet of crisps

20. List as many things as you can that
Ayers Rock and the Pacific Ocean
have in common.

21. Predict 5 present day
household appliances which
will be obsolete in 20 years
time.
Say why - and what, if anything,
will replace them.

22. Predict the power source of
the family car by the year 2020.

23. Make some predictions about…
•what school will be like in
100 years time;
•what you will be like aged
50;
•how we will travel in the
year 2100.