11 Prompts to Inspire Creative Thinking in Students

Creativity is one of the most difficult thinking skills to acquire. In schools, we strive to help our students be more creative and to think creatively. The thinking prompts in this article are designed to be used to spark creative thinking in students whenever teachers or caregivers wish to integrate them. Back them up with several strategies to build on creative thinking, including using a social-emotional story with students. Try one or all of these ideas with the children in your life! 

Supporting Creative Thinking with Prompts

Creative thinking is the ability to come up with unique, original solutions. Sometimes creative thinking is also called creative problem-solving. Thinking creatively helps with problem solving and can lead to innovation, new perspectives, and solutions.

Creative thinking is a skill, and an important one. Being an excellent problem solver will help students at school and outside of school, today in the future, in both their personal and professional lives.

We can take actions to support creative thinking and to build creative thinking skills in ourselves and our students. When kids’ attention starts to wander, pull them back in and inspire them to find new ways to see the world with these creative thinking prompts.

Wild Watermelon

Name five things you could do with a 100-pound watermelon.

Easier Machine

Invent a machine that would make someone’s life easier. Draw or describe it.

Poetry Project

Make a list of 10 rhyming words. Use these words to write a poem.

Good Citizens

What does it mean to be a good citizen? How could you encourage your friends and family to be good citizens?

Elephant Exercise

Pretend you are an elephant. Do you live in a zoo? Or in the wild in Asia or Africa? Tell about your day.

Silly Word

Make up a silly word and tell what it means. Pretend you are adding it to the dictionary.

Difference Maker

What is one thing you could do today to make a difference in someone’s life?

Pet Dinosaur

Your family just told you that you are getting a pet dinosaur! What will your dinosaur look like? Will it be ferocious? Will it be the size of your house? Draw a picture of your new pet.

New President

You have been elected to start your own country! Tell about it.

Good Deed

Think of something nice to do for someone. Be more creative than just holding open a door or smiling at a new student. Write or tell about what you would do, and then come up with a plan to do it.

Recycle Challenge

List some things that can be recycled (plastic bottles, old newspapers). Now, list some items that aren’t recyclable (Styrofoam, lightbulbs). How could you reuse these items? Why do you think recycling is important?

Building On Creative Thinking with Strategies

After giving students a chance to build creative thinking skills with the prompts in this article, take a step further. Continue to spark creative thinking with these actions that will help students think creatively on a routine basis.

Use Stories

Stories open up new worlds to students and help them build skills, including social-emotional skills and creative thinking skills. Share and build on stories that inform and expand students’ knowledge of the world with lessons that invite reflection and perspective-enhancing conversation.

Ask Questions

Ask questions of students to probe them to think more deeply and encourage them to ask these questions themselves. Consistent use of simple “why,” “what,” and “how,” questions leads students to push their creative thinking. These questions can be applied to the creative thinking prompts in this article.

Offer Collaboration Sessions

Cooperative work around a problem or challenge will help students think deeply themselves while they are exposed to the perspectives of others. These opportunities allow students to learn from the diverse and unique experiences of others which can stimulate their creativity and provide them with alternative ways of approaching and solving problems.

Make Time for Reflection

Giving students the time or means to reflect on their ideas and new experiences by putting pen to paper can have creative benefits. Time for journaling or creative writing can concretize skills and expand on students’ creative experiences.

It takes skill and time to nurture creative thinking skills, but it is a worthwhile endeavor for ourselves and for our students. Simple integration of these thinking prompts and strategies into your daily interactions with students will help them build these valuable skills for problem-solving and innovation.