Natwerk Designs

Need advice - creating a game for 9-13 years old?

I wanted to solicit opinions from a bright bunch of people so I’m posting this here. I’m in a Project Mgmt class and our team was tasked with developing a game that teaches innovation. I’m not completely happy with what I came up with. So, here is the game. It is geared to the age group of 9-13. There are 4 categories: Science/Technology, Art, Media & Sports. There are 10 cards for each category. These cards would have a picture of an object related to the category. For instance, they land on Sports and on the card they picked; there would be a baseball bat. The player would have to come up with a different way to use that object (something innovative). What I don’t see here is a fun factor. Also, we haven’t come up with a good way to have them win the game. So, I’m posting here to see if anyone has any ideas. We have to keep with this idea but I want to make it more interesting and find a way to determine a winner. I would love to hear some ideas!! Thanks!!

Public Comments

1. How about if their idea fits one of the other categories, they can move ahead one space, and if it fits 2 of the other categories, 2 spaces, and so on. Like if they can re-purpose a baseball bat into something that would be a good science experiment, they would move ahead one space. You can keep an alphabetized card file in the box of what ideas each person has come up with already, and they have to go back a space if they repeat their own idea within a month. .
2. I've got two nieces and a nephew in the age group and I'm thinking about the games we all play after big family dinners. Scattergories, Trivial Pursuit, Pictionary... I think that having 10 cards (which you'd go through pretty quickly) would cut down on the fun/innovation after the first time the game was played. One of the reasons Scattergories works is that, in addition to the list, there's a die with letters on it and so you have (# of lists) times (# of letters) combinations that are possible. What if you used a similar system? In this game, everybody gets a slip of blank paper. There is a leader, who rolls a letter die (or draws a letter card or whatever) to choose what letter you're all working with and rolls another die (or draws a different card) to choose the category. (The leader concept comes from Balderdash.) Each player writes the name of an object that starts with that letter on his slip of paper. The slips are put in a hat and everybody draws one. Then each thinks of a different way to use the object on his slip and explains it to the group. The members vote on the best new use and the leader gives one point per vote to the players who earned them (again, Balderdash). The winner is whoever gets to a predetermined score first. The fun factor comes in when players figure out that sillier answers get more votes. Use a barbell to crack walnuts? Funny. Use a baseball bat to dry tube socks? Funnier! Use a bowling ball as a bud vase? Winner! Also, you could add category cards to make the game more difficult for older kids. Look at the Scattergories lists for ideas. Things in a kitchen. Parts of a car. I don't know if you can use these ideas, but I think I'm going to print out what I just wrote and get the kids to play with me after Thanksgiving dinner! Fun!
3. One thing to keep in mind is that innovation and creativity can be accessed in different ways, and sometimes one person will react to one way but not another. As an example, "brainstorming" with at least one other person can make most people's brains really get greased and moving with new ideas, whereas those same people may be completely stymied when simply asked to produce an innovation on demand right-now. So I'm wondering if there couldn't be a way to incoporate various possible modes into the game rather than having them all the same (individual, and competitive, etc.). Perhaps on some of the turns, or some of the cards, could instruct them to have two or more people take x number of seconds to brainstorm out loud as many ideas as possible. There's a lot of info out there on brainstorming and other ways to increase creativity too... you might want to google brainstorming or Odyssey of the Mind, etc. Below are some great concepts to maybe use too (for various categories, or cards, or whatever)... they have to do with various *ways to approach* thinking about an object or idea differently and in a creative way: ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` THE THINKER’S TOOLBOX Magnify or Exaggerate -- make big; make outrageous Elaborate --add details or make something new by adding something else on Minimize or Reduce -- make smaller or less important Eliminate -- take some things away, simplify, get down to the essence Combine -- put things together, or to create something new Separate -- break into parts Rearrange -- put the parts in a different order Reverse -- make the opposite, or change the main idea Substitute -- put one thing in place of another Categorize -- sort by various traits Symbolize -- something which stands for something else, or brings it to mind Associate -- free associate; other things that “come to mind” Compare -- what’s different, what’s alike Hypothesize -- say “what would happen if. . . ?” Empathize -- put oneself in another’s (or its)place Describe -- express the problem (in detail) in words; use another person as a sounding board to come up with new ideas or simply to hear yourself saying things that you hadn’t used words for in your mind, or just to help come up with more ideas. Good luck! Diane B. Oh, and P.S. ... oftentimes competition *stifles* creativity (particularly at THAT age! ) so perhaps you could think of a way to avoid it to some degree. ... e.g., a game could just go on for so many minutes... or the aim of the exercise/game could be to explore and discover *which technique worked best* for the group, or for different individuals, rather than who "won" . .