25+ Audacious Creativity Tools

This is the fifth and last post of Creativity Extravaganza Week.

Below you’ll find over twenty-five different tools–some are free and some are not–to help kick your creativity into high gear. This list includes a wide range of tools, such as creativity cards, tools to scribble, idea markets and a random word generator.

1.  Need a “Jump Start”?  Go here for a free creativity tool that will give you the oomph you need to get going. Here’s how it works:

• Define your challenge in the form of a “How can I?” question.
• Click on “generate adjectives” to jump start your thinking.
• Brainstorm your challenge using the randomly generated adjectives as idea sparkers.

2 – 4.  In addition to the fabulous books which I wrote about on my post “101 Creativity & Innovation Books – Your Creativity Library”, Roger von Oech also creates creativity cards which are a wonderful tool for when you need inspiration.  Here are Roger’s three creative card decks:

• Creative Whack Pack
• Innovative Whack Pack
• Roger Von Oech’s Ancient Whacks of Heraclitus: A Creativity Tool Based on the Epigrams of Heraclitus

As I wrote on another post, if you go here and click to the left of Roger’s head you’ll get a different creativity card from his “Creative Whack Pack” online, for free, each time you click.

5.  And one more creativity tool by Roger von Oech: The Ball of Whacks.  Here’s a YouTube video so that you can see the Ball of Whacks in action:

6.  “Idea Sandbox” has a free problem solving tool called “The Big Dig”. You just click to scoop suggestions, such as: “Consider double-checking that you’re solving the right problem. Is there a more significant one you’re overlooking?”

7. Here are some free “Eyewire Creativity Cards” which you can cut out and glue on heavy-stock paper for when you’re having a creativity crisis. For example, here’s one:

Reconsider the old. Redesign something you see all the time (a stop sign, a penny, etc.). This forces you to look at old things in a new way—and challenges you to try different design approaches.

8.  Take a Gator Break. Here’s one:

“If at first an idea is not absurd, then there’s no hope for it.” — Albert Einstein

9. Here’s a creativity card deck from award-winning creativity coach and therapist, Eric Maisel: Everyday Creative: 30 Ways to Wake Up Your Inner Artist.

10. The “Idea Lottery” is another free tool by Idea Champions. Here’s how it works:

• Write your challenge as a “How can I?’ question
• Write up to 15 “elements” of your challenge in the boxes
• Write up to 6 random words unrelated to your challenge
• Click “generate grid”
• Brainstorm (using new connections on your grid to spark ideas)

11. Get free creativity prompts that will help you look at a problem from different perspectives. How would a bounty hunter meet this challenge? How would a mortician meet this challenge?

12. Watizit (pronounced like “what is it”) is the online version of an idea-generating technique used by Dave Dufour in live seminars and other creative sessions. It’s fun, easy,and free!

13 – 14. Give your mind a creative work out with these puzzles and/or these.

15. Are you writing a novel and are having trouble coming up with a good name for your secondary characters, or even the heroine of your story? Here’s a tool that will help you: Name Finder.

16: Here are some fabulous prompts to get your creative writing juices flowing: Imagination Prompt Generator.

17. Need some help applying the “Random Element” creativity technique? Use the Random Word Generator.

18 – 20. As I explained in my post “5 Imaginative Ways to Generate Ideas”, doodling is a great way to generate ideas. You can use this tool to create your very own “Jackson Pollock” to get the ideas flowing. As you move your mouse around on the screen, you can create your own masterpiece. Click the mouse to change colors.  In addition, you can scribble on here or here.

21. For more creativity cards–these are free–visit my post: “30 Creativity Cards – A Gift I Made for You”.

22-25. Maybe what you need is to take a look at the ideas of others to start coming up with your own. Here are four web sites where you can find ideas:

• Idea a Day

• Idea Explore

• Half Bakery

• Invention Ideas – Creativity Pool

26. Create cartoons in order to express yourself. Here’s a tool that will help you do that: Toondoo.

27.  Luciano over at the blog “Litemind”  has a creativity tool to help you with the SCAMPER creativity technique here.

28. And my favorite creativity tool of all, which is not really a creatity tool at all but a meditation tool: “The Silva Life System”. There’s nothing like learning to quiet your mind and relax completely to access your reservoir of creativity.

Conclusion

With this post we conclude “Creativity Extravaganza Week” (January 26 – 30) during which I posted a new creativity post each day.  Here are the five posts that were published this week:

• 101 Creativity & Innovation Books – Your Creativity Library

• 75 Creativity Quotes

• 20 Creative Thinking Techniques

• Awesome Creativity Blogs

• 25+ Audacious Creativity Tools

Did you enjoy this article? Subscribe for free by RSS or e-mail and you’ll always know when I publish something new. (What’s RSS?). Also, please share it on the social media site of your choice.

photo credit: geishaboy500

I Recommend:

My ebook “How to Be More Creative – A Handbook for Alchemists” explains that creativity is not the sole domain of the arts but is important in any field. Whatever you do, creativity helps you do it better. Discover practical advice on how to be more creative in every life endeavor by reading my ebook.

The Sedona Method is a simple, powerful, easy-to-learn technique that shows you how to let go of any negative, unwanted or painful feelings you may be experiencing at any particular moment. It consists of a series of questions you ask yourself that lead your awareness to focus on what you’re feeling in the moment and gently guide you toward letting it go. Read my review of the Sedona Method here.