40 Fun Ideas

by Marelisa · View Comments

fun ideas1. Go for a walk and come back with at least one “treasure” you find along the way.

2. Everyone knows how to do something, whether it’s making a great spaghetti sauce, growing herbs, or creating an awesome PowerPoint presentation. Create a how-to of your skill and post it on your blog. If you don’t have a blog, hang it up on your supermarket’s bulletin board.

3. Draw simple pictures on napkins and put them in your children’s lunch bags. Here’s a Flickr stream of napkins drawn by a father for his daughters’ lunch bags over a five year period: “The Napkin Drawings”.

4. Purchase something–it doesn’t have to be expensive–as a symbol for your need to create: it can be a sketchbook, a coffee cup, a journal with a great cover, a poster of a Picasso painting, and so on.

5. Write an episode for your favorite TV sitcom and mail it to the producers.

6. Memorize your favorite poem. Mine is “Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines” by Pablo Neruda (and yes, I have it memorized).

7. Write a Haiku (three lines, the first with five syllables, the second line with seven syllables and the third line with five syllables).

8. Follow Benjamin Franklin’s advice: take out a book by your favorite author and copy an entire chapter by hand so that you get a feel for the flow and composition of great writing.

9. Come up with a short story on what really happened to Jimmy Hoffa.

10. Homer began”The  Odyssey” with an incantation to the muse:

”Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns
driven time and again off course, once he had plundered
the hallowed heights of Troy”

Create your own incantation to the muse.

11. Search your local newspaper for the next gallery opening near your home and attend.

12. Write a poem in Shel Silverstein’s style:

Oh if you’re a bird, be an early bird
And catch the worm for your breakfast plate.
If you’re a bird, be an early early bird
But if you’re a worm, sleep late.

13. Read someone’s palm (make it up as you go along).

14. Go to a playground and hang upside down from the monkey bars for 5 minutes.

15. Make a sock puppet. Pretend it’s your alter ego.

16. Make a recording of your loved ones’ laughter.

17. Make up a knock-knock joke. Tell it to your friends and see if anyone laughs.

18. Make up an interesting story of how you found five different objects in your home. The next time someone new comes over tell them the story. “Do you like that vase? It’s a funny story how I found it . . .”

19. Write a letter to the President of your country explaining in detail how you would solve one of the country’s biggest problems.

20. Set a beautiful table and photograph it.

21. Write your Creativity Manifesto. Tape it to the wall where you can see it.

22. Make a list of the ten things you most enjoyed doing as a child. Do at least two activities from the list.

23. Learn the lyrics to a song you love. Sing it in the shower.

24. Leave a dollar somewhere in public for someone else to find.

25. Buy a goldfish and name it after your favorite composer.

26. Create a flow chart of your morning routine.

27. Come up with a comic strip loosely based on your family members.

28. Invent a sandwich with your favorite ingredients. Name it after yourself.

29. Learn a magic trick.

30. Do a Google search for something you’ve always wondered about but never bothered to find more information on.

31. Come up with a great title for the novel you’ll write someday. Tom Robbins has great names for his novels:

  • “Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas”
  • “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues”
  • “Skinny Legs and All”
  • “Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates”

32. Learn to make Pierogi.

33. Learn something new about a culture that is not your own. You may want to start with the Sioux Nation.

34. Come up with 100 uses for paper rolls.

35. Learn to do the HulaHoop.

36. Create a scavenger hunt for a kids’ party.

37. Take a photograph of the same scene at different hours of the day (Monet-style).

38. Learn to hold a steady beat on a drum.

39. Learn to make guacamole.

40. Ride a carousel or a Ferris Wheel.

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Creative Commons License photo credit: papalars

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I Recommend:

How to Be More CreativeMy 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.


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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.

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  • WOW! it's good for my life. Ha Ha Ha
  • hairextensionprices
    I like item 11.. :D
  • This is such a fun list. By any chance, are you using document management software for your blog? I hope you could recommend one. Your site seems to be very well-managed.
  • I love number 16. Thanks for this list.
  • Great list! it gave me some wonderful ideas on ways to distract myself into creativity... especially #22. Although I don't think I'll be hanging upside-down any time soon (#14) I have played on the swings! Oh, and what looks I get! it's actually quite empowering. Thank You :-)

    <abbr>Joannes last blog post..Meditation 101 - Five W’s That Finally Convinced Me</abbr>
  • Mare
    Hi Joanne: I`m glad the list gave you some good ideas. Hanging upside down is optional :-)
  • Hi there Mare - I think I like the sandwich one. I also remember reading in my favourite prosperity book a story about a man who drops coins on the path, so children can find them and think money has fallen out of "a clear blur sky".

    <abbr>Robins last blog post..The Fountain Of Youth Gets An Update!</abbr>
  • Mare
    Hi Robin: I walk to and from the gym every week day and I always find at least one penny along the way and I pick it up. I love finding pennies :-)
  • Mary
    What a great list! I'm going to print out your list and try to do each one, then take a picture of each one (or an interpretation) and keep them in a flickr set. As a woman of...ahem, a certain age...I'm not sure about the monkey bars, though. ;)

    "It's never too late to have a happy childhood." --Tom Robbins, "Still Life With Woodpecker"
  • Mare
    Hi Mary: Have fun with the list. And if you want to come back here and leave a link to your flickr photos in the comments that would be great! The Tom Robbins quote is right on target.
  • Mark
    I hope the weekend was fantastic!
  • Hi Mare. This was a fun list. Writing an episode for your favorite TV sitcom sounds like a LOT of fun! And so does doing a flowchart of my morning routine. That would be an eye-opener! :-)

    <abbr>Davinas last blog post..Ebook Launch: The Quote Effect Arrives</abbr>
  • Refrigerator Filters
    Lovely list i liked the point 5 very much.
    Thnx a lot for the lovely list
  • I like #5 - challenging and creative.

    Just this week I took my nephew to monster mini golf (indoor, glow in the dark mini golf) and played arcade games afterwards. Great fun indeed!
  • Wonderful list, Mare. I used to do #4. I go to a coffee shop with my wife and my daughter and relax for an hour. I feel great after that.
    Thanks for sharing this Mare. I'll try another one.

    <abbr>Arswinos last blog post..Love, Wealth, or Success?</abbr>
  • What a list! You are so creative! Thanks for this!
  • Mare
    Hi Jannie: You're supposed to wrap your feet around the bars so that you don't fall off :-)

    Hi Caroline: Welcome, thank you, and have fun with your manifesto :-)
  • What a wonderful and inspiring list! I am going to create my manifesto! Great blog...found you through Lance at Jungle of Life. You are going into my blog roll!

    Cheers!

    <abbr>Carolines last blog post..Seeking validation…</abbr>
  • I tried the monkey bars thing - fell on my head!

    But my daughter's palm-reading went really really well. :)

    <abbr>Jannie Funsters last blog post..Blogging Poems</abbr>
  • Mare
    Hi Bamboo: Reading great writing is a great way to improve your own, but if you actually slow down to the point it takes to write it down by hand you notice things that you wouldn't if you were just reading. Sometimes when I have to interpret a law I'll write it down by hand and this makes me notice nuances I hadn't seen by just reading it. And yes, I have lots of fun :-)

    Hi Evelyn: I came across pictures of a river with a bridge crossing over it; each one was of the exact same scene but set in a different season. It was a beautiful composition.

    Hi Jurgen: That's interesting that they send the script back unopened. I guess another option is to act out the episode with your friends :-)

    Hi Tess: I agree those napkins are really cool. And it must have made those girls feel special that their father took the time to do that for them.

    Hi Carla: Enjoy them :-)
  • Great ideas! We play a lot of "games" with each other and looking for new material. I will definitely save this.

    <abbr>Carlas last blog post..Is it too late?</abbr>
  • I checked out the napkins. How cool is that. What a nice way to get your message across without preaching. Those kids will remember those them, as the best treats in ttheir lunch.

    <abbr>Tess The Bold Lifes last blog post..Bold Love for February 14th</abbr>
  • great tips--only one I would amend is "write an episode of your favorite sitcom and mail it to the producers." I used to write sitcoms, and for legal reasons, producers will send back your script unread. But by all means, write an episode for the fun of it--why not make yourself a guest star?
  • Tip #20 is something that I am doing more of: taking pictures. I am building a stock portfolio so that I can learn draw on the images to create new ones as well. Lots of fun!! Time flies by quickly too!

    <abbr>Evelyn Lims last blog post..Unlock The Secrets to Your Soul</abbr>
  • Fantastic list, Mare.

    Seriously, you must NEVER get bored. You're an inspiration to us mere mortals.

    8. Follow Benjamin Franklin’s advice: take out a book by your favorite author and copy an entire chapter by hand so that you get a feel for the flow and composition of great writing.

    Number 8 is interesting. Would this really improve one's writing? Wouldn't just reading the material be enough? Very curious. And interesting.

    <abbr>Bamboo Forest - PunIntendeds last blog post..Glory of the Snot Rocket</abbr>
  • Mare
    Hi Christopher: Great minds think alike :-)

    Hi Sal: Raviolis, potatoes, and cheese . . . three of my favorite things :-)

    Hi Karl: We had a carnival at my high school one year for a fundraiser and I was a fortune teller. People actually paid me to have their fortunes told; and several remarked my "readings" were accurate :-)
  • About seven years ago I was at a party and I pretended to know how to read palms. There was this very pretty woman who I was trying to impress and the word finally got around that I was a palm reader.

    I'm not sure if I went to her or she came to me, but what matters is we got to talk. She wasn't that interested in me, but I sure had a great time making stuff up at the party.

    <abbr>Karl Staib - Work Happy Nows last blog post..Celebrate the Google Way</abbr>
  • Sal
    Mare,

    They are the best homemade, but believe it or not, if you can't get the real ones anywhere, the frozen ones aren't too bad either. It is like a giant ravoli filled with mashed potatos (and cheese - that is how I make them anyway) : )

    <abbr>Sals last blog post..On Your Mark, Get Set, SCRAM!</abbr>
  • These are cool! What's funny is that I think along the same lines and last year I did a number of these on my own. Life is boring unless you do fun stuff like this!

    <abbr>Christophers last blog post..The Moon...in Pictures</abbr>
  • Mare
    Hi Vered: I think it's a good idea too :-)

    Hi Tom: It does sound like fun. I like finding pennies on the ground; there's something about money suddenly appearing out of nowhere that makes you feel as if the universe is winking at you.

    Hi Natural: Try your hand at doodling too :-)
  • Hey Marelisa, hope your book is coming along well. I used to do no. 3, well not pictures, but put notes in my daughter's lunch bag. I stopped doing that but thanks for the reminder. Maybe I'll surprise her with a little something tomorrow.
  • I was at a seminar once where we threw hundreds of dollars out of a 7 th story hotel window and watched the delight of the folks who tracked them down. :)
    It was more fun then I thought it would be.

    <abbr>Tom Volkar / Delightful Works last blog post..Building Career Confidence by Feeling Deeply</abbr>
  • "Make a recording of your loved ones’ laughter." I love this idea! I just might do it.
  • Mare
    Hi Sal: I keep seeing pierogi mentioned all over the place and I've never tried them (but they look delicious). I doubt that there are any Polish restaurants in Panama so I guess I'll have to make my own :-)

    Hi Ulla: I love paper shops as well. Just looking at all those supplies makes me feel creative :-)

    Hi Emi: It's harder than it looks, I still can't keep the hulahoop around my waist for very long :-)

    Hi Lance: My sister has her one and a half year old's laugh as her ring tone. It's so funny :-)

    Hi Mimi: Tom Robbins is one of my favorite authors, I loved "Skinny Legs and All". Isn't the napkin dad great? And to think that his daughters were keeping his napkins when he though they were just being discarded.

    Hi Dawn: Happy 39th birthday! By all means, go for it :-)

    Hi Daphne: I've read that when students write their notes by hand--instead of using a computer--they have a higher retention rate.
  • Hi Mare,

    I love the suggestion to write out an entire chapter of a good book by hand. Stephen King wrote The Dreamcatcher, a real tome, entirely by hand and he said that helped him get in touch with what writing was all about.

    Excellent post!

    <abbr>Daphnes last blog post..Site Update: Getting Better Everyday</abbr>
  • What fun...thank you for telling me that I can do something (#2)...and that I should share...These are a lot of great ideas...and I think in honor of my 39th birthday, I will try to give all of them a try...
  • Great list Mare!
    I love the napkin Dad! And I have read the Cowgirls book by Robbins and laughed a lot. I think he is the most talented guy in finding the most weird and illogical descriptions of things and situations.

    <abbr>Mindful Mimis last blog post..It takes a long time for a man to look like his portrait - James Whistler</abbr>
  • Hi Mare,
    Fantastic list! #16 and 17 - I do these regularly - and it is so much fun! Others on this list - things I'd never even thought of (like the napkins in the lunchbox). So, thank you for the ideas!! Now, off to have some fun! (and good luck finishing the ebook!)
  • emi
    Thanks I will try this one "Learn to do the HulaHoop"..this seems very different to me..don't know what is it yet.
  • Thanks for this list, Marelisa!
    I especially like No 4 - that's why I love to go to paper shops and shops which sell artists' materials. And not to forget - libraries!

    <abbr>Ulla Hennigs last blog post..The Book is Dead, long Live the Book!</abbr>
  • Sal
    Marelisa,

    Some of these sound like great fun. I think I will have to print this list out and run through some of them (actually most of them, but I already know how to make the guacamole and pierogis :P ) Thanks for the great list!

    <abbr>Sals last blog post..On Your Mark, Get Set, SCRAM!</abbr>
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