1. Gifted Resource
Creativity or Bust!
by Karen Daniels
Official website: karendaniels.com
Gifted resource website: giftedresource.com
Creativity/writing blog: zencopy.com
2. Trapped!
• You are trapped in a room with two doors. One leads to certain disaster
and the other leads to freedom. You don't know which is which. There
are two robots guarding the doors. They will let you choose one door,
but upon doing so you must go through it. You can, however, ask one
robot one question. The problem is that one robot always tells the truth,
the other always lies, and you don't know which is which. What is the
question you ask?
This is an example of a Lateral Thinking Puzzle—a way of forcing you to
think creatively.
3. Today
• What is Creativity to you?
• Can Creativity be taught?
• Creativity is a process
• Lateral thinking question 2
• Where did your creativity go?
• How is your creativity limited?
• How do you believe society squashes creativity
• Lateral thinking question 3
• Creative listing
• Crayon activity
• 3 Links for Creativity Freebies
• Lateral thinking answers
• About Karen and her books
4. What is Creativity to You?
• How do you define creativity?
• Do you want to be more creative?
5. Creative Thinking
We need our creative and critical thinking skills to
maximize opportunities and solutions in life. But
many people wonder, is creativity really that
important?
6. Creativity is a process
• To learn creativity most effectively, one must emphasize a
process, not the “correctness” or “incorrectness” of an end
product.
• Creativity involves preparation and persistence.
• You need to feel free to express yourself as desired.
• We need to find our way back to teaching and learning about
creative processes, tools, and skills as a way of maximizing
personal talent.
7. lateral Thinking
Question 2
• A woman has incontrovertible proof in court
that her husband was murdered by her sister.
The judge declares, "This is the strangest case
I've ever seen. Though it's a cut-and-dried
case, this woman cannot be punished.”
8. Where did
Your Creativity Go?
• Use it, or lose it. Guess what, if you’ve gone a long
time without consciously using your creativity, it’s
harder to tap into. Look at your children – they are
creative all the time. So what happens to adults?
Where does our creativity go?
• Creativity gets blocked by fear. Fear of being
different, of being laughed at, of standing out of
“Standing for Something.” (Seth Godin)
9. How is Your Personal Creativity
Limited?
How do each of the following areas limit your creativity?
•Habits
•Rules
•Perceptions
•Emotions
•Culture
•Gender
10. How do you believe Society
Squashes Creativity
List the ways you can think of that society squashes
creativity, for example:
• It’s uncomfortable to be different
• Fear of…
• Continue this list
11. lateral Thinking Question 3
• There are six eggs in the basket. Six people
each take one egg. How can it be that one egg
is left in the basket?
12. Creative Listing
Creative listing is a fun and easy way to expand creativity. List:
• things you can hear right now
• things that crumble in your hands
• things that reflect
• things that sparkle under the evening sky
• things that live in shadows
• things that harmonize
• things you wish had that are blue
• morning things
• nonsense things that rhyme with juice
• things that are awesome about you
13. Crayon Activity
• Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a
box of crayons in kindergarten. Being hit with
the creative bug is just a wee voice telling you,
“I’d like my crayons back please.”
from Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity by Hugh MacLeod
• We never know which crayon activity we’re
going to do, until we do it!
14. 3 Links for Awesome Creativity Freebies
• How to be Creative by Hugh MacLeod
http://changethis.com/manifesto/6.HowToBeCreative/pdf/6.HowToBeCreative.pdf
• Your Creativity by Karen Daniels
http://zencopy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/ZenCreativityEBook1.pdf
• Creativity Matters by Amanda Morgan
http://notjustcute.com/2011/05/23/creativity-matters-free-ebook/
15. Lateral Thinking Puzzle Answers
1. Ask one robot what the other one would say. (Still confused?
Think on it)
2. The woman is a Siamese twin
3. The last person takes the basket with them
16. About Karen Daniels karen@karendaniels.com
o Amazon.com Top 10 bestselling author (see books at
karendaniels.com)
o M.A. in Educational Psychology/Gifted Education
o Mother of 3 gifted children
o Managing editor of Gifted Education Communicator, CAG
quarterly publication
o Karen’s site www.giftedresource.com is dedicated to providing
resources for gifted adults and parents of gifted children
o Founder of http://zencopy.com a blog which focuses on creativity
and writing
Distribution of this material: any or all of this material may be distributed freely for educational purposes. The author would appreciate notification and links.
17. Karen’s books, websites & blogs
Creativity Books Fiction
• Your Creativity: From Ordinary to Extraordinary Science Fiction/Adventure The Zaddack Tales
https://www.createspace.com/3616570 • Dancing Suns, Book 1
https://www.createspace.com/3589033
• Mindful Creativity
https://www.createspace.com/3723368 • Mentor’s Lair, Book 2
https://www.createspace.com/3590395
Women’s Stories, Self Help and Inspiration • Mindspark, Book 3
• IVF: The Ultimate Realty Game https://www.createspace.com/3590430
https://www.createspace.com/3516461
• Complete Zaddack Tales Trilogy
• Surviving In-Vitro Fertilization http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0050KEEES
https://www.createspace.com/3644938
• The Baby About to be Born
https://www.createspace.com/3586347
