Small Yet Fun Ways To Boost Your Creativity

If you think you’re not a creative person, think again! Creativity is something we all have and we all can invest in – sometimes it just takes a little effort. That means taking time to think through your ideas and using creative exercises to get yourself thinking outside of the box. The more you do, the more creative you’re going to feel. 

In the spirit of that, we’ve listed some small yet fun ways to boost your creativity down below. Whether you’re someone who wants to make your own crafts or you’re keen to write a novel of your own, these little activities will make the idea of being creative more accessible, warming, and enjoyable. 

Everyone should be able to have fun thinking up characters and fictional worlds, drawing out scenes straight from their imagination, and eventually feeling good about their capability to do so. As such, why not give a few of these ideas a try and see if they help? 

Follow a Prompt

Do you want to write more often? Does writer’s block get in the way? Maybe you feel you’re not really creative enough to be a writer? If these sound like common doubts you have, then you should try using a prompt generator. Either that or you could follow a social media account that posts prompts a few times a week and collects the stories in afterwards. 

Prompts give us a starting idea. Sometimes the prompt tells you what the overall theme of the story should be and lets you write whatever within that, sometimes the prompt starts the story for you and you just need to finish it off. Both are good, both can help you be more creative, and both definitely get you thinking about all the different ways your writing can go. 

Sit in the Garden

Do you head outside when you want to be creative? If not, give it a go! Sitting in the garden while you try to string a story outline together, or setting up an easel and canvas with the sun behind you, can really encourage the creative spark inside of you. 

Being outside is great for the soul, and for the brain, and sometimes the feeling of warmth on your back and the rustle of the leaves in the breeze are all you need to get those creative juices going! 

So head outside a bit more often when the muse strikes. A natural boost to your inner sense of creation can do wonders for the project you’re determined to make some progress on.  

Complete a Puzzle in 5 Minutes

It’s often suggested that putting a restriction on your creativity makes you more creative. If you impose some rules and force yourself to stay inside those, you start to think more creatively, or even laterally. A good way to practice this is to try completing a ‘coffee break’ puzzle in only five minutes. 

If you set a timer for five minutes and then break out a crossword puzzle (maybe online or from a newspaper), do your best to complete it before the alarm goes off. 

Why does this work? Well your results may vary, but giving yourself a challenge like this helps you to think outside of the box, with the ticking clock in the background acting as a little motivation boost. The more you try an activity like this, the easier it’s going to be to unlock the neural pathways that support this kind of thinking. 

Watch a Game Show

If you don’t tend to tune into game shows when they’re on, see if you can catch an episode of one the next time you’re sitting in front of the TV. Game shows, while often mindless entertainment, can once again get you to think outside the lines when it comes to finding the answer. 

And yes, you may be shouting the answers at the contestants who take an age to come up with them, but you’re still getting involved and engaging your brain! 

It doesn’t matter what game show you pick here, as long as you’ve got the space to think about the answer, even for questions you’re not sure about. Instead, think about making an educated guess, and then break down why you think that guess is correct. Understanding the way you think is key to boosting the ways in which you can be creative! 

Doodle

Doodling is an absent minded thing. It’s something we do when we’re bored or trying to pass the time. The doodles we come up with tend to litter the margins of paper we use to study and keep notes on, or they edge their way into our diaries and journals and make the pages seem a little more noteworthy. 

That’s why doodles are crucial to finding and boosting your creativity. If you’re an avid doodler when you’ve got pen and paper in hand, try to doodle more often. Create as you go, without even thinking about it, and get practiced in the art of turning the page into something more than practical. 

And sure, you might find that a lot of your doodles turn out the same, or you can’t think of more than two or three things to doodle, but you’ll soon have pages and pages of creative exercises to look back on. If you’re an artist trying to brush up on your craft (quite literally in this case!), doodling can help fill the gap between what’s in your head and the canvas you’re saving for something big and special. 

Draw with Crayons

Let’s head back to childhood for a while. If you don’t have any crayons in the house right now, head out to buy a pack (and grab some paper if you need it), then come home and get drawing. 

Using crayons helps to awaken something quite simple and fun within us, and if creativity is getting to be a complicated concept for you, this will be exactly the kind of exercise you need to try. Indulge your inner child! 

Try Something That Seems Impossible

If you want to really give your creativity a fun boost (and this may sound a bit more than a small thing to try but we highly recommend giving it a go), throw yourself into doing something that seems impossible to you right now. 

Crafting that novel idea you’ve got in your head and just typing until your fingers are tired, or recording a song in your bedroom and shooting an accompanying music video that features puppets you’ve made yourself. It sounds crazy, but it might just work! Indeed, if the project is huge and unwieldy and you’re not sure if you can even do it, start planning it. 

And do you know why this is a good idea? Because you’re challenging yourself! Again, it’s a form of providing restrictions to see what you can push out the other side. You’re taking on something that six months ago you never would have even considered, but now you’re doing it whole hog to prevent anything from holding you back. It’s fun, it’s focusing, and could even get you believing in yourself again. 

If you want to give your creativity a boost every now and then, start small and keep it fun. You might think artists need to have experienced suffering and melancholy in their lives (as all the greats seemed to!), but the more enjoyable it is to spend time with your own creations, the more motivated you’ll be to create.

See some more of my creative posts here

Becky

Meet the award-nominated UK lifestyle blogger behind Spirited Puddle Jumper – a mum of three living in South East London! Becky shares the real ups and downs of family life, parenting tips, and lifestyle inspiration, proving that being a mum doesn’t mean you stop being fun or having other interests! Follow along for honest insights into UK family life and opinions on a whole range of topics, from travel and food, to beauty reviews, home and DIY, business and health and wellness.