Use a verbal spontaneous problem to encourage out-of-the box thinking by disallowing normal (boring) methods. Examples include:
* If both your arms were broken, how would you brush your teeth?
* Team members take turns communicating concepts or messages to the rest of the team without words (e.g. charades).
* How would they perform typical activities on “backwards day?”
Spontaneous Supply Bin- Have fun building with common items used in hands-on problems:
See how tall or how long a span you can create.
Here is the “Apollo XIII” clip mentioned during the online coaches training and looks like a hands-on spontaneous problem:
There is no outside assistance in Spontaneous Practice, since you don’t know what the competition problem will be. You can get help from team members and their parents creating practice problems. With parental permission of course, team members can bring interesting “mystery” objects from junk drawers, closets, basements, etc., and the team can practice “what could this be?” Try using combinations of objects or different perspectives: * What would a space alien think it is? * What would a mouse, fish, or giant think it is?
Using verbal spontaneous practice to help with long-term solution ideas, for P2: * A fisherman wants to catch something he can eat, but not something that can eat him. Name a fisher character and something desirable or undesirable to catch. Younger teams may have initial difficulty moving away from concrete concepts, so try again later with a change: * The fisher character cannot be a person. * The fisher character is not on a body of water, but floating on a cloud (or someplace else).
In verbal spontaneous problems, team members go around and around in turn, providing creative solutions to the problem given. You can use this like choreographed brainstorming to help your team create ideas for their long-term solution. Put concepts together in unusual ways to help them think “out of the box.” For example, for P1: * You expect to see a bus on a road or a boat on a lake. Name a vehicle and a situation you would *NOT* expect to find it. You will probably get more creative answers than just “name a vehicle.” If they start to get a little wild and silly, all the better.
The Minister’s Cat (similar to verbal spontaneous) Team members take turns in a circle, saying “The Minister’s Cat is a _____ cat.” Start with the letter “a” (e.g. “artistic,” “athletic,” “annoying”), then when a team member misses, restart with “b” (and so on). This game teaches: * be prepared with multiple answers (it will come around again) * listen to each other to know when to start (don’t wait to be called on) * don’t repeat an answer already given Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-Nh7tXEX00&hd=1#t=59 (easier without clapping)
