Creative Spark Talk Analysis

“In 2008 at the Serious Play Conference, designer Tim Brown gave a talk about the Powerful Relationship between creative thinking and play” (Brown, 2008). He talked about how Adults and Children are very different in the way they respond in what they accomplish using their creative side. For example, he asked everyone to draw a picture of the person sitting next to them in 30 seconds. When it was finished, everyone laughed and said they were sorry. They were embarrassed to share their ideas with their peers; they were afraid for others to see their creation. Even if they had a wild idea and it was good, they will never know because they will fix it to conform to the norm until it loses its originality. Adults become conservative in thinking because of fear. In comparison, the same experiment was done with kids. The kids were not embarrassed when they were done; they proudly shared their drawing with anyone who wanted to see it. As kids become adults, they lose the freedom and become sensitive to the opinion of others and start being fearful and embarrassed when they do not conform to their environment. Kids who are raised in a more trusting environment feel more secure to play, and they play more freely than their peers.

Some companies have recognized these characteristics in children and set out to make their employees feel secure to play and explore. These companies will place symbols like a fireman pole, a slide, a dinosaur, and other things in the workspace to facilitate comfort and relaxation so their employees can work and be more creative and playful. Kids are more engaged in open possibilities “when they come across something new they ask “What is it?””(Brown, 2008). And “What can I do with it?” “This openness is the beginning of exploratory play” (Brown, 2008). One example is, “on Christmas morning our kids play more with the boxes the toys were brought in, than to the toy” (Brown, 2008). The toy can do just what it was designed to do, but playing with the box opens a world of possibilities.

As adults, we need to relearn how to let go of behaviors that suppress creative thinking. One way to do that is to learn a set of new rules to “break the old rules that we bring to the creative thinking process” (Brown, 2008). We need to go