Fun with Character: Limits
Sometimes, when you give an assignment, you leave the boundaries wide open, expecting to get creative results. Normally, students will choose something they have done before or are familiar with. If you want to make it really creative, limit what they can use or do and force creativity within strict boundaries. For example, you may give an assignment to write a short story, but give them 16 words they must use, or give them the first paragraph and have them write the ending. I remember a teacher in grade school played audio story prompts (on a record player!). It was just sound effects in a setting, and we each had to write a story to go with the sounds we heard. It was amazing how different our stories were. Our life stories are all that different. For examples of audio writing prompts, visit the ambient mixer.
If you choose to use art as the assignment, you may want to restrict them to only drawing straight lines or let each student randomly choose 2 colors (before giving them the assignment), and that is all they can use. For a history lesson, have them write a scene from history using real characters, but give them a setting that was not in the books. You could also bring a historical character into the present and ask how they would react to a current-day event or problem. They must describe how each would act according to what they know about them.
When finished, process the activity with these or similar questions:
Did you like being challenged with restrictions?
Do you think you would have thought of your final product without those restrictions?
What steps did they take to determine how you would proceed?
How different were the finished products?
Did doing this exercise give you the confidence to be creative in solving problems, no matter what they are?
Final thought: Thinking in this way strengthens creative thinking skills.