Development of imagination: Importance of Creativity for Children, Students, How Creativity and Imagination Is Important for The Development of A Child

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Importance of Creativity for Children, Students, How Creativity and Imagination Is Important for The Development of A Child

Creativity and imagination can help your child’s motor skills, social interactions and even his problem-solving skills. Want to encourage your child to be more creative? Read on to know how

Every invention we are thankful for today was someone’s imagination once. Every new development of these inventions is the result of someone’s creativity. As your child plays with his toys, his whole world shapeshifts to another dimension in his imagination. The bed becomes a vast sea and the cushions his ship. The sheets become his fort and the teddy bear a mighty steed in your kid’s creativity. All this might sound like child’s play, but would you believe that he actually develops his social, behavioral, and decision-making skills while he plays?

Sally Goddard Blythe, director of The Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology at Chester, and author of The Genius of Natural Childhood: Secrets of Thriving Children says, “This kind of play allows children to tap into their creativity and really run with it, without any boundaries, (and) in a way that’s very freeing. “

When children imagine, they visualize a world without its physical limits. This helps them see things in a new light and look for solutions using a different approach. It also helps them express themselves and urges them to question the working of things around them. And this is just the tip of the iceberg of learning! Wondering how your child’s creative world will shape his future? If so, how can you nurture his imagination? Fevicreate is here to expand creativity in children! From simple DIYs to exciting science projects, it is the one-stop-shop to help your child’s imagination grow without bounds, while also helping him learn! Read on to know more.

Importance of creativity

Creativity is important in the early years of development of your child. Let us see how it can help her learn and grow.

Promotes social interactions and emotional development

Imagining herself in others’ shoes promotes social and emotional development in your child. She learns to be more empathetic and cooperative to others, while also being confident in who she is. Pretend play and crafts also help your child test her boundaries by helping her imagine and experiment.

Aids creative and cognitive development

Being creative helps children build the foundation for life skills that they will acquire later on in life. For example, reading can help your child visualize the plot, give a face to the characters and even extend the narrative in his own imagination. This aids creative learning and cognitive development in children by improving their memory and also helps them creatively process situations by looking at them like the plot of a story.

Helps in the development of motor skills

Art and craft, pretend play, or simply playing outdoors prove to be fine motor activities for kids. Whether your child is dancing to her own beat or jumping over bushes outdoors, it improves her hand-eye coordination and muscle memory. Dressing up dolls, and playing with small cars and figurines help your child self-regulate her movements and behavior.

Check out Fevicreate’s wide range of creative crafts, DIYs with different difficulty levels to suit your child, and more here.

Builds communication skills

Imaginative play or creative play allows children to act out scenes from books, movies, or even from interactions with peers. This builds communication skills as they try to experiment with language and conversations with peers. It also improves their listening skills as they try to listen, learn, adapt and imagine.

Develops critical thinking and problem-solving skills

As children play, they imagine the world without its physical limits. They create visual images, helping them explore ideas without any constraints. This promotes critical thinking in the early years and develops problem-solving skills, thus helping them come up with new possibilities and solutions.

Encouraging creativity and imagination in your child

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have” – Maya Angelou, Poet

Invent scenarios and encourage pretend play

When your child plays, he usually pretends to be a character he has seen or heard about. Help him widen his imagination by inventing scenarios for his play. Play doctor, house, astronaut, superhero, school, or whatever you can think of. Pick a role for yourself and answer questions he may have.

Choose simple, open-ended toys

If your kids tend to lose interest in toys in a day or two, it’s time to switch to open-ended toys which can be used in multiple ways, yet do not require intervention much. Building blocks, toy animals, plain wooden blocks, whiteboards, and play dough offer unending possibilities of play for your child.

Listen to your child’s ideas

As your child develops a story around his toys or playthings, listen keenly and learn how he builds his imaginary world. Allow him to choose what to play when he wants to stop and brainstorm with him about random ideas of play. Hold family brainstorming sessions and encourage your kids to participate, showing them that sharing ideas is not scary.

Indulge in art and craft

Nothing initiates one’s imagination better than art and craft. Crafting acts as a channel to help children with creativity, self-expression, concentration, learning, planning skills, and dexterity. Fevicreate offers customized art projects and DIYs to help your child develop his creativity and work on his imagination. This is also a beautiful opportunity to promote your child’s interaction with your family.

Ask questions about their ideas and creations

Ask questions that will provoke your child’s imagination and creativity. This will help her envision her ideas and share her thoughts. Use questions like ‘What if?’ or ‘What is the difference between this and that?’ or ‘What are other ways you can do this?’ to spark your child’s creativity.

Give encouraging feedback

Take on the role of a cheerleader as you play with your child and avoid being a judge. Your child’s creation may not be perfect or realistic, but it is the outcome of his imagination, so give positive feedback to encourage him. You can also let them imagine and create by giving them space and time for unstructured play.

Craft, learn, and create with Fevicreate

How would you like it if we told you that all your child’s creative needs can be met with a single click? Fevicreate is the place to be! With a plethora of DIY projects, art out of waste ideas, creative crafts for kids, school projects, lesson plans, videos, and more, Fevicreate helps your child widen his creative world in more ways than one.

If you are stuck at home and need a quick fix for your child’s playtime, try one of their DIY ideas. All you need to do is choose a theme and difficulty level for your child and you have umpteen ideas varying from tea light holders and Diwali lanterns to Halloween masks and fridge magnets. Want all-inclusive kid’s craft kits? They have those too! Neon slime, a kit to make your own birdhouse, a Ganesha mold, and many exciting craft kits to bring your child’s imagination to life! Shop now at Fevicreate.

Next time your child picks up a building block and looks up at you, leave your chores and settle down for a fun time with him. The chores can wait, his creativity is the one that needs to be worked on. His imagination and creativity can change the world.

The development of a capacity for imagination in early childhood

Review

. 1992;47:23-47.

doi: 10.1080/00797308.1992.11822663.

L C Mayes 
1
, D J Cohen

Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine.

  • PMID:

    1289932

  • DOI:

    10.1080/00797308.1992.11822663

Review

L C Mayes et al.

Psychoanal Study Child.

1992.

. 1992;47:23-47.

doi: 10.1080/00797308.1992.11822663.

Authors

L C Mayes 
1
, D J Cohen

Affiliation

  • 1 Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine.

  • PMID:

    1289932

  • DOI:

    10.1080/00797308.1992.11822663

Abstract

Imagination as a mental capacity is part of a line of development that begins in the earliest symbiotic interactions between mother and infant, takes further shape as the child moves from dyadic to triadic relations, and culminates in a fully mature capacity to reflect upon in thought one’s wishes and feelings vis-à-vis multiple others. Particularly for the 3- to 5-year-old child, imagination represents a special mode of mental functioning which allows him to expand his internal object world, motivates him toward increasingly complex relationships with others, and is a central precondition for the creation of the self-defining fantasies characteristic of the oedipal phase. The central neurocognitive precondition for an imaginative capacity is the ability to distinguish thought from action and understand that others as well as oneself are motivated to act because of mental states such as feelings, beliefs, and fantasies. In this paper, we present a view of imagination that integrates observations from psychoanalytically informed studies of the emergence of fantasy play in the oedipal phase with findings from recent work on how children acquire an understanding of their own and others’ mental processes.

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Publication types

MeSH terms

Development of the Imagination

Development of the Imagination – Purposeful process, pursuing the task of developing the brightness of imaginary images, their originality and depth, as well as the fruitfulness of the imagination.

Imagination in its development is subject to the same laws that other mental processes follow in their ontogenetic transformations. Like perception, memory and attention, expression gradually turns from direct to indirect, and the main means of mastering it on the part of the child are, as shown by A.V. Zaporozhets, model representations and sensory standards.

By the end of the preschool period of childhood, in a child whose creative imagination develops quite rapidly (such children, according to O.M. Dyachenko, make up approximately one fifth of all children of this age), imagination is presented in two main forms: and how the emergence of a plan for its implementation.

In addition to its cognitive-intellectual function, children’s imagination performs another – affective-protective – role, protecting the growing and easily vulnerable, still poorly protected personality of the child from excessively difficult experiences and mental trauma. Thanks to the cognitive function of the imagination, the child learns the world around him better, solves the problems that arise before him more easily and efficiently. The emotionally protective function of the imagination is expressed in the fact that through an imaginary situation, tension can be discharged and a kind of symbolic (figurative) resolution of conflicts that are difficult to remove by real practical actions.

At the first stage of the development of the imagination, it is connected with the process of objectification of the image by action. Through this process, the child learns to manage his images, to change, refine and improve them, and therefore to regulate his imagination. However, he is not yet able to plan his imagination, to draw up a plan of upcoming actions in his mind in advance. This ability in children appears only by 4-5 years.

Affective imagination in children aged 2.5 – 3 to 4-5 years develops according to a slightly different logic. Initially, negative experiences in children are symbolically expressed in the heroes of fairy tales heard or seen (in the cinema, on television). Following this, the child begins to build imaginary situations that remove the threats to his “I” (stories – fantasies of children about themselves as having especially pronounced qualities). Finally, at the third stage of development of this function, the ability to remove the emerging emotional tension through the projection mechanism develops, thanks to which unpleasant knowledge about oneself, one’s own negative, emotionally and morally unacceptable qualities begin to be attributed to other people, as well as objects and animals.

By the age of about 6-7 years, the development of affective imagination in children reaches a level where many of them are able to imagine themselves and live in an imaginary world.

Man is not born with a developed imagination. The development of the imagination is carried out in the course of human ontogenesis and requires the accumulation of a certain stock of ideas, which in the future can serve as material for creating images of the imagination. Imagination develops in close connection with the development of the whole personality, in the process of training and education, as well as in unity with thinking, memory, will and feelings.

It is very difficult to determine any specific age limits that characterize the dynamics of imagination development. There are examples of extremely early development of the imagination. For example, Mozart began composing music at the age of four, Repin and Serov were good at drawing at the age of six. On the other hand, the late development of the imagination does not mean that this process will be at a low level in more mature years. There are cases in history when great people, such as Einstein, did not have a developed imagination in childhood, but over time they began to talk about them as geniuses.

Despite the difficulty of determining the stages of human imagination development, certain regularities in its formation can be identified. Thus, the first manifestations of imagination are closely connected with the process of perception. For example, children at the age of one and a half years are not yet able to listen to even the simplest stories or fairy tales, they are constantly distracted or fall asleep, but listen with pleasure to stories about what they themselves have experienced. In this phenomenon, the connection between imagination and perception is quite clearly visible. The child listens to the story of his experiences because he clearly understands what is being said. The connection between perception and imagination is preserved at the next stage of development, when the child in his games begins to process the impressions received, modifying previously perceived objects in his imagination. The chair turns into a cave or an airplane, a box into a car. However, it should be noted that the first images of the child’s imagination are always associated with activity. The child does not dream, but embodies the reworked image in his activity, even though this activity is a game.

An important stage in the development of imagination is associated with the age when a child masters speech. Speech allows the child to include in the imagination not only specific images, but also more abstract ideas and concepts. Moreover, speech allows the child to move from expressing images of the imagination in activity to their direct expression in speech.

The stage of mastering speech is accompanied by an increase in practical experience and the development of attention, which makes it easier for the child to isolate individual parts of an object, which he already perceives as independent and which he increasingly operates in his imagination. However, the synthesis occurs with significant distortions of reality. Due to the lack of sufficient experience and insufficient critical thinking, the child cannot create an image that is close to reality. The main feature of this stage is the involuntary nature of the emergence of images of the imagination. Most often, images of the imagination are formed in a child of this age involuntarily, in accordance with the situation in which he is.

The next stage in the development of the imagination is associated with the appearance of its active forms. At this stage, the process of imagination becomes arbitrary. The emergence of active forms of imagination is initially associated with a stimulating initiative on the part of an adult. For example, when an adult asks a child to do something (draw a tree, build a house out of blocks, etc.), he activates the process of imagination. In order to fulfill the request of an adult, the child must first create, or recreate, a certain image in his imagination. Moreover, this process of imagination by its nature is already arbitrary, since the child tries to control it. Later, the child begins to use arbitrary imagination without any adult participation. This leap in the development of the imagination is reflected primarily in the nature of the child’s play.

They become purposeful and subjective. The things surrounding the child become not just stimuli for the development of objective activity, but act as material for the embodiment of images of his imagination. A child at the age of four or five begins to draw, build, sculpt, rearrange things and combine them in accordance with his plan. Another major shift in imagination occurs during school age.

The need to understand the educational material determines the activation of the process of recreating imagination. In order to assimilate the knowledge that is given at school, the child actively uses his imagination, which causes the progressive development of the ability to process images of perception into images of imagination.

Another reason for the rapid development of imagination during school years is that in the process of learning the child actively acquires new and versatile ideas about objects and phenomena of the real world. These representations serve as a necessary basis for the imagination and stimulate the creative activity of the student.

Maklakov AG General psychology. St. Petersburg: Peter, 2001.

Dyachenko O.M. On the main directions of the development of imagination in children // Questions of psychology. – 1988 (61).

how to turn a poor imagination into a rich one

What kind of imagination do you have, poor or rich?

Adults are often sure that their imagination is not just poor, they don’t have it at all! Comparing themselves with children bursting with imagination, seeing the fruits of creativity of gifted people, they state with sadness that for them to come up with something extraordinary is simply a super task.

Is it possible to correct the situation and develop the imagination? Let’s figure it out!

In this article we will consider the following questions:

  • What is imagination? What is it for?
  • How does a child’s imagination differ from an adult’s imagination?
  • How to train the imagination?
  • What rules to follow in the creative process?
  • What methods of creative thinking can be used?

And so that the question does not remain within the theory, I will offer you a number of practical exercises.

do we need a good imagination?

The first question you should answer is: “Do you really think this topic is important to you? Why do you need a good imagination?”

It would seem that one can live well without imagination!

Not everyone needs to be creators, not everyone needs to write books, invent something new and advance technical progress. It is quite possible to live using other people’s ideas, other people’s inventions and the fruits of creativity. It is quite possible to live according to an established scheme, according to an algorithm and instructions invented by someone.

The main thing is that boredom and routine do not get sucked in… And also, that there are no “extraordinary situations” that require non-trivial decisions, which are not prescribed in the rules. After all, then, in order to solve the problem, you will have to look for a way out and turn on this very imagination!

Think how your life could change if you always saw dozens of options and new solutions, if hundreds of original ideas were swarming in your head, if your fantasy blossomed luxuriantly. Would your life be the same as now? ..

JOB.

Dream, what will happen if you have a great, sparkling, imagination?

Please continue the phrase: “I have a great imagination and I . …”

Don’t stop, look at different areas of life. How will they change?

Dreamed? Let’s summarize.

WHY DO WE NEED CREATIVE IMAGINATION?

We need imagination to:

  • create creative products: compose poetry, paintings, music; make discoveries in science, invent new things,
  • in everyday life: diversify the routine and habitual way of life, find new ways to interact with people, play with children,
  • create projects in practical activities, business projects

Having a rich imagination we become more successful.

We trust the world more, we are less afraid of life changes, we are more adaptable and flexible. We can always come up with a worthwhile idea in business and find a way out in any situation.

We become favorites in any company because it is interesting to be with us. And we ourselves are always inspired and full of creative ideas.

We feel life in all its fullness!

Beautiful perspective, isn’t it?

What to do if you have no imagination from the word “absolutely”?

I’ll tell you, it doesn’t happen! Every person has an imagination. And here’s why:

what is imagination?

In fact, when we talk about imagination, it is not only about inventions and creativity.

There are 2 scientific definitions of imagination.

the process of transforming the projected reality.

2) Imagination – a person’s ability to build new images by processing mental components acquired in past experience.

Both definitions are based on the concept “image” . And it is not necessary that this image is creative.

Depending on whether we are creating a completely new image or recreating an already created one, imagination is divided into recreating and creative .

Every person has a recreating imagination . Thanks to this kind of imagination, we can communicate and imagine what the interlocutor is telling us. We can read books and understand what they are talking about. We can learn. We recreate the described images in our head.

This is how the recreative imagination works. And, again, everyone has it.

But a new image, something that was not there before, gives us Creative Imagination .

At the same time, the product of creative imagination can be of varying degrees of significance. You can create something new on your own level or on the level of the entire planet. Yes, the degree of significance for society will be different, but the power of imagination will change little.

So, when talking about imagination, don’t chase world-class results. Composing a simple rhyme is also a victory of creative imagination over the inertia of the mind!

In general, start small, as they say. ..

Is it true that children’s imaginations are stronger?

It is generally accepted that children have the richest imagination. Is it true?

Actually the imagination of a child is weaker than that of an adult .

Imagination is the result of the activity of the brain, and the brain of a child is only developing compared to the brain of an adult. His abilities in childhood are weaker.

In addition, the child has much less life experience, so the product of his imagination will not be as complex as that of an adult.

For example, ask a 5-year-old child to write a story. And give the same task to an adult. What do you think, whose fairy tale will be longer, more meaningful, “more fancy”?

(If you think that your fairy tale will be worse, then you definitely need to complete all the tasks in this article. And also … work on self-esteem!)

The impression that the child’s imagination is richer is created by the fact that children are more spontaneous in their fantasies, they are free from patterns and stereotypes.

In fact, at the age of 5, a child’s imagination is only being formed.

The development of the imagination lasts until adolescence and reaches its peak at the age of 14-15. In the future, if a person does not set himself creative tasks, does not use his imagination, then it begins to fade away. And then we can really slide in our level of imagination to the level of a five-year plan…

Why do we think that a child’s imagination is brighter, more flexible, gushing?

Imagination turns on when it is needed.

This happens much more often in a child. If an adult lives according to a well-established scenario, template and instructions, knows the answers to many questions, then a child constantly has situations of uncertainty. He does not know how to act, he does not know the interconnection of phenomena, he does not know and thinks out a solution according to his own logic.

“Why is it raining?” – ask the child and the adult. One will tell you about the water cycle in nature, and the other will come up with several fantastic versions according to his experience of fairy tales, observation of nature and communication.

Did I convince you?

I know many people would like to argue about the poverty of children’s imagination, but that’s not the point here. Don’t lose her. In all of the above, the following is important:

For imagination to develop, it must be activated!

how to activate the imagination?

To turn on the imagination, first of all, you need to set the brain a creative task . You need to tell him what you need to invent, find, invent.

Again.

If you want to turn your imagination on, turn it on !

This seems to be elementary advice. But, in fact, many people conclude that their imagination is poor, without even trying to set themselves the task of coming up with something new.

And adults, as we have already found out, live differently than children. They know everything, they have ready-made solutions and instructions – they simply have no reason to “reinvent the wheel” and look for other options, i.e. turn on the imagination. Our brain saves resources and by default follows the simplest path, the old and beaten one. If you want to go a new way – make an effort for this.

How to turn on the imagination? I’ll give you some ways!

Ways to “Turn on” the imagination

Way 1. How can I do it “the other way”?

Imagination, like any other muscle or mental process, can be trained.

To train your brain to see different solutions, regularly ask yourself: “how can I do what I’m doing in a different way?”

This action will bring more awareness and creativity into your daily life.

ASSIGNMENT

Answer the question “how can I do it another way?” in relation to situations:

  • Feedback from work
  • CREMIRE
  • Family dinner
  • Cutting vegetables
  • Cleaning the house

Do not stop yourself offers you the most absurd situations!

Method 2.

Enter a quota for the number of ideas. Do at least…

When you give yourself a creative task, be sure to determine how many solutions you need to find. At the same time, raise the bar – not 2-3 options, but at least 10-15 ideas.

Why is this important?

Because the first options will be stereotypical, from what you knew, used or saw somewhere before. At this point, only the recreative imagination is working for you.

But when the ready-made options run out, you start to “dig deeper”, combine different ideas, and then the creative imagination will turn on!

Therefore, always enter a high quota for the number of ideas.

Task

  • Invent 20 ways to use brick
  • , compose 12 Options for the end of the Tale “Turnip”
  • Invent 15 unusual ideas, in which place you can have a fun party.

Method 3. Create an emotional stimulus

It’s boring to do something just because you have to. It is much more interesting when there is emotion, attraction, something pleasant just for you behind the need.

When you set a creative task for yourself, think about what your solution will give you?

Perhaps everyone will praise you, say “Here you are a dreamer! Didn’t expect!” Or you will reward yourself with something delicious. Or will you just feel such bursting pride in yourself that you will fly like on wings?

Imagine that moment when you can yell “Eureka!” and start generating ideas. Lots of ideas, as we remember.

Method 4. Remove criticism for the duration of the creative process

It is very important when you start looking for ideas to turn off your inner critic.

You must allow the most absurd and unrealizable ideas to come up. Let them appear freely. Don’t scold yourself “Well, that’s just nonsense!” or “It’s unreal!”. Allow yourself to fantasize freely.

Then, when you give out your quota of ideas and a little bit more, you will be able to analyze all these options critically and even find some interesting grain in unrealistic ones. But during the process of searching for ideas, criticism should become taboo!

Why is that?

The fact is that different hemispheres of the brain are responsible for creativity and logic, criticism. The two hemispheres do not work at full capacity at the same time.

Therefore, either you create something new or you criticize.

Never evaluate in the process of inventing (developing) ideas what you get. A new idea is always weak, so turn off your inner critic for the duration of the creative process!

JOB

Have you thought of 20 ways to use the brick from the previous task? Now come up with 20 more, more original and crazy.

Down with criticism!

Evaluate the results after, compare your first options with the second.

Method 5: Add motion

Motion improves idea generation. Even a 30-minute walk will help you gain a fresh look at familiar things.

Be sure to write down what comes to mind, as new ideas tend to disappear.

TASK

Go for a walk and get your phone recorder ready.

While walking, go back to the 15 Unusual Party Ideas activity. After 10 minutes of walking, you can begin to slander options on the recorder. But there is no need to push and give out all the options en masse. Walk around and catch ideas that come to mind.

Method 6. Use the techniques of creative thinking

In order to boost creative imagination, remove the force of inertia and inertia of thinking, it would be good to master at least a few techniques of creative thinking.

Similar techniques can be found in large numbers among authors who dealt with problems of creative thinking. There are even separate scientific directions in this area, for example, TRIZ and heuristics.

Here is a small list of books that I recommend reading:

  • Edward de Bono “Thinking Outside the Box”
  • Michael Mikalko “Cracking the Stereotypes”
  • Michael Mikalko “Rice Storm and 21 More Ways to Think Outside the Box”

    • 0053 Steve Rowling “I want more ideas”

  • Michael John Geb “How to think like Leonardo da Vinci”
  • Estanislao Bahrak “A flexible mind. How to see things outside the box and think differently”

Let’s look at a few tricks that are useful in artistic creativity.

creative thinking methods for generating ideas

Associative methods

Association

If there is an associative connection between mental phenomena A and B, the appearance of phenomenon A in the mind of a person naturally leads to the appearance of phenomenon B in consciousness. . We say “autumn” and in our head we have an image of yellow leaves or rain. We say “birch” and remember its white trunk. Or Yesenin. Who has what.

There are auditory, gustatory, visual associations. It depends on which way of perception a person is more developed.

Based on the ability of a person to work with associations, various methods of creative thinking have been invented.

For example,

1. Random objects method

This method consists in creating a new image based on a completely random selection of objects.

How does it work?

You take on your creative task and spontaneously choose an object whose properties or form may suggest a new original solution for you.

For example, this graphic uses the shape of a bee and the random object is a diamond. The artist takes from the diamond its principle of cutting and breaks the shape of a bee into geometrically regular spots-facets.

CHALLENGE

Create a new lamp shape using a random pattern. To do this, open the book on any page and select the first word that comes across.

A word can be either a noun, an adjective or a verb.

As a result, you can cross:

– lamp + walk

– lamp + watermelon

– lamp + cautious

In this case, avoid direct analogies. No need to create a lamp in the shape of a watermelon. You can take some other signs from the watermelon. For example, the fact that it has seeds inside. And then think about what a lamp with “seeds” inside might look like. What are these seeds? Bulbs? Particles floating in rays of light? Something else?

2. Transfer method

This method is similar to the previous one, but it consists in transferring not the object itself, but its certain qualities.

So, choosing an object at random, you need to make a list of adjectives peculiar to it. And then “impose” each of the properties on the original task.

Continuing with the idea of ​​a lamp and a watermelon, you should make a list of signs of a watermelon: round, striped, juicy, sugary, good for its season, cleans the body, with a tail, bursts with ripeness, etc.

Now think about how this sign can be manifested in a lamp. You can get very original options that you could not even think of.

Combinatorial methods

Combinatorial methods include a number of methods based on the mechanical selection of all possible options.

In the case of creating visual images, design, I really like the following method:

Morphological table method

The first thing we do in this method is to break the object under study into its component parts, the variants of which are entered into the table.

For example, in this example, I have depicted what elements a woman’s shirt consists of.

I took several components of this system: a shelf, a sleeve, a collar, a pocket, a clasp (you can continue – fabric, trim, etc.). Then we enter the possible options for this parameter in the table. It is desirable to find all possible options.

Then we start by enumeration to form an image from different rows of the table. The shelf is moored, the sleeve is narrowed, the collar is English, etc.

As a result, we can collect hundreds of new shirt options!

The disadvantage of this method is that not all options will be aesthetic or working.

I will show you the practical application of this method, which I used for paintings. It allows you to create very interesting options for fabulous fantasy stories.

I made this tablet for myself:

There are animate nouns – characters, inanimate nouns (which, however, can also come to life and become characters), there are nouns as a scene, small objects or details of clothing, and there are verbs. And I wrote the verbs with prepositions.

And as a result of enumeration, a wide variety of images can arise:

– Flamingo in a skirt that lives on an hourglass in the tower,

– Dragon with a monocle walking with a cat on a tree

– Storyteller

In order to create images faster, I also made a visual plate with interesting objects:

This is how fantasy works more clearly and faster.

Try it yourself!

While preparing this article, I found an interesting version of cards based on the book “Rice Storm” by Michael Mikalko . This is a ready-made tool with creative thinking methods.