Unlocking My Creative Brain: A Classroom Exercise That Actually Worked

As someone who’s constantly designing, drawing, and dreaming, I thought I had a good grip on creativity. But this week’s assignment asked me to step outside my usual comfort zone and try a structured creativity exercise I’d never done before. So I went searching for something that wasn’t just about art, but about how I think and that’s when I found it:

Exercise Used:
“30 Circles” – from IDEO’s Design Thinking for Educators toolkit.
Link: https://designthinkingforeducators.com/toolkit

How It Works:

You’re given a sheet of 30 blank circles. You have 3 minutes to turn as many of them as possible into recognizable objects whatever comes to mind. The key is quantity over quality. It’s a test of how fast your brain can move past the obvious and dive into more original, weird, or unexpected ideas.

What I Did:

I printed out the template (though you could easily draw the circles yourself), and set a 3-minute timer. At first, I played it safe: a clock, a smiley face, a pizza. But once I hit the halfway point, my brain started throwing out wild ideas a planet with rings, a donut being bitten, a portal, a Pokéball, a spinning gear, even a cracked crystal ball.

I finished 18 out of 30. Not bad. But what mattered more was what started happening in my head.

What I Learned:

  • Creativity is a muscle. The first 5 ideas came easy. The next 5 got harder. Then I hit a wall and that’s when it got interesting. Forcing myself to keep going made me pull from deeper places.

  • Let go of perfection. Some circles looked goofy or rushed, and that was the point. This wasn’t about “good art” it was about “good thinking.”

  • Constraints create breakthroughs. Having only 3 minutes and a simple shape actually pushed me to be more inventive, not less. The deadline helped kill overthinking.

Why This Exercise Matters (Especially in Creative Careers):

Whether you're designing logos, editing video, or writing music, ideas are your fuel. But too often we get stuck in patterns. The 30 Circles challenge forced me to push past my defaults and that’s the kind of discomfort that leads to growth.

I’ll definitely be using this exercise again when I feel stuck, or even as a warm-up before diving into creative work.

Try It Yourself:

You can find the “30 Circles” creativity challenge (and a bunch of others) in IDEO’s free Design Thinking Toolkit for Educators:
https://designthinkingforeducators.com/toolkit

It’s simple, fun, and surprisingly revealing. Trust me your creative brain will thank you.

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