Learning To Combine
The great thing about creativity and having ideas is that you have the freedom to create something new out of any combination of things. There is always a new and unique idea that comes from completely unrelated objects or concepts that have never been explored.
For example, what new and interesting ideas can we make out of a hamburger and a fork? The trick is to see ways we can use the concepts of a hamburger and a fork. Here are a few:
- Fashion the burger meat to be in the shape of a fork. Have people eat meals with that “hamburger fork”, then eat that.
- Stick the fork in the bun of the hamburger (so only the tines show), and now the burger is the handle of the fork.
- Slice up the hamburger, put it in salad, and use the fork to eat it.
- enclose the tines with mustard and ketchup, or find a way for the fork’s tines to squirt out mustard and ketchup
- Create a spaghetti meal, only with a hamburger theme. Make the meatballs enclosed with cheese, ketchup, mustard, and cover it with bread. And instead of spaghetti, use thin and long slices of potatoes as the “fries”
These are just some quick ideas that come to mind. Some may seem a little odd, but they are all ideas that you just don’t see every day to combine a hamburger and fork.
Let’s try out another example. How can we combine cereal and milk? Well, that’s easy, right? That’s combination has been used every single morning by people for years. But are there any unique ways we can combine them?
- Create a “cereal margarita” for kids. Pour a glass with milk, and sprinkle the rim of the glass with ground up cereal.
- Milk Soup: Fill a bowl with milk (maybe even with ice cream or sugar), and pour in a bit of cereal. Could make a great dessert.
- Make an mock “Oreo” dunking party with dolls. Get tiny containers (shot glasses, bottle caps), fill them with milk, and dunk cereal pieces in the milk. Kids may enjoy it.
- Frozen cereal pops. Fill an ice tray with cereal and milk (maybe some sugar as well), and freeze them with a toothpick (or fork!).
Again, these ideas may or not work out, but the point is that there are always new and interesting ways to combine things, even if they are things that have been used together in a different way.
So find two or more things to combine. Combine objects or existing ideas that are totally unrelated to make new things. Or find a new use for a combination that people always associate with one specific use. It’s a fun thing to do that will certainly raise your creativity and come up with fun and unique ideas.
