Yes AND…
Activity Summary
Students work together to generate ideas and brainstorm using the prompt ‘Yes AND’ to build and generate ideas. This is a simple energizer, which supports students in getting into an explorative, creative and open mindset.
Activity Plan
1
5 mins
Put the students into pairs or groups and explain the exercise:
There is a person A and a person B. Person A begins the exercise by saying: “Let’s …” The next person answers by the following model: “Yes (accept), and what I love about this is … (integrate & build on). The next person could then say “And we could also… (offer).”
The next person builds on top this answer following the same model. The conversation continues for approx. 5 minutes. See additional resources for template. This can also be simplified for students by asking them just to use the ‘Yes, and’ to build on each other’s ideas.
2
5 mins
Students engage in the activity.
3
5 mins
Consider rounding off by sharing how this mindset and exercise can be used if they are stuck in creative processes in group work.
Tips & Tricks
- This is a simple energizer, which supports students in getting into an explorative, creative and open mindset. It might help them get out of a feeling of being stuck or blocked in a co-creative process. This is a good activity, when the students need to kickstart their creative and positive thinking. This simple exercise trains the students ability to take an input and build on top of it following the steps of: Accept, Integrate, Build on, Offer.
- As a teacher, you can emphasise that there is no build-on that is too crazy or too much, it is encouraged that the ideas escalate!
Additional Resources
