SCAMPER

Want creative solutions to your problems? Try SCAMPER-ing!

Invented by Bob Eberle, SCAMPER is an acronym for seven thinking techniques to help generate untypical solutions to problems. The individual thinking techniques are so common to human creative behavior that it could be more accurate to call SCAMPER a mnemonic for the collection of techniques rather than a singular technique of its own.

TIP: Keep in mind the principal of force fitting. If you can't think of anything in response to the specific SCAMPER prompt you're using, then force a response, no matter how ridiculous it seems, and think of ways to make the non-logical response work.

Example:

Problem:

Leaking ice cream cones. Prompt: REVERSE: put the ice cream in a bowl and the cone on top upside down – bingo, someone’s already done that, maybe through SCAMPER problem solving! Have fun--