What Else Could It Be? — The Unusual Uses Game

Hand the child an everyday object — a paper cup, a wooden spoon, a cardboard tube — and ask the playful question: “What ELSE could this be? What could we do with it?” Then keep the ideas flowing. The goal isn’t the “right” answer; it’s MANY answers, the sillier and more surprising the better.

  1. Pick one ordinary object you have plenty of — a plastic cup, a paper plate, a sock, a cardboard box, a stick.

  2. Ask: “This is a cup… but what else could it be?” Model one playful idea to start (“It could be a hat for a mouse!”), then hand the turn to the child.

  3. Take turns. Greet every idea with delight — act it out, don’t judge it. A cup is a drum, a phone, a boat, a megaphone, a tiny swimming pool for a bug.

  4. Gently stretch for more when ideas slow: “We have five… can we find three more?” Count them on fingers so the child sees the pile growing.

  5. For extra fun, actually TRY a few — put the cup on your head, talk into it, sail it in the bath.

Variation: turn it into a car-ride or waiting-room game with no objects at all (“what could you do with a giant balloon?”). Or raise the challenge by asking for uses in categories — a use in the kitchen, a use outdoors, a silly use, a use for a giant.

Requirements

  • Space: Anywhere — table, floor, car seat, waiting room; no space needed
  • Surface: None
  • Materials: One common household object (cup, spoon, box, sock, stick); none at all for the spoken version
  • Participants: 1 adult + 1 child; a small group adds more ideas and energy (take turns so no one is rushed)
  • Supervision: Light — a talking-and-imagining game

Rationale & Objective

This is a child-sized version of Guilford’s classic Alternative (Unusual) Uses Task, the canonical measure of divergent thinking — the ability to generate many varied possibilities rather than one correct answer (Guilford, 1950, 1967). Listing lots of uses exercises the abilities Torrance built the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking around: fluency (number of ideas), flexibility (variety of categories), and originality (unusualness). Runco and Acar (2012) show divergent-thinking tasks are a reliable indicator of creative potential, and Scott, Leritz and Mumford’s (2004) meta-analysis found creativity training produces real gains — largest for divergent thinking and originality — when it uses concrete, repeated, playful practice exactly like this. It directly targets the subdomain’s marker “generates 3+ different uses for a common object” and the EYFS characteristic of effective learning, creating and thinking critically (having their own ideas).

Progress Indicators

  • Early: offers one or two obvious uses then stops (‘you drink from it’); may repeat the real function or copy your idea; needs you to both ask and answer
  • Developing: generates three or four ideas with a little prompting; beginning to leave the literal (‘a cup is a hat!’); enjoys the back-and-forth and asks to play again
  • Proficient: rattles off five or more uses, including some genuinely unexpected ones; jumps between categories on their own (something to wear, something to play, something for an animal); keeps going when you ask for more
  • Advanced: produces long, inventive lists and elaborates them (‘it’s a rocket — and the handle is the launch button’); combines objects (’the cup AND the stick make a lollipop’); invents their own object to stump you, turning the tables

Safety Notes

  • Choose objects that are safe to handle freely — avoid anything small enough to swallow for children who still mouth things, and keep tiny items (paperclips, buttons) away from younger siblings (a small part is anything that fits through a toilet-paper tube)
  • If you act ideas out, keep wear-it and balance-it play gentle — no cups jammed tight on heads or fingers, and nothing put in mouths, ears, or noses
  • Skip glass, sharp, or breakable objects; stick to soft or sturdy household items
  • The real risk is squashing ideas, not injury — a child who hears that an answer is silly or wrong stops offering, so keep every answer welcome

Hints

  • Playfulness: ham it up — gasp at the wild ideas, actually wear the cup as a hat, and let the silliest answers win the biggest laugh. Your delight tells the child that unusual is good.
  • Sustain interest: change the object every time and keep sessions to two or three minutes so it stays a treat; make it a recurring ritual (‘mystery-object Mondays’) or pull it out to rescue boring waits in lines and cars.
  • Common mistake: correcting toward the ‘real’ use (’no, a cup is for drinking’) kills divergent thinking instantly — there are no wrong answers here; also resist filling every silence yourself, and give the child a few seconds of thinking quiet.
  • Limited space / no equipment: the spoken version needs nothing — name an imaginary object and trade uses while walking, bathing, or driving. One object and three minutes is a full game.
  • Cross-domain: counting the ideas builds early math; acting them out adds gross-motor and dramatic play; naming new uses grows vocabulary; and ‘what else could we use instead?’ transfers straight into real problem-solving when something is missing.
  • Progression: start with one familiar object and accept any idea → ask for a target number (’let’s find five’) → add categories (‘a kitchen use, an outdoor use, a silly use’) → play with no object at all → have the child set the challenge for you.

Sources

  • Guilford, J. P. (1950). “Creativity.” American Psychologist, 5(9), 444–454
  • Guilford, J. P. (1967). The Nature of Human Intelligence. McGraw-Hill
  • Runco, M. A. & Acar, S. (2012). “Divergent thinking as an indicator of creative potential.” Creativity Research Journal, 24(1), 66–75
  • Scott, G., Leritz, L. E. & Mumford, M. D. (2004). “The effectiveness of creativity training: A quantitative review.” Creativity Research Journal, 16(4), 361–388
  • Torrance, E. P. (1974). Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. Scholastic Testing Service (fluency, flexibility, originality, elaboration)
  • UK EYFS — Characteristics of Effective Learning — creating and thinking critically (having their own ideas)
  • Head Start ELOF — Goal P-ATL 12 (child expresses creativity in thinking and communication)
  • HighScope KDI 4 (problem solving) and KDI 5 (use of resources)