S2 E27: SCAMPER: A Strategy for Creative and Divergent Thinking

How to Use the SCAMPER Strategy to Boost Your Child’s Creativity

We all want to nurture creativity in our kids, right? Whether your child is naturally artistic or leans more toward logical thinking, helping them develop creativity is essential. Our world is complex and we need solutions to problems that might not be so obvious. Creativity lets them explore, problem-solve, and approach the world with curiosity and wonder. And you know what? When kids are curious, they ask questions. And when they ask questions, they start to learn and discover—which is exactly what we want!

So today, I want to share with you a strategy I was introduced to back when I was working on my gifted education endorsement. It’s called SCAMPER. No, it’s not about running or moving—it’s all about thinking. The SCAMPER method is a fun, structured way to help kids think creatively by tweaking or changing something that already exists. It could be anything—an object, a process, a story, or even a business idea! What’s great is that SCAMPER works for just about any age or grade level. It’s one of those tools that grows with your child (and, let’s be real, it might help you too... we can all get in a rut sometimes). Also, to be sure to give credit where it's due, this strategy was essentially created by Alex Osborn in 1953 as a brainstorming strategy, and then his ideas were refined into what we now know as SCAMPER by Bob Eberle, which he published in his book SCAMPER: Games for Imagination Development in 1971. Suffice it to say, this isn't anything new, we just haven't really used this strategy that often.

You can use SCAMPER anywhere, even when you’re on the go! I don’t know about you, but I like to avoid screens when we’re waiting around in places, like at the doctor’s office or during car rides. While a good conversation, reading, or practicing math facts are always good options, SCAMPER is another option you can pull out of your hat at any time.

So what is SCAMPER exactly?

It stands for:
S - Substitute
C - Combine
A - Adapt
M - Modify
P - Put to another use
E - Eliminate
R - Reverse

Let’s break it down and talk about how you can use each step to have some fun with your child while also promoting divergent thinking!

S is for Substitute

This part of SCAMPER is all about replacing one thing with another. For example, if your child is drawing a car, you could ask, “What if we substituted the wheels for animal legs? How would the car move?” Or, if you’re playing around with stories, ask something like, “What would happen if we replaced the main character with a dragon?” That one simple substitution can lead to all sorts of creative twists and turns!

C is for Combine

This is where things really get interesting. Combining two things that don’t usually go together opens the door for so many wild ideas. You might say, “What would happen if we combined a bicycle with a spaceship? What would that look like?” Or, if you’re working on a story, ask, “What would happen if we combined Cinderella with Little Red Riding Hood?” Kids love blending their favorite things together, and it’s a fun way to get those creative juices flowing.

A is for Adapt

Adapt is all about changing something to fit a new environment or situation. For example, you could ask, “How could we adapt a soccer game to be played on the moon?” Or, “How would we change this toy to work underwater?” It’s all about thinking of how a little change might make a big difference. In the case of a story it could be something like, "Adapt The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to take place in the country of Australia.  How would this make it different? Would any of the characters or animals need to be changed? What kind of animal would Aslan be?"

M is for Modify

This one’s all about altering size, shape, or appearance. Sometimes, you might see this referred to as Modify, Maximize, or Minify. You could say, “What if the animals in the zoo were suddenly 1/100th their normal size? What would the zookeeper need to do?” Or, for storytelling, ask, “What if we made the hero of the story ten times bigger? How would that change the adventure?” Modifying details can lead to some pretty hilarious (and imaginative) scenarios! You could also modify a problem in a story… for example, “What if in the story of the Three Little Pigs, there were actually a pack of wolves, not just one?”

P is for Put to Another Use

This one’s a personal favorite because it really pushes kids to think outside the box. Ask your child, “What else could we use this for?” If you have an old box lying around, could it be a spaceship, a puppet theater, or a treasure chest? This type of thinking nurtures innovation. In stories, you might say, “What if Paddington’s hat shrunk in the wash and couldn’t fit on his head anymore? What else could he use it for?” This kind of “what else” thinking is so valuable for problem-solving later in life.

The P in Put to Another Use reminds me of the books Not a Stick and Not a Box by Antoinette Portis which are so much fun!  Check them out for helping your child develop even more out of the box thinking. (Note: if you do buy directly from these links, I may earn a small commission.)

E is for Eliminate

With Eliminate, you challenge your child to imagine what would happen if you removed something. For example, “What if Cinderella didn’t have a Fairy Godmother? How would she still get to the ball?” Or, “What if we took the crank off a Jack-in-the-Box? What would we do then?” Elimination gets kids thinking about the essential parts of things—and what happens when they’re missing.

R is for Reverse

Finally, Reverse is all about flipping things around. "What if we build a tower from the top down instead of the bottom up? How could we do that?" Or once again in the case of a story, "What if Red Riding Hood was the sick one and her grandma was bringing her the basket of goodies? Or, what if in the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast, the beast was actually a princess and Belle was a young man with the last name Bell who happened to love books?" Reversing roles or flipping a process can spark some really imaginative ideas.

That’s SCAMPER in a nutshell! It’s a flexible, fun way to engage your child in creative thinking. Whether you’re crafting a story, designing a project, or just trying to pass the time, SCAMPER is a great way to get them thinking in new and unexpected ways. You don’t need to do all seven parts—sometimes just picking one or two is enough to inspire some fantastic conversations. But if you’ve got time, go all in and see where it takes you!

And if you give SCAMPER a try, I’d love to hear how it goes! Have a funny or interesting story that came out of it? Share it with us in the comments!

Interested in a template for SCAMPER that you can use with your child? Join our free Raising Thinkers Community and you can login and access a template in this post.