No Prep Plans: Creativity & Innovation Skills – How to Think Like a Designer

No Prep Plans: Creativity & Innovation Skills – How to Think Like a Designer

Introduce your students to the world of design thinking with this engaging, hands-on lesson that shows them how designers solve real-world problems by putting people first. Students explore the five stages of the design thinking process—Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test—before applying their learning to tackle an authentic school challenge.

Through research, observation, brainstorming, sketching, and reflection, students experience the same human-centered design process used by innovators, engineers, entrepreneurs, and product designers around the world.
Designed for Grades 6–8, this no-prep lesson builds creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving skills through meaningful, real-world application.

What's Included
- Teacher Directions (1–2 class periods)
- Design Thinking Research Notebook
- Design Challenge Lab activity
- Prototype, Test & Improve final project page
- Black-and-white versions of all student pages
- Online research resources

Students Will Learn How To
- Explain the five stages of the design thinking process
- Use empathy to better understand users and their needs
- Turn problems into effective "How Might We...?" design questions
- Generate creative solutions through brainstorming and ideation
- Design, sketch, test, and improve a prototype
- Reflect on feedback and use iteration to strengthen ideas

Perfect For
- Back-to-School activities
- Creativity and innovation units
- Design thinking lessons
- STEM and STEAM classrooms
- Engineering and makerspace activities
- Project-Based Learning (PBL)
- Entrepreneurship units
- Gifted and enrichment programs
- Advisory and homeroom

Why Teachers Love It
- No-prep, print-and-go lesson
- Engaging, hands-on design challenge
- Develops empathy alongside creativity and critical thinking
- Encourages collaboration and authentic problem solving
- Large graphic organizers with plenty of room for writing and sketching
- Introduces a real-world innovation process used by designers and engineers
- Bright, comic-style pages that keep middle school students engaged

Part of the Creativity & Innovation Skills Series
Help students develop future-ready skills with this growing collection of engaging, project-based lessons that build creativity, research skills, collaboration, communication, and innovative thinking through authentic learning experiences.