Ready, Set, Design! | Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Ready, Set, Design is one of our favorite group activities, for adults and kids alike, at Cooper-Hewitt. It’s a highly adaptable design challenge that can jump-start collaborative and creative thinking in any group. We use it with kids’ groups at the Museum, for internal staff meetings, and even at industry conferences and summits we host. The activity is such a success with our participants that we’ve gotten a lot of requests for a how-to guide.

Here it is! We created this short instructional video and accompanying PDF that explain Ready, Set, Design for group leaders. Use it at your next meeting, class, rehearsal, or brainstorm session – any place you need a fresh burst of creativity.

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27 thoughts on “Ready, Set, Design!”

Nancy G Stewart on January 31, 2015 at 6:42 am

My adopted grandson is 12 years old from Colombia 3 years ago. He adores designing with cardboard boxes and his available toys at hand. He plays for hours with an architectural eye for stations of activity into which he climbs, decorates, draws on and invents the reasons for the story he develops (singing, talking, sounding out) as he plays. I am looking for a kind of architectural design activity that would allow him a furthering of his talent. Your Design Media program may be just the thing! I would like to sign him up. We are coming for our first visit to the museum today! 1/31/15
Thanks, Nan the Grandmother nanstewart@me.com

We’ve Reached Halfway (for half of our kids) | on October 6, 2015 at 5:51 am

[…] it stands right now, for DE.1, we’re looking at adapting a rapid-fire design challenge using Cooper-Hewitt’s Ready, Set, Design activity for one of the days (probably the lead-off), then we will dive deep into a design activity […]

Achievement Unlocked: Design Experience One, Iteration One | on October 31, 2015 at 7:55 am

[…] Students started designing right away, on the very first day, with the free and fabulous “Ready, Set, Design!” activity from […]

Finishing Strong: NJEA Convention ’15 Wraps Up | on November 7, 2015 at 8:11 pm

[…] team of educators completes Cooper-Hewitt’s “Ready, Set, Design” challenge as part of our […]

The Means Justify the Ends: Learning Design by Doing Design (a reflection) | on December 12, 2015 at 7:20 am

[…] Extraordinaires Design Studio Pro turned out to be a smart move. Starting off with the “Ready, Set, Design” activity from Cooper-Hewitt was even smarter. “Ready, Set, […]

My new, new job: #MSUhub on December 12, 2015 at 2:48 pm

[…] shared during week 1 and was playing when people walked into the room. We started out with the Ready, Set, Design activity to set the tone for the day then dove into many iterative cycles. We then worked through […]

Home, Sweet, Home | AHS Makerspace on December 18, 2015 at 10:19 pm

[…] 2 lessons: Students design a model of a house in groups of 3 or 4, featuring sustainable housing design principles. (Max. size 60 by 60 cm base) Use minecraftEDU to design house https://ahsmakerspace.wordpress.com/2015/12/12/designing-a-sustainable-house-with-minecraft/ Make list of materials needed and start collecting. House will be made from recycled materials e.g. cardboard. Design thinking activity http://www.cooperhewitt.org/2011/09/09/ready-set-design/ […]

Would you buy a ticket to your lesson? | Curiosity, Exploration, Wonder on January 1, 2016 at 3:00 pm

[…] design possibility that could help students to become more engaged in their learning. Called the Ready, Set, Design it can get your students thinking and creating in multiple different ways. It takes 45 minutes, 45 […]