games and activities | Frequently Asked Questions

The 15-circle version is recommended for older groups of students and/or adults. 

• Select from the 12- or 15- circle versions based on the age and/or grade levels of participants; and the time available for the group to meet. 

The "30 Circles Exercise" created by IDEO's Kelley and Kelley (2013) recommends three minutes to complete 30 circles. We recommend following this guideline but adding additional time to support the  needs and interests of the group. 

Three minutes is a very short amount of time, but the authors designed the activity this way with the goal to push people to test their creativity. 

Yes! We recently used the 12-circle version and provided 15 minutes to complete the exercise -- the results and feedback were great!

These activities stretch our minds and muscles to help us grow. The more we practice or engage in activities that exercise our minds, the easier it becomes for us. The circle game, for example, is a great warm-up for busy people because it's short in length and there are no right or wrong answers!