Creativity is more important than ever as new global challenges have led to industries seeking creative solutions and ideas to address their evolving needs (Naiman, 2019). Forbes has listed creativity as the skill of the future (Powers, 2018), making creative skill development an essential part of higher education efforts (Saroyan, 2022). This starts with creating a classroom environment that supports creative thinking and implementing practices that encourage creative thought to allow students to further expand their creativity (Schechinger & Gibson, 2023; Sutapa et al., 2017). Several best practices for encouraging and enhancing student creativity have been implemented in my courses over several semesters. Several times throughout each semester I give students creativity exercises to stretch their creative thinking and allow them to practice creativity in a safe environment. These include a variety of exercises, such as the Torrance Squiggles activity and the 30 Circles activity. These exercises have been found to promote students’ creativity. Additionally, I play music during any in-class work time as music has been proven to improve creative thinking and reduce anxiety students may be feeling about their task. Students have noted that this music helps them be more creative, and in one class, it was found that student performed better on exams when light background music was played. Finally, students are encouraged and asked to sketch out or mind map ideas for all projects and assignments in my courses before beginning their work. These activities have been found to be beneficial in generating and refining ideas as students develop them. These are all simple and effective best practices for promoting creativity in my courses that take few resources and little extra time to implement. Specifics on each practice will be shared in this presentation along with handouts and tips for implementing these practices effectively.