The Innovation Nation Mind Mapping
Challenge
February 15th, 2013 by iMindMap
Brain boosting
activities for your children
Here in the UK it’s the half
term holiday, and if you’re a schoolchild this means a week of fun, freedom,
and hopefully, some family time. So here at ThinkBuzan we’ve come up with some
holiday tips to keep your kids occupied, thinking big and getting their
imaginations flowing. By the end of the week they will have built up a Mind Map
of their very own country; including its geography, food, wildlife, national
sport and very own language.
Ever
heard of the expression ‘a man’s home is his castle’? Well with the Innovation
Nation Challenge, ‘a child’s home is their country’. Through using imagination
and creativity this week, you and your children will be transforming your house
into your very own “Utopia” through five Mind Mapping activities.
Exercise 1: Geography
It’s not all colouring in…but there will be a lot
of that involved.
Activity: Create
your nation’s name, flag and map.
Materials Needed: Coloured pens/pencils, paper
Materials Needed: Coloured pens/pencils, paper
Step 1: Name your Country
Warp the name of your street, your house or items that are important or popular in your family if you are short on ideas. Mind Map your ideas to come up with a truly unique name.
Warp the name of your street, your house or items that are important or popular in your family if you are short on ideas. Mind Map your ideas to come up with a truly unique name.
Step 2: Create your Flag
Where would a young upstart nation be without their own flag? Declare your independence with vivid colours and objects which have meaning to your children. Get their input about what should be on your family’s flag, whether it is her rabbit or his lightsaber.
Where would a young upstart nation be without their own flag? Declare your independence with vivid colours and objects which have meaning to your children. Get their input about what should be on your family’s flag, whether it is her rabbit or his lightsaber.
Top Tip:
If you have lots of ideas, or
indeed, lots of children, I would recommend
dividing your flag into quarters so
all ideas can be encompassed.
dividing your flag into quarters so
all ideas can be encompassed.
Step 3: Map out your
Country
Help your children to map out a birds-eye plan of one floor of your house. This is something they already may have done at school, or you may have the floor plan in the kitchen draw already.
Help your children to map out a birds-eye plan of one floor of your house. This is something they already may have done at school, or you may have the floor plan in the kitchen draw already.
This is a pretty boring thing
to draw, so you are going to get creative. Your house is now an island, and
everything outside it is now a vast ocean. Draw your
house as if it was an island nation.Remember, islands don’t
have beds or cupboards; they have mountains, trees and cities.
Here is an example of how to
begin to create your country. You can see the bed is now a mountain range, the
bath is now a lake and the cupboard is now a cave.
There are no rules or
limits to what you can or cannot do, but if you are having difficulty getting
started, here are some ideas.
The possibilities are endless and this should really fire up
your child’s imagination!
Top Tip:
If you want to make your map
look older, crumple it up a little, 
then flatten in out and place
it in a shallow pan with cold coffee/tea for a few minutes. Leave it to dry on
paper towels or use a hairdryer on its lowest setting.
then flatten in out and place
it in a shallow pan with cold coffee/tea for a few minutes. Leave it to dry on
paper towels or use a hairdryer on its lowest setting.
This completes the first part
of your Innovation Nation. Add all of these elements onto a branch of a Mind
Map and we will continue to build this throughout the week.
So we move on to part two of the challenge. You’ve already created a
name, flag and map for your country, and now it is time to ignite your
innovation by making your very own language. The memory boosting skills of word
and image association are the name of the game in this activity.If you missed
part one, click here for Exercise 1: Geography
Exercise2:ForeignLanguages
It’s all Greek to me.
Activity: Many
countries have their own individual language. So should yours. Using word
associations and Mind Mapping develop a few words in your new tongue.
Materials Needed: Pen and paper, or iMindMap software.
Materials Needed: Pen and paper, or iMindMap software.
Step 1: Select several common
words or phrases
These should be simple things that are used regularly in day to day life. For example: greetings such as ‘Hello,’ and ‘Good morning,’ niceties like ‘please,’ and ‘thank you,’ and maybe even some short phrases such as ‘my name is.’
These should be simple things that are used regularly in day to day life. For example: greetings such as ‘Hello,’ and ‘Good morning,’ niceties like ‘please,’ and ‘thank you,’ and maybe even some short phrases such as ‘my name is.’
Step 2a: Think of three things
that you associate with each word
It is a good idea to utilise a Mind Map to develop these associations, which can be images that come to mind when you think of the word, actions that one performs when saying the word, or simply other words that rhyme with it. I shall demonstrate…
It is a good idea to utilise a Mind Map to develop these associations, which can be images that come to mind when you think of the word, actions that one performs when saying the word, or simply other words that rhyme with it. I shall demonstrate…
Take one syllable from each association and use it to form your
own word. So in this instance my new word for ‘please’ could be…
WISTRAYEEZE
Another example would be the
word ‘Hello.’ The image that comes to my mind is a smile, the action, a
handshake and the rhyme sadly is ‘Jello.’ So my new word for ‘hello’ is…
LESHAKJEL
Top Tip:
If you are feeling particularly creative, why not come up with
your 
own alphabet to accompany your new words?
own alphabet to accompany your new words?
Step 2b: The Sensible
Method
You may have read this activity and, up to this point, thought it a little silly. And of course you are completely right! But where would the world be without those silly ideas? Tin cans with wings that shoot you over vast oceans, tiny pocket jukeboxes, flying to the moon sitting on top of 5½ million lbs of high explosives and of course, cheesecake.
You may have read this activity and, up to this point, thought it a little silly. And of course you are completely right! But where would the world be without those silly ideas? Tin cans with wings that shoot you over vast oceans, tiny pocket jukeboxes, flying to the moon sitting on top of 5½ million lbs of high explosives and of course, cheesecake.
However if you are still left
unconvinced by my argument and are looking for a more sensible activity, here
it is. Rather than making up your own language you can utilise the association
technique to help your children start to learn a foreign language. This still
requires you both to be very creative as some words are pretty hard to find
associations for. For example
As a final task add a
‘Languages’ branch to your Innovation Nation Mind Map and populate it with some
of the new words that you have come up with (or indeed, learnt).
Md. Nasir Khan
Director
Central Academic Research & Development
(CARD), Manipur Creative School
ThinkBuzan Licensed Instructor
MindMap, iMindMap, MemorySkills,
SpeedReading & CreativeTeaching
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