The Innovation Nation Mind Mapping Challenge – Part 4

We come to it at last, the grand finale to the Innovation Nation challenge! By now your country should be taking shape nicely, with its own geography, language, wildlife and national dish. If you are just joining us, check out the whole series here. For the rest of you, it is now time to complete your nation by creating your very own national sport.

Exercise 5: Physical Education

You’ve sat down and drawn Mind Maps enough this week, time to get moving as well.

Activity:
Every country has that one sport that ignites the country and is the source of immense national pride. Wales and New Zealand have rugby, Cuba and the USA have baseball and the Indian subcontinent has cricket. It is now time for you to create your own sport and become national heroes.

Materials Needed:
Pen paper, any sporting equipment you may own.

Step1: Define your sport
You can play this one of two ways. Either you can encourage your children to create the most exciting, most impossible, most elaborate sport e.g. Quidditch, or you can help them to create a sport with limited players, without broomsticks, that they can actually play. Either way the first thing you’ll need to do is give it a name and come up with some rules. If you find yourself stuck you can achieve this by following the simple Mind Map below.

You can make the sport as extreme or a simple as you want. Just ensure that if you are going to play it, the rules are clearly defined for youngsters (or ThinkBuzan employees). To give you an example here is a game we tried in the office:

Step 2: Play your sport! (if physically possible)
Now it’s time to get active with your kids. Set up your sport and get them running, catching, jumping, throwing or thinking. If your sport is a little more outlandish it is a good idea to get drawing so that you and your child can have a visual accompaniment to your new creation.

Finally, don’t forget to add a sports branch to complete your Innovation Nation Mind Map.

Congratulations, you have now completed the Innovation Nation Mind Mapping Challenge! Remember if you send us your child’s completed Innovation Nation map to competitions@thinkbuzan.com then we will give them a free copy of iMindMap Home & Student to reward their efforts. Every part of the challenge must be completed and shown on the map to claim the free software. Entried must be received by Friday 8th March 2013.

If this post has interested you check out Tony Buzan’s Brain Training for Kids, and don’t forget to pick up your free download of iMindMap so you and your children can keep on Mind Mapping.