Odyssey of the Mind

I was in Odyssey of the Mind when I was young, so I was excited when CC made her school's team this year. It's the first time there's been a division for kids this young -- the Primary Division. They don't get ranked, and it's not a competition the way it is with the older kids. It's for younger kids to get a taste of OM, get feedback from the judges, and have fun.

Their challenge was to write a skit about a museum. The kids had to come up with a theme for their museum, create three exhibits, and incorporate comedy. Everything had to be done by the kids -- concept, script writing, artwork and costumes.

Everyone was so proud of the team! Their museum was called "The Odd Museum" and everything about it was strange. They had three exhibits: the first was about outer space (Saturn had a diamond ring around it; a star made of rocks had many hit singles; and a rocket ship that brought cavemen to Jupiter). The second was about the human body (including a farting brain, a heart that inflates when it's happy, and a talking foot). The final exhibit was about animals, and had a frozen snake (a slow-a-constrictor), a flattened tiger, and a Wing-Ding-Doo (a creature made of many different animal parts).

Despite having a technical malfunction (the inflating heart wouldn't inflate!), the kids did really well. The judge told them that theirs was the funniest skit of the day! CC played the part of a little girl visiting the museum with her mom. She had her lines well-memorized, and her favorite part was when she got to say, "Mind your own beeswax!"

After the performance, they had the Spontaneous portion of OM. With Spontaneous, you don't know in advance what the challenge is, so there isn't any way to prepare. It turns out the team had to build a chain strong enough to drag a box full of weights around the floor, only using drinking straws, stickers, twistie ties and paper clips. 

They all worked really well together and completed the challenge! The judge praised them for creative thinking and teamwork.

Since the Primary Division doesn't get scored, we don't know how they did in comparison to other schools. But they had a great time, and they all want to do it again next year.

 

Direct link to video: https://youtu.be/Mw5Fteqr9wA