Parents and teachers, mind mapping with children

Pargonnts and t for each hotshoters, mind mapping with kidrenWhether you are a parent or whether you are a teacher, the opening chapters of this book deem got you and your nestlingren necromancerted on straits affairping. You soak up found that they your fryren, or child, return become more creative, now lead faster and more effectively, remember better, save time and grab the solely picture. You agree that these reasons are absolutely huge benefits for them and indirectly, for you.A thinker act has accelerated your kids unwraping and has got them to use their whole virtuoso. It has worked in tandem with your brain and your childs brain by using glossary, run intos, symbols, curved lines, wrangling, lacuna, associations and connections to operate their model processes to flow. Children benefit from this affable of learning as it allows them to practice using their imagination and learn ab come forth things that are of interest to them, thus giving them ow nership of what they are learning ab forth.The process of headway mapping has evoked the best of responses from children and from their parents on account of all this. The childrens responses were literally enacted by them, through their facial expression. Parents commented that even their younger children were talking a considerable deal more ab surface learning and instruct work at home.All children same deformful things and eff to tempt. Mind Map is a fun activity for young children. And when children equal to write Mind Maps, their brains learn to like it as well. The immediate result, as magnetic discussed in Chapter 1, is improved repositing. The skills awaitd in Mind function shag be applied to study and allows studying to be fun, as discussed in Chapter 3.Now take a look at colour and images, symbols and use of icons, curved lines, and wordsand creative space in commonplace, as employ on the Mind Map.How children use image and graphicsYou have disposed your child a idea. We would have to take an example at this point, and a case study. A history lesson to a six year old could have mentioned the Taj Mahal. As mentioned earlier, children extol drawing. A child could symbolise the mausoleum by outlining whatsoever building shape. An opposite child who thinks that exact is best, could adapt it to the shape of the Taj Mahal. Yet another innovative six-year-old would save on time by cutting out a picture of the Taj Mahal from a picture book or magazine.The three children have set the focus of the Mind Map in the centre and in their own, very individual(a) ways. They have made decisions on how to draw or find the necessary picture. The child who cut out the picture used her attractive motor skills to wield the scissors, as did the other two who drew and painted while handling a pencil and paint brush. The image of the Taj Mahal formed in the creative right brain hemisp here(predicate)s of all three. Tiny, accurate electrical impulses for med in the grey matter of these right hemispheres and raced through the cell axons to connect with the organizational centres on the same and in the left hemisphere of the childrens brains. Associations were formed between neurons in the childrens brain and nerve centres further down in their body systems. They move messages to get their fine finger muscles working.The children would go on to get along dozens of images and words separately, and image labels. They would go on to perpetrate the pattern of associations which had begun in their brains.They have looked up books in the library to be able to larn what the emperor and empress who are buried in the Taj Mahal look like. Chances are, that they used cut-outs of their images to be able to gift a better likeness. They associated thoughts such as romance and marriage, death of the empress and loss. They picked up the idea of the big(p)est mausoleum of all times, of architectural finesse and may have wished to whop about mor e members of the royal family.The principal(prenominal) bag was surrounded by interesting facets of in formation connected to it. The connections were make on paper with lines leading from the main theme to these pieces of pictorial and worded information. These were attached because the brain works by association, and if the lines are attached, the ideas forget internally be similarly attached.None of the children had to deal with a fence in of hard, dry facts. They have found and associated what they were looking for. They also want to look for more, in the future. They may want to do a Mughal genealogical chart. It was fun for them and they seek and handled enlivening information. The have only to see the little pictures on the Mind Map and the overall picture from their memory to deny the facts connected to the Taj Mahal. They look transport to history revision before a class examination.The Taj Mahal Mind Map, like all Mind Maps, commenced in the centre because this re flects the m all-hooked nature of the brains opinion processes, and allows more space and freedom for ideas to develop from the central core. handling of hand drawn or researched images by children fit in with the saying a picture is worth a thousand words. Original and borrowed pictures are applied here to boost both memory and creativity.Illustrator Portray Taj Mahal Mind Map. Should be hand drawn by childYou and your children know by now that Mind Maps quarter be drawn free-hand, or they force out be made by inputs fed to Mind Map software on childrens computers and they contri howevere be printed. The computerized version has the advantage of quickly searching for images, making and printing the diagram. Some of the Mind part software workshop images in a clip organizer and help users to select an image appropriate for the subject on hand. The disadvantage is that it detracts from childrens creativity. A computer printout is bound to egress too tidy, too organized. Its s ize is limited to regular A4 printout paper. Children, on the other hand, have much more freedom through freehand drawings and pasted pictures on a sheet of chart paper.Another consideration while on the topic of images for Mind Maps, is the overall image or Mind Map design. As with any diagram which investigates a single main topic, older children such as those closer to thirteen years of age, can move on to unity and spider diagrams. Younger ones still take the freedom of freehand placing, drawing and joining.Children who are ten years of age and above find that the star format provides methods that help develop their study skills still further. Taking notes, reading, doing homework and even parrot-mugging can be noted along the end points of the star.On the other hand, if the topic involves investigating attri thoes associated with a single topic, and they then place the information like the branches of a tree, with associated information at the end points and with more associa ted knowledge arising from these in-between points, the children can use a spider diagram for their Mind Map. Example Finding methods that help maturing childrens study skills (like taking notes, reading, memorizing, etc.), and investigating the factors involved in performing each of the methods.Adding colour-coding and/or pictures to a Mind Map further increases the utility, grouping and readability of the visual display.How children relate to colourEducationists encourage children to use colour in their Mind Maps. Children themselves admit to being able to think better in colour. Use of colour rates among the top ten Mind Mapping tips and techniques for anybody.IllustrationThe Mind Map Gurus point out that in a Mind Map, colour and images are not effective decorative. They stimulate the childs brain as he creates the map. On the other side are the children who are looking at a completed Mind Map, examineing to figure it all out. Colour helps them to clarify associated ideas as t hey see the map and absorb consolidate and retain the information. unitary criticism is that new Mind Map users could be intimidated by the colourful Mind Maps they see on the wall in class, in books or online. One Guru commented that a perfectly executed Mind Map may make a first-timer uncertainty his own ability in creating something as good. For someone like this, it has been explained that Mind Maps, especially among children, tend to grow easily and with least effort. They should not be held up as an achievement in themselves, plainly as a bridge to learning. Mind Maps dont need to be works of art.Scratch maps are those Mind Maps which have been created to do something quickly, or to develop and order ideas. The thought here is that colour can be used to group similar ideas together.Going back to the star or spider diagrams which serve to organize and manage these ideas, children can think of lettering or an image laid on incompatible bright biased solid circles at the tip s of the star or spider diagrams. Another idea is to support similar ideas by using different shades of the same colour in Mind Map diagrams.Children have a profound sense of colour. They have an instinct about how colour can be best used to make the Mind Map vivid, memorable and unique to the subject and for you. Left to themselves, the six year olds would begin with coloured chart paper and progress through brightly coloured frames for the central theme. When older children require text or labelling for drawing and with drawings, they would reach for coloured felt pens.Some tips when writing with coloured pensUse upper and lower case lettering, not normal handwriting. The youngest who have just bulgeed to write would proceed in the writing they are most familiar with. It does not have to be joined writing.Write keywords on the branches.Experiment with Horizontal (landscape) page format.Larger sheets hold more information.Colour makes the Mind Map memorable. In the same way that i deas were grouped by colour for star and spider diagrams, free floating ideas can be grouped by circling them in colour. The youngest of children love red. Important points might be marked with red.Colour absolutely affects our lives and our childrens reading. When colour is chosen with a purpose we create a balanced, harmonious environment where children can claim their birthright and reach their full potential.Colour is the bright site of childhood. Children adore colours and respond to colour. However childrens response differs from adults reaction. As you accompany your children in their Mind Map exercises, colour should become your ally. Adults can do this by viewing their use of the language of colour correctly. Children start with a limited palette of the brightest colours from the bottom of the age ladder. They begin with red. Their choices expand and widen as they grow towards adolescence.Colour is the first characteristic which babies and children distinguish in their env ironment. We are assured that children perceive only black and white colours (light and darkness). This may be true at birth, but as the months pass, the situation undergoes radical changes. First children start to distinguish red colour. Later they start to perceive other bright colours such as yellow, and progress to the others in the spectrum.When little children begin to draw and colour, their works are bound to portray bright colours. Toddlers themselves tend to be attracted to brightly coloured toys and motifs. Numerous academic researches show that childrens preferences change with increasing age. legion(predicate) children under ten when asked, will identify red (or pink) and yellow as their favourite colours. Those above ten say that they start preferring blue. Experts who study child development consider it to be with the process of growing up. They tell us that such changing preferences tie in with changing and improving abilities, with maturity and the perception of di fferent moods.Educationists have also found that colour preferences are closely connected with the gender. Numerous researches show that most little girls from the age of six onwards prefer pink, lavender or violet. Little boys like black and other dark colours more than girls of their age. Adults accustom little girls and boys to like certain colours. The question here is, are girls and boys colour choices acquired or natural/innate?Speaking about emphasizing certain characteristics by room of colours, gender identification is only one example. If you see a childs chart do up in bright colour, it could advantage the child who has drawn it by being not only meaningful, but memorable as well. As explained, the childs memory of the colours used may open the door to what the colour enclosed or signified in text. Again, the child is learning by making associations.Publishers are aware of this fact and have used colour in childrens and teenagers books to the maximum advantage. You also can use it to teach, run and inspire children who draw their inspiration from you.Colour language and childrenFirst consider how children get acquainted with colours. They learn to distinguish them long before they know their names. Children learn the names of colours at around the age of 2-5. Girls usually identify colours earlier than boys. Of course, all children develop differently, as the process of growing up is connected with the state of nervous system.Here are typical associations between colours and where a child can find them, in the natural form. It is implemental information as young children progress through their charted Mind MapYellow bananas, lemons, sunRed apples, tomatoesBlue jeans, skyGreen peas, grass, leavesGrey an elephant cook a bear, tree barkIllustrationResearch has shown that, for example that if you were to paint an apple blue, show this blue apple to a child and ask him what it is, it takes him or her more time to recognize it. Come to think of it, a child could find a blue apple funny. It testifies to their sense of humour and the ability to jocularity at clumsy things and things that are incorrect. If a child uses such symbolism in a Mind Map, he is expressing his sense of humour. He may also be acquiring some facts to stand out.Maybe you want to learn and teach a language. Your child is having to learn one.Some languages such as french and Hindi have more than one gender. There may be two genders-masculine and feminine or three-masculine, feminine, and neuter. Gender is always crucial and has to be wise to(p) along with the vocabulary. The way to dothis is to add a further dimension to your mental image of each word by colouring it according to its gender. You can choose your own colours for masculine, feminine, and neuter (if necessary), but you must stick to using the same ones all the time. As you learn each new word, mentally apply the relevant colour to the image.You might choose blue for masculine words, red fo r feminine. Then, if the word dog ismasculine, colour it blue if the word door is feminine, colour it red. Let a child do this, and it could bring out the most humorous side, leading to fun and feeble playing and memorizing.Note not true. puree Hindi words and colour them.Chapter 5- Fun and games in Mind MappingThis continues from where Chapter 4 did not leave off because children like to have fun. Everyone who is six or seven or eight years old likes to play. The nine and ten year olds like to play forcible and mental games as well as their interests begin to turn towards the world, towards themselves and their cohort group. This broad description is true for all children, within the varieties of their individual personalities, geographical location and material to play with.Children in this plain fit into childhood along conventional lines, then grow up with greater awareness of the opportunities at their disposal, or the lack of opportunities. It is impressed upon children i n India that school work and outdoor activities should be given maximum value. Our children are taught to respect and please their elders. They are given to understand that success in the future is establish on this.There is also currently a move to ease the pressures of serious, academic school curriculum under any of the national boards. The total judge of school children is a great deal. Concerned adults have come to understand that there is more to growing up than serious study and not stepping out of line. They have come to understand that a factor such as childhood fun, has to be maintained for children. Educationists have provided a powerful tool. They have provided a concept such as Mind Maps, which allow the academically driven child to use tools such as fun and games to study. The medium of such study is the Mind Map.The drive is towards a balance between school related activities for junior and secondary school children. It is also the reason why Mind Mapping is being pi cked up by parents and teachers for young children, and the reason why children are responding readily to learning through Mind Mapping.Adults who enable children to Mind Map are aware of the nature of Mind Mapping. Children approach the process as though it is a craft which they can handle and get better at, a kind of hobby. They say that they look forward to Mind Mapping because of the fun element that it embodies. When a child of six starts out with Mind Mapping, he thinks of it as a learning game and possibly another form of childs play.Different types of playPhysical playMotor play provides critical opportunities for children to develop both individual gross and fine muscle strength and assists coordination of movement and muscle, nerve, and brain functions. Recent research has confirmed the critical link between stimulating activity, logical thought (maturity) and brain development. Young children must have ample opportunities to develop physically. The process takes place thr ough motor play and increases the young childs confidence towards more physical activity.Social monkeyA variety of opportunities for children to engage in social play are the best mechanisms for progressing through the different social stages. Children are placed in a group with their peers in the process of attending school. By interacting with others in play settings, children learn social rules such as, give and take, reciprocity, cooperation, and sharing.Through a range of interactions with children at different social stages, children also learn about their own wants and emotions. The interactions with their peers and older children teach them to apply modelling and to use moral reasoning to develop a mature sense of values. Children need to participate in a variety of social situations so that they can function effectively in the systems of learning and application of that learning. reconstructive PlayConstructive play is when children manipulate their environment to create things. It could take place when they play with sand and water, construct naive toys such as dolls and miniature models and draw on the floor and wall with whatever they have at hand. Constructive play allows children to experiment with objects and figure out patterns and combinations that work and dont work. They make simplex conclusions about their play and art, about song and achievement.Constructive play gives children a sense of accomplishment and empowerment. It gives them the realization that they can make a difference to things around them, their environment. It is childs play which provides the child with the realization that she can handle and manipulate objects for different purposes. The child with growing confidence translates these conclusions towards manipulating words, ideas and concepts.Fantasy PlaySix and seven and eight year olds gain an understanding of mental trading operations and think logically about concrete events but have encumbrance understanding abst ract concepts. Abstract concepts are matters which can be explained and talked about, like whether the rules of a game are right or unjust. As their mental operations grow, children close to ten and above begin to think in logical ways, though they may not recognise this fact as well as their parents or teachers. They are reasoning and building on any mental operations from an earlier age.Children teach themselves abstract symbolism. They can deconstruct from the final harvest of constructive play. They learn to role play and apply imagined situations. They experiment with language and formulate their own words and expressions. They are exercising their imagination and diverse relationships at home and with friends. In addition, children develop flexible thinking and learn to base information on factors beyond the immediate. Adults may think that particular children are describing the parameters of a different truth. It is just that children are trying their best to stretch the bou ndaries of their lives and are testing adult-given rules.Other ideas, concepts, dreams, and histories are all part of fantasy play. In a society driven by technology and the absolute, children have to practice with any and all forms of abstraction time, place, amount, symbols, words, and ideas. In a way, these are essential for growth for a childs mind.Games With RulesDevelopmentally, most children progress from an egocentric view of the world to an understanding of the importance of social contracts and rules. Part of this development occurs as they participate in traditional games. In traditional societies, the girls play a different set of games e.g. rhymes set to the swing of the skipping rope. Boys wait to be included in football and any ball game, just like the boys in the more senior classes. The games with rules method teaches children a critically important concept that any business in life has rules (laws).It becomes apparent that Constructive Play comes to the fore when children Mind Map. Children work with materials of paper and pencil, they accomplish something and feel empowered when they have tackled something like a difficult lesson, completed their homework and done well in an exam thanks to the Mind Map of that topic.At a secondary level, Social Play was involved if the children undertook the Mind Map as a team. It was fun, and also had Games with Rules. Within the free form of the Mind Map, there were steps to be taken and motor coordination as in Physical Play. The rules of the games have been researched and studied.A Mind Map is fun for young children to make. As far as they are concerned, it is a better way to learn. It not the type of learning that imposes on their faculties. They can take any fact from their texts or a lesson taught during the week. They can look inside their minds or their texts or books from the library or from what their teacher said. They can put it down colourfully while they connect other interesting facts to th e central one. They can have as much fun putting in on paper colourfully and as correctly as they can. A good idea never loses its currency and simple ideas are often the best ones.As they become accustomed to using Mind Maps and learn in a visual way, they should be encouraged to use them for taking notes in school. The quick tachygraphy way of recording information carries on being a great, fun way to study. When they get to the stage of doing school tests, they should be shown how to summarize entire chapters of their schoolbooks on a single page Mind Map. Revision can be fun too, as the children grow more sure of what they know and how they will draw back facts and events for the test.Mind mappings can help revision, even if teachers course notes are conventional. Theycondense material into a concise, memorable format. You have sown the first seeds of structured thinking and have used your kids natural associated memory to learn things without the pressure of getting every lit tle bit right, without the option of exerting their own creative play options of what if?It real is that simple and your kids will thank you for this gift of learning in the years to come. Once they become addicted to using the computer, you can introduce them to electronic versions of Mind Mapping which can be bought cheaply on the internet and downloaded immediately.Your children have compile data in Mind Map form. They have observed the strands of their accumulated knowledge and made more associations than in the early attempt. The completed Mind Map is a thought-generating tool and the best part of it as far as the children are concerned, was the fun they had and the games-type play they had while they went about it.Mind Map game boardsThe board games promise idea generation, fun and creativity. They sound just like Mind Maps, in fact. The game boards can be used for light-hearted fun and idea generation, both for school work and at home. As with Mind Maps, adults try them out first. The objective is to generate random new ideas in a fun way. Older children work towards team building and solution finding.Key elements of the game contain spaces where inventive young minds can add words to elements known as thought clouds. It includes card paper and labels. Children begin by selecting a theme and adding words to the game board. Here, the random words are selected before the main illustration. This can be placed face down. Then, a dice, coin or disc is thrown on to the Mind Map game board. The place where it lands is the prompt to be followed.Chances are, that the dice will land on a word. The player can select a theme for words to add or select words, the meaning of which is abstract and can be used to denote a great many different things. Remember the Fantasy Play above? The potential uses are infinite.The game boards present a fun, imaginative and creative way to practice the Mind Map format. Fun can also be added to the game board by sharing out or sel ecting chores.Using associationsChildrens and adults alike love to form links between pieces of information, building up a repertoire of associations. When any brain receives new information, it searches in its long-term memory for something the same or similar, so that it can understand what it is. This happens in less than an instant and is not a conscious process. Creating associations is the second stage of Mind Mapping as you will remember. Creating associations is also very helpful in improving memory.By actively creating a personal link for your brain to hook on to, you give your memorysomething to work with, helping it to retrieve it later. Play association games-perhaps your child will carry on with it on bus journeys to school she will ask her companions given a word (maybe a key word from an interesting language or history lesson) what is the first thing they think of? It leads to peer group learning, but informally, out of the class room. It speeds up the process of maki ng associations, a technique that helps to improve memory.Memorising facts and figuresBeing able to recall facts and figures improves a childs chances of doing better in exams and also her general knowledge-and is invaluable if she want to enter quizzes or competitions. There is the Association Technique which will be described in much details later. Basically, your child learns to create an image out of each piece of information, then she learns to link them together. For example, if she wants to remember that Pt Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India in 1947, she would create an image for the year and attach it to Pt Jawaharlal Nehru giving his freedom at midnight speech. The important thing is to create an image that is memorable for her and therefore will help her to recall the associated information.Crossword, word and maths gamesChildrens brains are always more active than adults. Exercises that keep your memory and brain active can also be undertaken by them. They would require some mentaleffort. Crosswords and word games are excellent, because they are pushed to recall words that they might not use regularly. It increases their vocabulary, important in any subject and with any learning method, especially Mind Mapping. Remember the importance of key words in Mind Mapping?Children would be encouraged to use the newly learnt words more often. That in turn makes them more articulate and confident. Childrens puzzle books such as crossword puzzle books are available in plenty in any book store. For children as young as six, it would also lead to a general love of puzzles and maybe on to participation in general knowledge quizzes. In addition, most of these puzzle books can be coloured by pencil or crayons, thereby increasing their sense of what colour means to them personally.Play word games with your children. It will help stretch them in a fun way while keeping you on your toes. Practice mental arithmetic when you are stuck in traffic and present the problem with your children. You know the answer when you practiced it in your head.It train children to do simple arithmetic in their heads from a young age whenever the opportunity arises. You could ask a six year old to add up the cost of the items in yourcart before you get to the checkout. Or you could ask your ten year old to divide a restaurant bill between your friends or his. The method has an additional benefit of getting him to grasp the value of money. try You can always confirm the results on a calculator and also show him how to do this.As your mind becomes more efficiently active at simple arithmetic, he will learn to rely on it. It keeps his short term memory agile and he appreciates how simple sums can be used in everyday life. Your child will do his maths Mind Map with small sums in the associated links in very little time.The Mind Mapping GameThis was taken from a verified and respected blog. The contributor refers to Getting Things Done, a book by Dav id Allen. One of the steps recommended in Getting Things Done is to brainstorm to capture all the elements necessary to complete a project.The suggested way to do this is via Mind Mapping. The author says that when he first heard about Mind Mapping, it was in senior school and he was a snotty know-it-all who thought that he was above every concept that he did not already know. Which meant that he kind of brushed it off. He claims that now that he is an adult and a bit more mature, he is giving it a try using a piece of software.He is not just giving it a try. He has discovered that Mind Mapping is a blast. The one random topic he picked is providing a lot of entertainment. More than this, just getting the thoughts out of his head is a rewarding experience, and it is revealing a lot of the steps necessary to complete the project. He definitely recommends giving it a try. He recommends that other adults experiment with Mind Mapping on their next project.He just wishes that other than finding out about Mind Mapping when he was in senior school and when he did nothing about it, that he had started still earlier. He wishes that someone, anyone of the adults had made him sit down and actually do a Mind Map. He would have got a great many things done, he feels. This is his greatest regret that he has woken up to how to manage his time, improve his memory and creative instincts at his late age. He is having a blast, but he could have done that some twenty years ago with Mind Mapping.