Dear Frannie Friday--Verbal Spontaneous Odyssey of the Mind Problems

This is what I wore a couple of weeks back to the regional tournament for Odyssey of the Mind (see nametag in photo below for proof).  We go to our state competition tomorrow and while I don't know what that will hold, I can say that I am extremely proud of my kids and team.  They've worked really hard.

So how OOM works is that during the competition they have a long term problem that they have to perform and they also have a spontaneous problem.  They have no idea what the spontaneous problem is until they get there.  It is either verbal, hands on or verbal hands on.  My kids are really good at spontaneous problems.  We practiced them every week to gear them up for competition.  They loved it.  Here are some of their favorites:  (If you have kids, try doing these at the dinner table--so fun!)

The problem:  Choose someone to start and in a circle in clockwise rotation, everyone has to pretend to be an animal with a name from a place and one fact about the animal.  The caveat is that it has to be in alphabetical order.  So the first person would be A, then B and so on.  So an example would be "I am Amos the Anteater from Atlantis and I am an Artist."

The problem: Chose someone to start and go in clockwise rotation for two minutes.  Try to get as many creative responses as you can.  On each person's turn, try to name the best OR the worst thing that you could hear from a doctor just as you are about to go under anesthesia for an operation.

The problem:  Chose someone to start and go in clockwise rotation, trying to come up with as many creative responses as you can.  Use the words day or night in a sentence.  You get extra points for using both and you get extra points for being creative (like if someone uses night as knight).

The problem:  Many English words are compound nouns. That means they are made up of two shorter nouns put together, such as "teapot" –the word "tea" plus the word "pot," or "baseball" – "base" plus "ball". Your team’s problem is to think of as many compound nouns as you can during your thinking time. During your response time, the first person will say a compound noun. The second person will say the first half of the word and give an example. The third person will say the second half of the word and give an example. The next person will give a new compound noun. The person after that will say the first half of THAT word and give and example, and so on.

For example, team member number one could say "carpet", which is "car" plus "pet." Team member number two could say "car – Volkswagen." Team member number three could say "pet – my dog." Then team member number four could say "dollhouse," team member number five could say "doll – Barbie," and team member one could say "house – firehouse." And so on.

Leopard Skinny Jeans-Wal-Mart; Grey Tee-Target; Cardigan-Wal-Mart; Spiked Pointed Toe Flats-Target; Fox Necklace-Charming Charlie's; Diamond Stud Earrings-gifted