Odyssey of the Mind offers creative challenges

Arkansas Odyssey of the Mind (OM) and Siloam Springs Creativity Alliance are hosting an enrichment week from April 13 through 17 to keep kids engaged while they are stuck at home.

Each day, kids will be given a creative challenge to complete at home with their families. Their parents can submit a photo by email to both the local and statewide organization to be entered into a prize drawing, according to Carla Engel, regional OM director.

The trash-to-treasure challenges are totally free to accomplish using items that kids find at home and should provide fun for the whole family, Engel said. Siloam Springs Creativity Alliance, the local OM chapter, is doubling the fun by offering students additional chances to win local prizes, she said.

The challenge is open to all kids in grades kindergarten through 12, whether or not they are OM members, Engel said. In most OM competitions, parents are not allowed to help, but the entire family is encouraged to participate in the series of challenges, she said.

Engel is hopeful the challenges will offer a bright spot of entertainment for kids and their families.

“Our organization is about thinking about the box,” Engel said. “There is more than one way to solve a problem and to find your inner creativity. This is a free activity and one of the main points of this activity is to encourage kids to turn trash to treasure, to take trash and things they have at home and turn it into something fun.”

The enrichment week came about because gifted and talented teachers and OM coordinators across the state came to the organization’s state board and asked how to keep kids engaged while schools are closed to in-person instruction, Engel said. Many OM students across the state have been working toward competitions since September and are sad the year may be over.

Two Siloam Springs teams qualified in early March for the state OM competition on April 4, however the state competition is

canceled because of the covid-19 pandemic, Engel said. OM World Finals are offering a virtual competition but it will be difficult for Siloam Springs’ teams to safely get together to create a video for the competition, she said.

OM is an international problem-solving competition program that engages students in kindergarten through college level in learning by allowing their knowledge and ideas to come to life, according to the the organization’s website, odysseyofthemind.com. Teams represent nearly every state in the U.S. and approximately 25 other countries, the site states.

The enrichment week challenges are open to all kids, whether or not they participate in OM, because every child loves to be creative, Engel said.

“All kids are stuck in quarantine at home, these are just fun activities, fun for any family,” she said. “We would love for anybody to participate.”

More information and instructions for submitting photos is available on the Siloam Springs Creativity Alliance Facebook page.