How many of you have been asked to brainstorm a certain topic? If you’re like me, then you’ve probably said to yourself, or out loud, “Not another exercise like this! What a waste of my time!”

How many of you knew that brainstorming is actually the beginning of creating the ultimate, organizational thinking tool? That there is a more important reason for doing so?

Brainstorming is one way to express and freely link in ideas that you associate with a particular topic. What happens is that we write down whatever comes to our mind and most importantly, we do not judge these ideas.

By the way, I encourage you and your children to draw a picture (or photocopy or cut and paste an appropriate image) which they associate with the topic in the center of their paper. I strongly suggest that they use a blank sheet of paper . This does not restrict the flowing nature of the presented ideas.

I also encourage them not to put a frame around it as this helps them associate more freely.

Curvy lines are then drawn from the image and they radiate outwards.

Next, have your children write words or even draw pictures on these lines. Obviously, you and your kids will have an idea that then triggers some related ideas. Great!

These ideas are then written on smaller lines off the main lines which are radiating from the image.

Does this make sense? Yes or Yes?

So, we’ve completed the brainstorming section of this simple note-taking activity.

Now it’s time to group your ideas together into categories.This will get you and your children more focused.

For example, if you were planning a family vacation, and you had brainstormed these ideas – Australia (Gold Coast), China, Disneyland, then the grouped related ideas would be “Places. Highlight or color code the connected ideas.

When you look through your list of ideas, you will notice how they are naturally connected.

Once this has been completed, the various categories then become the main branches of a Mind Map . This strategy will be shown to you in Part 2 of this post.

OK, It’s Let’s Talk Time…

I invite you to get started using these techniques – brainstorming and grouping. Then look out for Part 2  which will show you how to use the ultimate, simple, organizational thinking tool – a Mind Map- for making and taking effective notes. Got any concerns? Then why not email me or connect with me on Twitter  http://Twitter.com/KidsMoneyCoach