Greeting cards with mind maps

What say you on the issue below?

A ONE-OF-A-KIND fair, at which the booths will be manned by children aged between two and 12 years, will be taking place at InsightKids Preschool in Medan Damansara, Kuala Lumpur, on Oct 11, from 10am to 4pm.

The children will be selling something dear to their hearts – greeting cards printed with the mind maps they personally created – to do their bit for charity.

The mind maps are excerpts of a gigantic version to be unveiled in November that will make its mark in the Malaysia Book of Records as the largest banner of mind maps in the country.

“The giant banner of mind maps was launched by Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong last November. The children will put about 700 mind maps on to the banner, which will be 40m in length and 16m in width,” said InsightKids director Michelle Adelene Sagan.

“It is not just another record-breaking feat as we are, at the same time, raising funds for charity, and the children are actively involved in this,” she added.

Charity effort: Sagan (left) discussing a mind map with some of the children at the centre. The children are making the largest banner of mind maps in Malaysia and, at the same time, are personally involved in raising funds for charity.

Even at their tender age, the children are already fuelled by an urge to help the less fortunate. It started when Sagan showed them photos detailing the struggle and feelings of residents at the beneficiary homes.

“Some of them even cried when they saw the plight of the needy; some said they wanted to give the underprivileged children their books and toys while the girls wanted to bake muffins for them,” she said.

The funds raised will be channelled to several lesser-known homes for orphaned and special children. The centre also hopes to help a non-government organisation (NGO) in its bid to build a hospital for hearing- and speech-impaired people in Sarawak.

She added that the hard work of organising the charity event was rewarding as it appeared that a sense of empathy had been instilled in the little ones.

“The thoughts they have, and the time they are willing to spend to help others who are in need, are invaluable,” she said.

InsightKids is a brain and character development programme tailored for children aged between two and 12 years.

The programme seeks to stimulate both the left and right brain of the child, not only building analytical thought and maximising information-processing skills, but also developing creativity as well as social and emotional intelligence.

Another unique element of this programme is that the centre has a resident clinical psychologist to conduct various assessments of the children.

The charity fair will be held at the preschool’s premises at No. 1, Jalan Beluntas, Medan Damansara, in conjunction with its open day.

Other highlights of the event will be a presentation for parents on the InsightKids preschool programme, question-and-answer sessions with individual class teachers, talks by a clinical psychologist on child development topics and free psychological assessments in the aspects of communication and socialisation.