Idea blog

tell us your fave track - and win an iPod!

What you listen to speaks volumes about who you are and what you're about. What's your favourite track when you're doing homework, with friends or just chillin out? What do you listen to to make you feel happy?

We want to tell us your favourite track and why. Enter now on Idea Factory - you gotta be in it to win it!

beat my score...

...on Ten Fore! It's a new game on ChildLine  -  an urban golf game where you need to hit the targets with balls that splatter! Beat my highest score of 1 minute and 20 seconds and tell me about it!

the index of what matters to you

A while ago I asked everyone at Idea HQ to take a look at ChildLine’s advice for young people. I wanted you to make sure that it would be really easy to understand for anyone with a worry on their mind – specifically by looking at how the index was organised.

I was really impressed by your feedback, which you can see for yourself here. Loads of you contributed, but my favourite entries came from EnglishJackBAN, Rachio, Blissa, Mike…! and rich-jj-lol. Great stuff!

A few things interested me. For example, there are plenty of subjects that ChildLine needs to cover, but doesn’t as yet. And that the way you think about things (how you group stuff together, and how you’d run through individual topics) is sometimes quite different too. 

So yet again you’ve inspired me. And you’ve given ChildLine plenty of food for thought too. Nice one, staffers!

in case you’re thinking about it…

Loads of you will be busy revising for exams, busy doing them, busy doing coursework. So I know it’s a really hectic, stressful time.

ChildLine knows how tough it can be too, so they’ve got some great advice about managing homework and exams.

And they’ve also got a leaflet you can download. The tips are really good:

1. Plan ahead
2. Pamper yourself
3. Prepare
4. Perform as well as you can
5. …phew!

Over the next few weeks Idea will also have some super-easy briefs for you to try your hand at. They could help you chill out and/or vent your frustrations…whatever you need!

cracking characters

Sorry I’ve not posted anything for a while. I’ve been locked away in my office at Idea HQ, judging entries from everyone sending their stuff in for Idea.

And I’ve got to say, I’m amazed, bowled over and inspired by your entries for the competition around Buddy’s friends. Here’s just a few of the packages we’ve had by post in the last few days, from classrooms all over the place.

There’s some great ideas – I can’t show them just yet, partly because they are still coming in. But I’ll post some as soon as I can!

thanks to and from jacqueline wilson

Well…I’ve just heard from Jacqueline Wilson about the chat at Idea HQ on Friday. Seems like it went great!

Jacqueline said it was great fun! Celebrating what makes you unique is something close to her heart, so she was dead chuffed to be there supporting ChildLine. Jacqueline hung out with Idea staffers at the Zen Garden and the reception. And then shot the breeze with a ChildLine chilli supreme on our new roof terrace.

Jacqueline told me she was very impressed with the questions that Jay-russell and his friends had for her too. So, here’s a few highlights if you couldn’t make it: 

• Jacqueline’s just finished a new book, set in Victorian times, featuring Hetty Feather.
• She loves cheese. Just like me!
• If you’ve ever seen the amazing rings she wears and wondered where you can get your own, now you know: Curiouser and Curiouser in Brighton, and Great Frog, near Carnaby Street in London!

jacqueline wilson to visit idea hq

So I told you we were having a mystery guest in Idea HQ this Friday, right?

Well, I'm so excited to be able to tell you that it's Dame Jacqueline Wilson! Awesome! Jacqueline's the author of the Tracy Beaker books, Candy Floss and loads more. So I'm really grateful that she's going to be supporting our brief to hold a Be Different March.

You can find out more about Jacqueline, where and when to find her on Friday, and her support for ChildLine right here.

hey good buddy

This little guy is Buddy. He's ChildLine's new friend for schools. 

From September he'll be visiting primary schools across the UK to explain what ChildLine does, how it can help children, and what they can do to help it. If you're in school, look out for Buddy on posters, in games, online and more later in the year!

In the meantime, Buddy is looking for some friends, so there's an Idea brief to help him. If you're interested, you and your school can help to create some for him...find out more here.

special guest in idea hq next friday

Seems like all kinds of writers are intent on supporting Idea's work for ChildLine, because one is our very special mystery guest at Idea HQ next week!

I can't say who it is yet...it's not Michael Rosen. Although you might be hearing from him again soon. And it's not Tom or Lia, who've given you advice on the comic briefs...so here's a few clues. 

She's won loads of awards for her writing. 

In 2004 she became the most borrowed author in libraries across the UK - she stayed that way until last year.

And she's had no less than six of her books adapted for TV. 

Figured out who it might be? I'll tell you next week sometime...

proof that people just care

Anyone who knows me also knows I love robots. So when I saw this through Twitter, I just had to blog about it. 

New York. Not a city that's known for being particularly friendly. Although, going by this, that's a little unfair. Tweenbots is a project by an art student who uses technology in her stuff. She created these lovely little robots who can only travel in a straight line.

And then gave them a complicated journey to take. Because they need to turn left and right, and get past obstacles, they need people to help them on their way. 

So that's exactly what passers by did. They helped them turn corners, get up and down kerbs and all sorts. All of the robots reached their destination. None of them went missing.

How cool is that?

Now I just need to figure out what a ChildLine robot thingy would be about. Maybe there's an idea in this for one of our gaming briefs? What do you think?