Fun, creativity and learning are often never far apart — that’s what members of five Odyssey of the Mind teams from Suffolk’s public schools are discovering, says the coach of one of those teams.

Northern Shores Elementary School’s Mallorie Jones, a special education teacher, and Shellie Whear, an assistant teacher, coach an Odyssey team at John Yeates Middle School that has scored a berth at the state tournament.

Jones said that her coaching colleague was instrumental in starting the John Yeates team after former Northern Shores and Nansemond Parkway students attending the middle school wanted to continue in Odyssey.

“Lots of students who went on to John Yeates wanted to continue, but there wasn’t a team,” Jones said.

The John Yeates team, along with two teams from Northern Shores, respectively coached by teachers Jessica Newton and Eric Pulley, competed in Saturday’s annual regional Odyssey of the Mind tournament, at Menchville High School in Newport News.

The John Yeates team brought home a first-place award to progress to the state tournament at John Champe High School in Aldie in Northern Virginia on April 13. The Northern Shores teams placed second and third, respectively.

Oakland and Kilby Shores elementary schools also had teams competing at the regional tournament.

Teams choose long-term “problems” to work on that encourage members to think outside the box, Jones said.

“They try to be as creative as possible and keep the cost down by using as much recycled or trash items as possible,” she said.

Problems are both hands-on — for instance building different structures — and verbal, she said.

At Menchville High, the John Yeates team’s problem, “It’s how you look at it,” explored how different characters approach different situations, Jones said.

“They love it,” Jones said. “It’s a long day, because you go in the morning to get registered … and the awards ceremony is at 6 p.m.”

The Northern Shores teams’ respective problems were “Pet Project” and “The Email Must Go Through.”

In between working on problems, students are able to walk around and observe other teams working on theirs, Jones said. “They are really supportive of other teams, which is great,” she said.

“We get an opportunity to reflect on our scores and see areas where we could change things to add points.”

The Odyssey of the Mind operates around the world, involving teams from about 25 other countries.