Contrary to popular belief, children have sharp memories even if they do not show it. When they see something once, they are likely to replicate it immediately. This also goes the same when they hear a word a lot of times even if it is not used when speaking to them directly.
Because of this uncanny trait, it is easier to teach kids new things while they are young because they retain the information as they grow. This capability flourishes when they are starting school because their classes would make new information more interesting to remember.
One of the simplest methods to help your child’s memory to become sharper is to enroll them in home tuition classes when they are young. If you wish to supplement what these lessons are doing for your child’s memory and focus, here are ten things that can help:
Destress
Children also feel stress, especially if they feel pressured in school or at home. Stress has the capacity to send the information on the brain’s reactive size rather than reflective side or the prefrontal cortex. A person’s long-term memory is connected to their prefrontal cortex, which is why when we are stressed, we tend to forget a lot.
To help your kids destress before they do their studies with their tutors and take in information faster, create fun learning sessions like singing their favorite songs and playing card or ball games. You can also use surprises, like fun photos and items, or new mobile applications which pops surprises when kids get to the next level.
Color
Our brain only takes in a small portion of all the sensory information it gets every second and a filter in our brain’s lower part picks the information that remains in the brain. Out of all the information that remains in the brain, color is something that sticks in quite easily.
You can teach your children to use a colored pencil or notes so they can recall information that is important. You can use the image of a traffic light to emphasize which information is most important than which one is not important.
Grab Attention
If something memorable happens in your child’s life, they are bound to remember it in the long run.
Ask your child’s teacher or tutor about their next lesson and use posters which would provide hints about the topic for your child to guess or interpret. Curiosity opens a brain’s sensory filter and enables one to remember a topic better. When the topic you were hinting comes up in their class, it will definitely grab their attention and focus on the lesson.
Novelty
If you add a dash of novelty to your child’s studies, it will definitely be something they will remember. You can use online videos, fun props and other unique activities and show it to your child before they study. Try to make learning fun by opting to bring the lessons outdoor instead of studying only at home.
This unique experience would then help them process more information since they can associate the information with the experience.
Relational Memories
Short-term memory only stays in the brain for a few seconds unless it can be connected to a stored information. You can trigger your child’s stored information bank by reminding them about the things they study in class or the stuff you have done together which relates to the new information they learn.
By getting a tutor to revise what they have learned in school, it will help to increase their memory and thus storing more information. On the other hand, you can also try to ask about their schoolwork on a daily basis, not only focusing on their social interactions in school but how they feel during lessons as well.
Personal Meaning
If the information is special or important for your child, it will definitely pass through their brain’s filters and store it as an important memory. If your child has a hobby they truly like, connect it with their study materials and make stories about it.
Stories are perfect in helping kids learn new things because the brain is used to hearing stories and it can pick up patterns from them easily. Creating meaningful memories that connect to their lessons are extremely helpful as well.
Like if they are doing poorly in science, memorizing by theory is going to be a challenge. Instead, bring them to the Science Centre to learn about what they have been going through in school.
Patterning
The brain picks up things easily when it sees a pattern regarding the information it picks up every day. When your child picks up a new lesson and sees a relationship to the things they already know, the brain would link the information together and store it at their memory bank.
You can use charts, analogies, and mnemonics to help kids pick patterns easily. Keep these tools easily available and allow them to use it whenever they revise their school work.
Practice Makes Permanent
Each sense has its own memory bank in the brain. You can review these memories by using activities that would trigger your child’s senses so they can build the pathways necessary to make memory-building and retrieval easier. If the memory is constantly recalled, your child can exercise their neural pathways and make it stronger for faster recall.
Besides revising their work, your child should practice in their weak areas. If they are weak in Math problem sums, practicing them over and over again will help them to remember the formulas better.
Mental Manipulation for Long-Term Memory
When data passes to the critical thinking part of the brain, it is important that the information is used to create a permanent memory. You can ask your child to create a summary of the information they just learned using their own words. You can even ask them to sketch it or in a form that your child prefers.
Be creative! Instead of drawing on paper, ask your child to sketch on the floor with chalk or using colored markers to a whiteboard.
Syn-Naps
A person’s neurotransmitters usually run out of juice as fast as 10 minutes if it does the same thing repeatedly. Have your child take syn-naps, which would let your child do something else so their brain can recover.
From reading, you can ask your child to sing, stretch or act the information for 5 minutes or more so you can give their brain time to recover. When their brains have rested enough from a particular activity, you can redo the activity.
Conclusion
Children have the capacity to shock you at the most random times, especially when it comes to what they can do and remember.
While your kids are young, take advantage of their fast learning trait and help sharpen it naturally. If your kids have a sharp memory, they can learn more from their lessons and perform better. So, start with these memory-improving tricks today and give your kids an advantage for the future.
These articles will help your child to kickstart his education before he enters primary school:
Singaporean Parents: Help your Child Learn English at Home
How Much Does a Bilingual Home Environment Help Young Students?
Facebook