ENHANCE YOUR CHILD’S MEMORY
A good memory is essential for your child and the activities they are involved in.
Thanks to the ability to remember things quickly and being able to absorb them later, the young person will not only be able to learn effectively in school, but also cope efficiently in life. They will remember the names of their classmates, their daily schedule and things which they have learned at school. Memory exercise builds new, lasting connections in the human brain. These combinations will pay off not only at an early age, but will also keep your child mentally fit in adulthood. Today I am going to present to you some ideas on how to take care and encourage proper brain development in relation to memory.
4 GAMES TO HELP YOUR CHILD’S MEMORY
1. What is missing?
There is a game which works well for young children but can also be interesting for older children as well. Start by taking some items such as toys, trinkets or photos with your child and spread them out on the floor or a table. Let the child study them for a moment and then let them cover their eyes. Take turns hiding one thing at a time, then let your child take a look at the items and tell you what is missing. After a few times of doing this and increasing the number of objects slowly, we can make it more difficult — and as well as taking one object from the table, we can swap the places of different objects.
Keep in mind that it is important to positively accustom your child to making mistakes — when they make a mistake you can laugh together and clap your hands! This way you show your child that mistakes are a normal thing and sometimes even a desirable element.
2. The Memory Game
Do you remember the game ‘Memory?’ You can buy it or even print it from your computer. The way the game goes is that you start with, say, 10 cards or 5 identical pairs. Next we place the cards face side down so that the pictures are invisible. Then we mix all the cards and create a rectangle — turn over two cards of your choice one by one (this is done secretly from the other players), if the two are the same the pair is taken — showing that indeed both were the same. If not, put them back down so that the pictures are invisible again. The next next player does the same and the person who has the most pairs after collecting all the pairs wins! Your child can also play alone, they could time themselves for example.
3. Memorizing strings of words.
This is a great game for a group of people who don’t know each other very well — for example at a birthday party, or in a school class.
The child says a word, another person repeats it and then they add theirs. The next child repeats the previous word and adds another and then the game continues until there is a mistake. Another variation is storytelling. Either a word or a whole sentence is added — it could be that the story makes sense or that the story could get adventurous and it ends up being humorous for everyone.
There is even another variation which is a great ice breaker for groups of people especially. All the participants sit in a circle, each says their names and a word which best describes them. They could say what their favorite animal, cartoon character or simply an adjective specific to them. You could also make it that they should start with an adjective at the beginning of the sentence and then get them to say a hobby or an interest all starting with the same letter. For example ‘Happy Harold likes Hippopotamuses.’ or ‘Super Sam loves Superman.’ In this case, there is no winner, and mistakes are rewarded with applause and joy, and then we help to improve or recall words and names.
4. A new fairy tale.
Read a story to your child, then ask your child a few questions about the story.
What happened in the story? What pictures were their favorite? What did the characters wear? You can go even further and ask the child how the heroes might behave differently, what else they might do. Let them say how they would have behaved in their place and why. This addition of linking certain elements and looking for consequences is an important way of showing the child that combining fact logically supports remembering.
These games are actually transformed mnemonics. Through play, they guide the child’s thinking and develop it. Make sure to mix sight-based games with those based on listening and speaking. For the brain, these two paths of information processing are completely different. Therefore, the memorization processes will run in a slightly different way. However, if you take care to develop your child’s visual and auditory memory from an early age, there are many long term positive aspects.
Remember that several other factors influence the memorizing process. In order for the processes in the brain to take place properly, and therefore for the memorization game to be effective, you need to take care of:
- Concentration and focus of the child’s attention on the memory game.
- Motivating the child to perform the task as well as possible. Saving points and a dose of healthy competition will work here.
- Emotional state at the time of remembering. If play is accompanied by positive emotions, there is a greater chance of developing memory pathways.
- The environment should allow the child to focus on the task at hand.
Also, remember that regularity counts when practicing your memory. Frequent and short sessions are much better and less tiring for the child. Take advantage of opportunities! Have fun driving your car, cooking dinner, or lining up at the store.Taken from the Video: How to enhance your child’s memory? @practicalparenting
