In our life we have had to remember many things from
telephone numbers to special dates. Whether at home or office we tend to make a
note to remember to do something or bring something and though we don’t think
that we need to memorize the details, it enters into our subconscious mind. As
we do want to remember it, we may repeat it few times in our mind till it
sticks or jot it down on a paper or put ourselves a reminder in the phone or
laptop.
But what about little children? Many nurseries in Dubai
have annual contests and concerts for which the children are prepared months in
advance. The main reason is to help them remember their songs and their parts
in the dance or act by practicing repeatedly. Around the home we might require
the kids to remember various things – maybe something you want them to tell
their sibling or important details like the house address and contact number.
Maybe you need to help them to remember a speech or poem for school. So how do
you help your child to memorize things?
Music and learning
The best step is to incorporate music as much as possible.
Kids around the globe seem to catch on fast to theme music or songs from their
favourite movies without much effort. Even the ABC is introduced through the
catchy ABC song successfully. Pick any tune or even better pick a tune from
their favourite songs and fit in the words or information they need to
remember. This will help kids remember big time.
Making learning fun
Play games making it fun for the child and making it more interesting
for them and not letting them be pressurized to memorize. One such game is
Echo. With a glove you can point to yourself, you say a phrase of something
then when you point at the kid he has to repeat what you just said. You can
make it more fun by saying it’s a magic glove and the person it points at gets
the turn to speak.
Use different voices which excite children. They will be
more interested in remembering things that are introduced to them in a fun way.
Try to use as many tools as possible to involve as many senses of the children.
Rather than only hearing, having the option to see it, express it, act it out,
feel it will all help to get the message through to them faster and help them
remember things without much effort.
Repeat, repeat, repeat
The age old task of repetition is as important. Keep repeating the
things at various times throughout the day in different forms. Whether singing
it out during cooking time, bath time, play time and even as the last thing at
bed time will be very effective. This is why we still tend to remember nursery
rhymes we learned many years back as they were repeated to us so many times in
our younger days. The same technique still holds true.
Remember to break the information into smaller parts which helps the
kids to understand and grasp things faster. Don’t rush them or compare them to
others. They are individuals who are unique even at that tender age. They will
catch on to things at their own speed with proper guidance.
