How soon can you start using flash cards?

Some parents may wonder why put all that effort into the early years of their child’s life because babies simply repeat sounds without understanding the meanings. However, research has shown that babies as young as four months can learn math, new languages, and understand written words.

The benefits of educating your baby before he reaches the formal school years are enormous. Her son will be more confident in the classroom compared to her peers and will be enthusiastic about continuing to learn.

The most effective way to train a baby’s brain is through the use of baby flash cards. Mathematics in particular has been an outstanding subject area for babies to learn and make great progress. Our own evidence can show babies counting or identifying the differences between 98 and 99 points on a single page in a few seconds. This way of learning flash cards for babies allows them to use their right brain to identify the number of dots on a page, instead of counting them. The ability to be able to count all the dots on a page at a glance is a skill that can be carried into adult life and channeled into quick calculations of very large sums.

What if my baby doesn’t like flashcards?

Babies will enjoy learning with flashcards as they are naturally curious about the world around them. If the teacher is not relaxed or is in a stressful environment, naturally the baby will not associate this with enjoyment. Her role as parent and teacher is to make the learning session fun. Use smiles and claps for your baby, talk together with your baby with flashcards, and repeat the words and encourage your baby, which will provide a highly stimulating learning environment.

If your baby is tired, stop. There is no need to have fixed time constraints for learning. Be patient with your baby and allow them to learn and develop at their own pace, baby flashcards are supposed to be a fun activity. Don’t be discouraged if you show your baby the cards and there is no initial progress. Continue to use flashcards every day as your baby’s brain takes in that information. When you show them visual cues with flashcards, the right side of the brain will subconsciously absorb the information for later reference. The right brain uses intuitive memory, which is more active in infants and easier to activate than in adults, who then become dominated by the left brain.

Left brain dominance results in linear and logical thinking, and recall is correlated with the degree of repetition and rote learning associated with a concept or set of facts. Therefore, problem solving can be achieved, but it is based on what has been methodically repeated and consciously classified as “important”. This is difficult in young children, so people assume that early learning is not feasible. However, in the right brain solution, the right brain intuitively arrives at the correct answers, without always being able to explain the logical steps that should have been taken to arrive at them.

How often should I practice flashcards with my baby?

The optimal amount of time to practice flashcard learning is three times a day, every day, with your baby. If you can’t find the time that day, it’s fine to continue the next day or the day after, as intermittent exposure is better than none. Using baby DVDs can help provide a structured sequence of flashcards, then you can sit with your child (rather than across from them) and speak and repeat each flashcard as shown.

Some critics may comment that the “normal” age for reading and learning should be six or seven, or that such learning is tedious for a child. Learning can be fun if the parent or teacher is there to support and guide the child in a positive way. Progress your baby to using flash cards for kids as a natural step, reinforcing structured learning in a non-stressful way. It opens the child to the learning of foreign languages ​​and sciences, where the retention of formulas and phrases are important components for the development of competence.

Babies learn words contextually, meaning they learn by association of the sound and the action or object, with emphasis provided by the parent or teacher. Your mood and environment are also very important for learning, so if you feel tired or stressed, it is better to take a break. You need to provide a conducive learning environment, and this is when you and your baby are happy and relaxed.

The most important thing to remember is to have fun with your baby and watch him grow into a confident and happy child when he is ready for formal education.

REFERENCES

Castro-Caldas, A., Peterson, KM, Reis, A., Stone-Elander, S., and Ingvar, M. (1998). “The illiterate brain. Learning to read and write during childhood influences the functional organization of the adult brain” Brain, 121(6), 1053-1063.

Doman, G. and Doman, J. (2005). How to teach your baby math: the soft revolution. United States: Square One Publishers.

Doman, G. (2002). How to teach your baby to read. United States: National Book Network.

Faure, M. and Richardson, A. (2005). Baby Sense: Understanding the secret world of your baby. Citadel Press.