Are our preschoolers playing enough? Or too much? This is the question both educators and parents ask themselves time and again. The problem with the Singapore preschool industry is that there is currently no one standard way of teaching or learning. It seems like there are multiple schools of thoughts in how our preschoolers should learn and grow.  Most parents are left drifting and clueless – forever trying to figure out the best curriculum and the best schools for their children. Others just send their children to the nearest school and hope for the best, believing any curriculum at least teaches their children something. However, recently there is an increasing popular belief that children should learn through play, and many schools have started to incorporate more play into a huge part of their curriculum.

What Is “Learn Through Play” In School

“Learn Through Play” is definitely a great initiative to implement in preschool. In essence, it is much like “hands-on learning” or learning without even knowing that you are learning! When children play, they are fully engaged as a person. They are active both physically and mentally. This method of engaging preschoolers is undeniably much better than instructional classroom learning.

However, the general concern of parents sending their children to such schools is this – Are Primary One curriculum “Learn Through Play” as well? How smoothly can our preschoolers who have played very hard transit to Primary One curriculum. Will they be able to adapt to long hours of classroom learning? Must they sit down all the time? Are they expected to write properly by Primary One? Have our preschoolers been playing too much?? These are real, legitimate questions! Many K2 parents who start to panic after Primary One registration then rush to sign their children up for Primary One preparatory course. Now we ask ourselves – is it necessary for parents to go through all these?

[Read: Is My Preschooler Prepared for Primary One? – A Comprehensive Guideline]

Academic Enrichment in Preschool

This brings us to the other extreme – academic enrichment in preschool. Since our children’s brains grow the most during this window period, should we focus more on academic enrichment to get them prepared for all the years of academic success following preschool? There’s just so much to learn, if we really think about it! We have coding for preschoolers, right brain training for preschoolers, reading and writing classes for preschoolers, science labs for preschoolers – all these classes out there to get our children best equipped for the prime Primary School they hope to enroll in.

Now this begs the question – are our preschoolers playing enough? Are they developing healthily as an individual? Are we develop their IQ too much and neglecting how they are doing socio-emotionally? Are they getting too pre-occupied with themselves and ignoring the rest of the world? Again, how can they initiate into Primary School with healthy friendships?

Parenting is hard eh? Here’s what we propose – Let learn be learn, and let play be play. Let’s get our preschoolers to strike a balance between learn and play.

Let Learn be Learn, Play be Play

How is this proposal different from the “Learn through Play” implementation in some preschools? You ask. The problem with “Learn through Play” is not too much the ideology. The ideology is good. Rather, it is the implementation. It is one thing to communicate the ideology to preschool teachers and quite another to get them to execute forth such an ideology in a classroom setting effectively. In this sense, different schools with different teachers end up with different ways of making this work well. Most teachers are preached too much about this ideology they swing to the other extreme – just let the kids play! Well, that’s not what we send our kids to school for! Our kids end up ill-prepared for Primary School. That’s also not what “Learn through Play” is about.

We suggest that schools be meant for learning, and other times be meant for free play. This makes life much easier for our teachers too! Some teachers get so stressed about this whole fuss about “Learn through Play” they don’t even dare to get the children to do more writing than just a few simple strokes. Is this helping our children?

Reading and writing are part and parcel of education discipline. Our children need to read and write more. They may start writing in preschool or in Primary school, but they eventually need to pick up writing, unless we want our whole nation of children to transform to a “good typing” or “good tapping” generation with terrible handwritings. Our schools need to make the children write more and read more. These can’t be mastered through play. Therefore, we suggest that reading and writing work should be a heavy emphasis in preschools, though not for long hours.

Research from all over has shown us the benefits of free play for preschoolers. Preschoolers brains work like a sponge. They absorb more information than we expect them to! They catch the little nuances of their playmates’ expressions, they quickly understand the concept of gravity when put on a slide, the effects of weight when playing on the see-saw, they learn to smell the rain coming, they learn about speed when they run. Children must play, especially preschoolers. Let our preschoolers get as much free-play time as they can. No learning objectives, no structures. Let them decide what to do. That’s how growth happens. Preschoolers must play.

This proposal sounds simplistic. But maybe, this should be the ideal – to keep our preschoolers lives as simple as can be!

Conclusion

Are you an anxious parent wondering if you have done enough for your preschooler? The concept of “More is Less” applies here. Think simple – let your child play, and let your child learn.

You don’t have to let him learn more than is required. Some schools teach astronomy and structures of dinosaur bones. We wonder if this is necessary at this age? Rather, we believe mastery of language is most important now because this is the foundation to acquiring and mastering new knowledge when they advance to Primary School. Leave astronomy to Primary School. Leave coding to Primary School.

Help him get a good grasp of language first. This is the only learning necessary at this age. Reading and writing work is supremely important at this stage. Then, encourage free play, and more interactions with extended family members instead of sending him for classes after classes. Your child will be well prepared for academic success. If, for some reasons your child is averse to learning reading and writing, look no further than Edu Aid Tuition Agency to find a suitable teacher to motivate him.

Singapore parents are turning to the right brain training development centres for their toddlers to accelerate their cognitive development to raise super smart babies.

Early childhood research indicates that the golden development period of a child’s brain is in the first three years. Nurturing the right brain early will unlock the child’s innate potential for increased intuitiveness, spatial awareness and creativity.

Most parents would seize this opportunity to maximise their child’s brain development, social-emotional growth, and cognitive skills during this critical time. It is no surprise that parents are flocking to centres in Singapore that adopt scientific right-brain training methods, such as Heguru and Shichida, to give their children an edge.

What is right-brain training?

Let’s start by understanding that our brains are divided into the left and right hemispheres. The left hemisphere is generally tasked with logical thinking, mathematics, and language. The right brain, however, governs more creative skills such as music, creativity, resilience, and artistry.

Right-brain training refers to a series of mental exercises designed to stimulate the right hemisphere of the child’s brain. Each centre would have a different proprietary method backed by scientific research.

For instance, some methods used by right brain training centres in Singapore include eye training, where toddlers are trained to master their eye movements to stimulate their visual tracking and processing ability to improve connections between the eyes and the brain.

While other right-brain training centres in Singapore use linking memory games, where children learn to remember the sequence of unrelated items or spatial puzzles that require them to interpret and complete shapes.

Some right-brain training activities include music classes stimulating the auditory sense and helping children explore their creativity. It also involves play-based learning activities that help promote logical and creative thinking.

How to train your baby’s right brain at home: training activities

Before you begin right brain training at home, it is essential to remember that the right brain is the emotional centre of our brains. In other words, it is responsible for the subconscious and intuitive senses. To ensure successful right-brain training, it is necessary to cultivate a secure emotional attachment between the child and their parents or caregiver – the right brain only functions at its optimal level when there is a strong connection between you and your child.

Generally, the most effective time for right brain training activities is from birth to three years of age, as this is the period when the right portion of the brain develops most rapidly, and information is absorbed like a sponge.

From age four onwards, the dominance will naturally shift to the left brain, establishing the neuron’s connections between the two-brain hemisphere. Therefore, taking advantage of the early years and starting right-brain training as soon as possible is essential.

It isn’t always necessary to send your child to a brain development centre. Here are some activities you can do at home with your toddler that will encourage right-brain development.

Fast speed flashcards

Fast-speed flash cards help stimulate a child’s photographic memory and visual processing skills as they associate spoken words with images. It is called fast-speed flashcards because it requires an adult to flash a set of cards to the child at high speed, below one second per card while saying the words out loud.

The purpose is to activate the child’s right brain, which processes images, and the left brain, which processes language, to develop speed-reading skills.

Eye training exercise

One of the best right-brain training activities is eye muscle training. Start by asking the children to track your finger with their eyes as you move it up and down, left and right and in all directions. You can also draw a line on paper with colourful crayons or markers while asking the child to track and follow the line.

This helps to improve your child’s ability to focus and hand-eye coordination.

Mandala memory activities

For those unfamiliar with the term, a mandala is a circular figure with an intricate, symmetrical and colourful design. It is often kaleidoscopic with contrasting colours. Due to their geometric pattern, mandalas are excellent for developing a child’s photographic memory.

Print out a few mandalas from the internet. Before printing it out, ensure the design is simple enough, as this will overwhelm your child. A red circle with a yellow starfish in the middle can serve this purpose. Now print an uncoloured version of the same shape.

Get your child to sit in front of you. Show the coloured version of the mandala for five seconds, and ask your child to close his eyes and recall what he has just seen. Allow them to open their eyes and present them with the colourless printout. Ask them to colour the mandala according to their memory.

Photographic memory training

Right-brain training activities almost always involve photographic memory training. This activity helps children develop the ability to tap into stored memory from their subconscious mind, harnessing their ability to recognise and process information quickly.

For this activity, you can use either flashcards or photographs. Show your child one card or photograph at a time. After five seconds, let your child close their eyes and try to recall the objects in the picture in as much detail as possible.

Ask your child to verbally describe or draw a picture of the scene. Once completed, compare the list with the actual item to check for accuracy. Repeating this activity regularly, your child can develop their photographic memory and increase their learning ability.

Conclusion

Parents can easily carry out right brain training at home with their toddlers by researching activities on the internet, reading about them in books or magazines, and implementing them consistently.

For time-starved parents, enrolling in a structured weekly right brain enrichment programme is an option to ensure regular practice and development.

When considering enrolling in such programmes, it’s a good idea to talk to other parents who have experience with them to check whether their children have reaped benefits. These programmes often come with a high cost and require a significant commitment to see results.

Besides right brain training, parents can complement their children’s development and bridge academic gaps by seeking support from an excellent preschool home tutor.

Contact us if you want to engage a reliable and committed preschool tutor for your child. We hope to help your child holistically reach their full learning potential.

Math is a subject that helps us to make practical sense of the world around us. Can you imagine how the world can operate without numbers? Even the most illiterate person around needs to know his numbers! We see numbers on our clocks, on traffic lights, in lifts, on the SMRT map, on buses, on price tags, at our door fronts, on the measuring cup in the kitchen, etc. You get the drift. Therefore, the last place Math should be introduced to a preschooler would be from the paper or from a book. Math can be practiced from books. For example, if you need your child to practice his multiplication, you can make him do some sums in a book. However, the best way to introduce multiplication as an applicable concept as alive as you are must be done beyond paper and pencil. In this article, we will show you some ways to do justice to Math concepts by making them come alive beyond books.

Concept of Numbers

 You don’t have to teach your preschooler what is “One”, and what is “Two”. These words don’t make sense to him at all. These words only have meaning when they are understood as part of a sequence of numbers. “One” precedes “Two”, and “Two” precedes “Three”. This is the standard way everyone in the world counts. There’s no other way. Therefore we should introduce numbers to young children through counting and not as individual words. This can start from the day your child is born (if you ever have the energy then). You can introduce counting to your child by counting sheep to put your child to sleep. When your child is learning to walk, you can count his steps. When you take the lift together you can direct his attention to the numbers on the lift to count frontward or backward. When crossing the road, you can read the numbers on the traffic light out loud to your child (in this situation the numbers would go backward usually). While pushing your child on the swing, you may count the number of times you push. When your child is hanging from the monkey bar at the playground, you may count how long he can hang. While climbing the stairs, you can count the number of steps with your child. If you do counting with your child frequently, your child will soon learn what numbers are all about, and be introduced from a very young age the importance of numbers in his life. By then, it will be easy to introduce the numerical and word “One” to your child and have him write down or spell it out. “One” now makes better sense to your child. It is the first number in his counting sequence. He knows it very well.

Concept of Measurement, Comparison and Estimation

 The concept of measurement, comparison and estimation can be introduced while preparing meals, at meal times or even while playing at the beach! The kitchen is a great place to learn. Some parents advocate a kids-free kitchen. However, if your child has a decent level of self-control and obeys most rules in the house, it’s highly beneficial to allow him into the kitchen to watch you prepare the meals. Of course, this comes with the condition that your kitchen is kids-safe. If your oven is highly accessible to your child and is operating most of the time, you will have to make sure it doesn’t burn your child accidentally. In the kitchen, you can let your child watch you use the measuring cup to measure flour while baking. Your child can help you scoop the rice into the rice cooker, and count the number of cups required. Your child can watch you squeeze out some orange juice and measure the amount of juice you have. Your child can compare the sizes of different fruits!

At the dining table, your child can compare who has more food and who has less. Who has a bigger piece of chicken and who has a smaller one. Who drank more water and who drank less. Your child knows he doesn’t need to count the exact number of rice in each bowl to know who has more rice. He can look at all the bowls and estimate which bowl has the most amount of rice. His logical reasoning should also help him deduce who ate more rice and who ate less from the leftovers.

The beach offers a generous spread of sand and water for your child to explore concepts. Bring some pails and molds along so that your child can build something with the sand. Your child may build a bigger sandcastle and a smaller tower. He may dig a long tunnel and fill water in or create a little pond with some water. While playing at the beach, not only is he strengthening his concepts of measurement, comparison and estimation, he can also strengthen his spatial intelligence with his play.

Concept of Patterns and Shapes

 Singapore is an extremely structured country in many aspects, and one of such is architecture. Therefore, it is one of the best places to learn patterns. Patterns are a huge theme in our architecture design, if you have not realized by now. We see patterns everywhere. In patterns, there is consistency and logic. Designs with patterns are not messy. They create a sense of safety – we have a logical expectation of what is coming next. There is a pattern. We see patterns on walls design, flooring layout, pillars and ceiling structures. Look around you with a keen eye and it won’t take long before you notice that the floor bricks are arranged in a pattern, the wall tiles are colored with a certain pattern, the ceiling to your walkway shelter has some pattern in the structure. You can point your child to these patterns you notice, so that your child starts seeing them as well. The more your child is exposed to patterns, the easier he is to spot them as he grows. As you introduce patterns, you can also take the opportunity to introduce shapes. Patterned shapes on architecture designs are usually squares, rectangles, triangles or diamond shapes. You can introduce circle and crescent to your child by looking at the moon, heart shape by observing some leaves (those close to heart-shaped), star shape by looking at star-fishes! 3-D shapes are found all over the home. Cylinder shaped bottles; cone shaped ice-cream cone, cubed boxes.

Concept of Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division

You may have thought that, by now, your child should be moving from practical learning to doing sums on paper. This is far from the truth! Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division become meaningless to your child if you introduce these concepts from paper. Your child will think he is merely doing sums to score in Math, and won’t understand that these are very useful concepts that we all apply in real life.

Addition is the easiest among the four and should be introduced first. This can easily be introduced anywhere! Perhaps you spot some rented bikes parked around the playground. Get your child to count the number of bikes at one corner of the playground (let’s say 4), then get him to count the bikes at another corner (let’s say 2), and ask him how many bikes there are altogether. Do not expect him to do sums in his head. Guide him to find the answer by counting them all. He will tell you 6. Then, guide him by telling him that “4+2=6”. Do so by pointing at the 4 bikes and then at the 2 bikes while saying it. Get him to repeat this. Once he is familiar with this, you can repeat the same with him but instead of telling him “4+2=6”, ask him what is “4+2” after he has counted “4” and “2” and altogether. He should be able to then tell you “4+2=6”. This helps him understand what “+” is. It means altogether. At home, you can have him use his fingers to count. When you ask him what is “4+2”, he should intuitively push out 4 fingers from one hand and 2 from the other and count them altogether. Soon enough he would have memorized that 4+2=6. Just like any of us. When solving problem sums in the later years, any questions that involve the word “altogether” should hint him to add.

Subtraction is best introduced at the dining table, with food that your child can count, like chicken wings, chicken nuggets or fries. Grandpa had 4 nuggets in his bowl. He ate 2. How many nuggets does he have left? Get your child to count the leftovers on the bowl. Again, you need to reiterate “4-2=2”, so that your child understands what “-“ is. It means take away. While introducing the concept of subtraction at the dining table, you can introduce division too! It is never too early to introduce division, again with food that you can count. You can serve a huge dish of chicken wings (let’s say 24 wings) and get your child to divide the dish equally to 4 plates. After that, get your child to count how many chicken wings there are in each plate. Your child will say 6 if he does it correctly. After that, reiterate to your child “24/4=6”, and get him to repeat so that he understands when we use the word “divide”. Get your child to divide food as many times as you can first, because the first few times he may not be able to do it correctly. He needs to figure out a system to do it.

Multiplication is best taught outdoors when you see patterns and sets. For example, you see a row of pillars sets. Each pillar set has four smaller pillars, and you have repetitive sets of 4 pillars. These pillars can help your child learn the concept of multiplication. In essence, multiplication is an addition concept for identical sets. Get your child to tell you how many pillars there are in each sets. Then, say there is another set a few steps away, and count how many pillars there are. After that, verbalize the observation that there are 2 times your child says 4. Get your child to count 2 times of 4 pillars make how many pillars. Your child would say 8. Then, reiterate that “2X4=8”. After your child is comfortable counting 2 sets, get him to count three and four sets, etc. This may take some time for your child to understand. You may have to demonstrate the counting and getting to the answer for your child a few times before he gets it. You can make multiplication finally applicable in real life by asking your child how many pillars are required to build the walkway.

Conclusion

If your child is a preschooler or younger, you can start to introduce the above concepts to him now. You don’t have to wait until his reaches Primary school to introduce the concept of multiplication when the curriculum pushes out the multiplication table. By then, he will either find memorizing the table a total bore, or welcome the table with much enthusiasm because he understands how the concept of multiplication had helped him derive many answers before about his world. While your preschooler is young and free, make Math alive for him. Leave the doing of sums, practicing and memorizing to Primary School. For now, let him live Math so that he can understand it better next time, and excel. [Read: Is My Preschooler Prepared for Primary One?]