Right Brain: How We Organize & Play {At 3 Years Old}

Just so you know, my paper trail is a mile long.

There is my own work, hubby's work, loans, bills, cards....

BUT

the worse of the lot? Tiger's right brain thingamajigs

See the fugly drawers?

Got them at Tesco for RM 29

The top 2 drawers contain flashcards I have sorted into 10 topics (10 cards each)

So that's 100 cards a day.

The third drawer is to chuck the used sets

The fourth contain materials I intend to use daily for the week.

Namely, the linking memory set, flashcards, crayons, eye exercise

I pull out the entire drawer for convenience.

 

 Other materials that I use only once a week

 are kept in this hanging file box from POPULAR.

I usually prepare 5 files in advance.

If I take one file and open it, it will contain these:

For the photographic memory, I have ditched the blue folder.

 Too cumbersome.

Currently, I am using two clear folders for the background.

Like this:

This current method is by far the best and fastest.

He is really keen on playing "Ready? Go!" nowadays

That's what we call our home practice :)

When he gets all correct, he will shout, "All correct! I win!"

Sometimes, he will say "I so clever/I so smart"

I usually don't praise unless it was a really tough one.

He usually gets a hi five, that's all.

If he gets it wrong, he will say sadly, "Never mind, I try again"

<<< >>>

It is hard to take pics of him in action because I have to be fast too.

Usually the whole thing is over in less than 10 minutes.

Here's him 'dotting' the mandala

We ended the day with this monster craft.

It was green, yellow, purple & orange --> typical preschool brown

"I wanted brown laaaaa"

*roll eyes*

Yeah right

Btw, if your son produces this kind of art too, please know that it is normal

Boys prefer brown, grey, black colours. Read it somewhere.

 After 2.5 hours of school last night, he still wanted to 'check' my work.

After 5 minutes, he announced,

"Okay la. All correct. I want to sleep already"

 Materials that I don't need yet are stored in nifty Daiso shoe boxes
and expanding files.
Total lifesavers.

Preschool: Our Current Curriculum {3 years old}

Currently,

He can read simple words, probably a few hundreds to a thousand.

I am not sure. Didn't count.

He understands the concept of numeral and quantity

He understands simple additions.

He loves to play with money 

He is highly curious and ask why, what or who all the time

Why is the sun missing?

Where is the moon?

Why is the sky blue?

He loves matching/puzzles/memory games

 Please note that:

He is not a roll in the dirt kind of kid.

He thrives on structure and organization.

He likes worksheets

He is highly sensitive 

He is not autistic.

He is not a genius or smart.

He just want to spend time in his study to 'study' and hang out with me.

Okay la, he practically begs/whines/bully me to study

Therefore, our focus right now is 

1. Reading/ Phonics

2. Math/Subitizing

3. Right Brain Practice

4. Pretend play or Art

5. Montessori-ish activities

6. Science & Messy Play will be done outdoors 

whenever I find the time

* Music and Chinese will be done in paid classes.

He is the boss, as usual.

Lessons are usually an hour or more.

The rest of the time he is being a normal kid who jumps off the couch,

breaking stuff and whacking his sister.

 Reading & Math 

The shelves shown are a little messy :)

The top shelves are for storage of wooden puzzles and Tiger's right brain materials.

The mid levels are his Reading and Math display.

Phonics: 

We are covering blends, currently /ck/

Reading:

1. Peter and Jane 2a

2. Usually picture books with extra activities on one special book.

Currently,  we are doing The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

We did some graphing and learned about the life cycle.

Worksheets:

No writing. 

Instead, we use alphabet stamps.

Puzzles or games:

Love this rhyming puzzle from ELC

I use it to reinforce left and right as well

Math:

Subitizing: Numbers 1-6 using printables like this

He is giving me ugly face when I said. "Wait. I take photo first"

Hehehe...

Simple worksheets

 

I encourage him to use different mediums with the worksheets.

No handwriting practice. Yuck!

We are strengthening his grip with fine motor activities 

such as Montessori-ish work and cutting

Obsessed still with these

 

  Right Brain

Linking Memory. His IT activity at the moment

Took this pic to thank my sister for loaning us this from Shichida

Pretend play

I know, I know.

Sigh....

I added a grocery store

"I want to sell ice cream when I grow up"

Everything else is chucked here!

Messy Art/Play

I love this kind of stuff because it pushes him out of his comfort zone

 

Papa is teaching him golf.

Failing miserably at the moment.

Our goal by the time he turns 4 is:

1. An independent reader

2. A gentle, loving brother to Dragon

3. More self-reliant

4. Linking 150 cards at least

4. Helping in house chores

Montessori: Mystery Bag

The mystery bag is probably the easiest Montessori material to DIY.

Unless you have a buying problem, like me, this is easily replicated with a bag

and objects around the house. 

Ours was purchased from kids.net (can't find it on their site anymore)

The mystery bag is used for refining the stereognostic sense.

The proper steps are outlined here at infomontessori

The prerequisite for this task would be the

 child already know the names of the items.

To start with, you can use different objects with different textures,

sizes and shapes.

To reinforce his sight words, I turned the puzzles pieces over, 

so that only the names are visible.

They were simple ones like:

Shape: square, circle, triangle, heart, cross

Animals: dog, cat, cow, sheep, rabbit, 

Transportation: car, train, aeroplane, bicycle,

Despite very gentle instructions to feel and and not see,

the half-monkey was cheating.

He wanted to pick out the Oppa Gang man Style aka human

 

Finding 'human'.

We took turns, so that I can demonstrate.

We also used this to practise his HSP.

He guessed everything wrongly...because he was in the mood to....

 

shake his bum bum....

So,  I recorded his video (which he loves)

And we ended up like this.

I guess it is no mystery how much I adore this half monkey. 

Little Tiger: 2 years 7 months

Hmmm, what can I say about Tiger?

In terms of big brother duties, he kinda sucked.

Sad but true

He refuses to share his books or toys with Lil Dragon

(after one teeny incident)

There is a clear distinction between 'his' and 'hers' toys

(whatever's 'hers' IS his as well)

He tells Dragon to go away or "Mama cannot carry mei-mei"

He would tell anyone listening that "No, I no love mei-mei"

Jealousy....

<<<<>>>>

Restoring peace in the house is now a tactical mission.

I have employed cunning words and fake decoys:

For example instead of telling him to share his toys,

I will tell him that mei-mei is sharing with him.

Believe or not,

a simple change in approach can work wonders!

<<<<>>>>

With Lil Dragon's presence, coaxing him to use the potty or give up his pacifier

is a suicide mission.

The potty is stressing him out.

One day, out of curiosity, I asked him,

"What is wrong with using the potty?"

He replied, "I no like."

"Why?"

 " Mama, I scared" he said sadly

And that was it.

 I gave him a hug and told him

"Look, no more potty, alright?

I love you so much.

When you are ready, we will try the potty again"

It may sound strange but I think there was a change in his mood

immediately.

I think he is a little freaked out by the fact that his excrement may dirty the floor;

being the OCD that he is.

<<<<>>>>

Discipline and limits

Yes, it has started...

He has had one public meltdown in 2.5 years.

That was when I refused to buy him the cartoon version of the

alphabet train puzzle from Mothercare.

Mind you, I do expect my 2 year old to have boundless energy

and running all over the place.

That is his job as a kid and

it is my duty to keep an eye on him.

They will fall and therefore, they will learn.

We all have our limits. The rules are:

1. Stay where I can see you (when we are out)

2. Escalators are dangerous

3. Stop and look before crossing roads

4. Do not hit your sister

Learning

He is in his word sensitive phase.

So, we are encouraging reading and word formation



He loves these flower alphabets from ELC

We are also going through Disney's Word, Word, Words from Grolier.

The newer version of Brillkids is a hit as well.

Learning Chinese with me is a no-no

:(

He likes Little Reader Chinese

but

I may have to send him for Chinese classes at Bao Bei earlier than planned.

Tentatively, we are starting in March.

Right Brain Practise

Photographic memory: 5 items

Grid memory:

1. I am starting to use trick card. Only 3 out of 4 items are actually flashed.

2. I place certain items upside down or to the side.

Linking memory: major improvement

Mandala: consistently corrrect with 3 colours.

Math

He is counting up till a hundred but still require some corrections.

He love this Montessori number chips I used (will share later)

Keeps him super focused as it is hands on.

Language

I can listen to him all day long.

Here's his account on his walk at the park

"Nai-nai. Tiger go park with mama and papa.

I sit motorbike (his Ybike) and see tortoise.

Tiger give bread.

Throw inside pond.

And then I push, push, push (his bike) then fall down.

Now my leg paining."

Points to scrapped knee, fake sob...

"The floor so naughty, nai nai go beat the floor"

<<<<>>>>

The patience and love required to handle a 2 year old.

Mothers are almost saints, I tell you...

Full time mothers probably are....

Salute you guys!

Little Tiger: 30 Months

I came across this picture of my darling at 1 year plus taken

during D is for dinosaur week.

I miss his spiky hair and chubbiness.

In the blink of an eye, he is 30 months! Geez...

Before long, I will be shouting, "You are grounded, mister. No buts"

This is his interpretation of modelling
His trademark squinty eyes

Speech

He is a master narrator of his actions;

gives a running commentary of whatever he is doing

using 'and', 'then', 'somemore', 'because'

Calls himself "Mama daning (darling)"

Not only does he possess selective hearing,

sassy mouth can back talk now, at 2.5 yrs!

@.@"

Good luck to me

Tiger has the habit of dragging a basket whenever we are shopping,

Mama: Can I hold the basket please?

Tiger: No, I can do

Mama: Can you stop putting EVERYTHING into the basket?

I've got no money

Tiger: I got money in ickey mau (mickey mouse case, ie: his wallet)

If I speak to him in Mandarin or Hokkien, he will reply in English.
Pfftt.....

Social

He is torn between love and jealousy for his little sis.

Developmentally, he is regressing to babyhood.... throwing tantrums, carry me, etc

Everything that is Dragon's is his.

He squeezes himself into seats and strollers

Occasionally, he pokes, hit, and smack the baby.

Sigh....

Currently he still has 2 friends only: the guard and Lil J

Has a strict criteria for those considered friends.

He doesn't just like anyone, you know.

Cognitive

Reading

He can read words that are common in ABCs like

apple, ball, cat, dog, elephant, fish, gorilla, hat,

igloo, jug, kangaroo, lion, monkey, nose, octopus, panda,

question, rabbit, snake, turtle, van, watermelon, fox, yak,zebra.

You get the idea?

He is starting to warm up to math dots.

Loves counting with his abacus.

We are introducing skip counting by 2

Addicted to worksheets/markers

Focus and attention span is still good.

Right brain work:

Photographic memory: 5 objects

Grid memory: 5 objects

Mandala: 3 colours

Flash memory/spot the difference: good

linking memory: terrible

Chinese:

Odonata:  Collected 4 cards only

Physical

He requested to brachiate in the playground

but mama's too short to support him :p

Pretend play

Loves 'cooking'

I made him a menu for more fun

He also has a shopping trolley.

I believe toys are gender neutral...

Tiger: Mama, order? (hands me menu)

Mama: Hmmm, let's see. I will have the fried kai lan and some kiwi juice.

Tiger: Okay!

Halfway to his kitchen, he will always turn around and ask:

 Order okay ah?

Mama: Yes.

I think he is worried that I am a non-paying customer

Tiger: Nah. Vege and juice. (Hands me empty plate and glass, always)

Mama: What juice is this?

Tiger: Ermmm, orange?

Tsk, tsk, tsk.....the level of service nowadays

Toilet training: Sigh....enough said!

Montessori: Three Period Lesson with Tweedlewink Flashcards

When we used to attend Tweedlewink, we were given a take home card at the end of each lesson.

It summarised the day's lesson and some mini vocabulary flashcards to cut out.

During the first few lessons, I diligently photocopied the card,

then lovingly cut and then rounded the edges...

All for nothing because Tiger refused flashing at all cost.

Recently, he started showing interest in flashcards.

Hooray for all the other flashcards as well!

{Phew, money NOT wasted!}

The Tweedlewink ones are really teeny tiny compared to his other cards.

They were visually a pain (to me) but they were perfect for Tiger's chubby hands :)

After rapid flashing, I gave him all 4 sets to lay out.

Like Step 1 of Montessori 3 Period Lesson, I name the cards as he laid them out.

Four sets seemed like a lot but he already knew half the contents, so that didn't count.

(Sets: Colour hues, Gardening tools, Emergency vehicles, Animals)

My little OCD enjoyed himself so much so he kept asking for more cards.

Admiring his work

Step 2: Looking for cards that I called out.

"Can you find turquoise?"

Step 3: I randomly selected cards and asked him, "What is this?"

I don't expect him to know all the cards.

I prefer the 3 part lessons compared to the rapid flashing because he gets to repeat the words.

At this point of his language development, he is storing new words and grammar for use later.

Besides, he thinks this is a game, not a vocabulary lesson :)

You know you need to be happy to learn, right?



Right Brain: Home Practice {28 months}

At 28 months, his home practice sessions generally last about 10 minutes.

Sometimes, we do a part of it.

Sometimes, none at all. {If mama's working late}

This is a sample of what goes on during a session:

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Welcome Song

{or Oppa Gangnam Style if that is what he wants}

As long as he is happy.

Hug & Kiss

Not a normal hug; a tight, I really really love and appreciate you looong hug

Energy ball

Here is a video on how to make one

He usually makes one for me too ^.^

Blowing exercise

To teach child deep inhalation and controlled breathing techniques.

This is a foundation for meditation sessions later.

On this day, he was suppose to move the tentacles.

Eye exercise

I printed mine from from Right Brain Shop but you can simply draw one yourself.

 It is kept in a clear holder

Using a red dot magnet in front and another pin magnet behind,

I hold it in front of Tiger and move the red dot up-down, right-left

This is to warm up his eye muscles for memory work later.

Photographic memory

Here's a demo video on how it's done

These are mama's DIYs since they are so overpriced.

On the left are 2 question templates placed into clear holder

I used Tack-its to place the icons randomly.

The blue folder are the answer sheets for Tiger to replicate the icons' positions.

Grid memory game

Tiger loves this game

I used the Tot packs from Carisa's for these since they are already the perfect size
and oh-so-cute!
Do check put Jolanthe's packs as well

Imaging

This is from his Brainbox Set

I give him the card for 8 seconds before removing it.

Then I will ask some simple questions, like

Can you name the animals? How many birds were there?

Great for mental imaging

Spot the difference.

I give him 4 seconds to do this.

Tiger usually point out the difference, "This, this no same"

Colour memory

The icons are same, just different colours.

In these case, a clown balancing 3 balls

Linking Memory

Shen Li @ Figur8 is sharing her resources graciously.

Do check out her site to learn more about right brain education.

You can recycle old flashcards to do this.

Mandala

Ours are from Right Brain Education Shop

You can buy from here as well

If he is still interested we will continue with flashcards or puzzles

Otherwise we will read before retiring for the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To read more about right brain education, here is our intro

For more free downloads, here are the links

Why I teach Lil Tiger from young (since 9 months)? Read about it here

My photographic memory templates/icons are from Google image.

If you would like a copy, just pm me or leave a comment.

You will need a printer, laminator and paper cutter.

A lot of work but think of the money you will be saving. $.$

Right Brain: ESP games

Even to an untrained individual, one can certainly attest to the fact that a child is more sensitive to the environment compared to an adult.

Most of us are so blinded by the norm of our daily rhythm that nothing seems interesting anymore.

Imagine looking at the world through the eyes of your child; even the simplest things would astound.

Like a lizard one the ground

A piece of rubbish on the street.

A dog barking in the distance.

As time passes, our brain filters out 'the norm' so that we don't go crazy.

If it doesn't, you would become overloaded.

One can only imagine what life would be like as a savant.

We obtain information from our environment via five physical senses, namely:

visual, auditory, gustatory, olfactory and tactile.

Prof Shichida believe that a child is born another five inner senses for perception:

clairvoyance, telepathy, precognition, psychometry and telekinesis

He called them:

ESP = Extra Sensory Perception

Honing these skills would further enhance the child's creativity, attention, and intuition.

Initially, I always thought that it was more hocus pocus than a skill.

Then again, after some time, I realised that

Tiger usually gets the correct answers in class if he was focusing (tapping in right brain powers?).

If he was acting like a monkey, it would be wrong.

Also, if the answer was in his right hand, he would be right too.

He tends to go for the answers in his right hand . @.@

For what it's worth, our ESP games always put him on the right mood for learning.

He loves the energy ball games as well :)

Here's one of our games (psychometry)

I placed a small blue spoon into a box and shook it.

Then, I handed him the box, asking

"Can you guess the colour of the spoon?"

Shook and examined the box like a pro.

"Blue!"
Opening the box to reveal the answer.

"Yes, blue ohhh!"

"Ha ha ha"

To all the sceptics,

Imagine, 20 years down the line, Tiger as a world renowned clairvoyant,

who makes his living by winning the lottery every month or so...

Me, living off him...in the Caribbeans....

Right Brain: Our Homemade Photographic Memory Material

This is an old picture from our archive but this is generally how it looks like on a heavy production day.

The printer is exhausted

The laminator is shivering with fear...

This is our second laminator by the way...

The first one was sent to warranty twice and according to my sister who inherited it, 

it is no longer acting normally nowadays.

The best part about our right brain training is the memory training.

Lil Tiger love his linking memory and photographic memory games.

The problem is, sigh, he wants new materials all the time.

So, I have to make a lot, A LOT..

Here, he was going through the template/background for the photographic memory,

looking for something with ABC in it.

@.@

When I told him there wasn't any, he replied, "Mama, make.."

Faint....

In the end he found a picture with 3 alphabet wooden blocks with A B C printed on it, phew...

Here are the some of the free vectors I made

Laminated of course...how else would I have managed to semi-kill one laminator?

I will share how we play this game tomorrow.

We call it, don't laugh, "ARE YOU READY, GO!"

 It became the name of the game because I used the same phrase everytime before I flash the template,

By the way, my niece, my fatty chubby adorable niece prefers my homemade material to the store bought ones!

I should start selling these @.@