Shichida Lesson 8 (2 y/o)

Start all lessons by hugging your child and singing the good afternoon song.

After that, start gathering the energy ball and throw it high into the air and splash on their heads and then brush away the bad things and gather another energy ball, compress it and eat it.

Sight Training

1. Make a mobile of hot hair balloons and attach a bell to it.
   
2. Move the mobile left, right, up, down horizontally or vertically. You can also move around in a zig zag manner just to let his eyes move around. This will work his eye muscles.
3. When baby is done following, get him to catch the hot air balloon or do a high five with it.

Pretend Play

1. Ask your baby to roll a dice. On the dice, there are a few activities like visit the notice board, go for a shower, visit the shopping mall, raise the flag, tie the ribbons, pluck the apples.
   
2. Place pictures of the relevant activities. Eg, picture of shopping mall, picture of apples with pluckable apples, etc.
   
3. Once your baby rolls the die to do that activity, carry out that activity with him.

Language Training:

1. Tell a story in English.
2. Tell the same story in Chinese/Japanese. (Eg, Sawako)
   

Sing a song:

1. Sing at normal speed
2. Sing at half the speed (to help them remember)

Flash Cards:

1. Prepare a series of flashcards with a theme. Eg, vehicles, fruits, foods, numbers, alphabets, how to prepare certain foods, comparisons, money, numbers.
2. You may include flashcards of pictures with their word representatives after the picture. It is important to expose your child to an image first because it helps them remember faster.
   
3. Flash them quickly at your child. Show each picture only for two seconds and read out what it is as you flash it. You do not have to worry about getting tongue tied.
4. Repeat and flash the pictures and read out again.

NOTE: You can do so also for alphabets (Letters A-M, N-Z, Numbers 1-10, 11-20, Dots (1 small, 1 big, 2 small, 2 big.. etc. You may also include shapes of different countries, how to make foods, opposites, money, time, actions)

Who is it?

1. Put a long roll of paper inside a tissue box and take it out bit by bit. Show that there is a red, blue and yellow ribbon (they appear one after another)
   
2. Ask your child to guess what is the next balloon that will appear as you continue to roll

Who is it?

1. Show the face of a guitarist and a hole driller. Ask your child to guess which is it inside the hidden picture.

Memory- Where should the bears be?

1. Show a picture of 6 hot hair balloons with two bears in diff balloons. Show the picture for 30 seconds and the child has then to place the animals inside in that particular order.

Memory- Where is the flower?

1. Show a picture of 3 different types of flowers in the particular order.
2. Show the picture for 30 seconds and the child has then to place the flowers inside in that particular order.
3. Teach the child the name of the three flowers
   

Memory- Which is the right picture?

1. Show the picture for 30 seconds.
2. Show them two similar pictures after that and ask them to guess which was the picture that they had been looking at.
   

Intuition- Find the words 三 :

1. Use two cards of the same size. One is a blank card. The other one has a the words IV
2. Turn the cards over and ask your child to feel it and find the words.
3. Repeat 2-3 times

Jigzaw Puzzle

1. Show your child a 4 piece puzzle picture.
   
2. Give your child the puzzle and ask them to match the right picture with the right side. (Eg, ask them if this is the upper left piece and match. If it is the same, tell them it is the same and get them to press the puzzle in.
3. Repeat a few times.
   
   

Things in the bedroom

1. Show your child a picture of things at the bedroom with the words stuck to them.
   
2. Point to the words and read aloud to the child.
3. Now say the word and ask the child to take it out.
4. Shuffle them and mix them and give the word to the child and ask him to find the right item and paste the word next to the right item.
   
   

Linking memory game

1. The purpose of this game is to help your child improve their memory by linking things up. You can tell a story and link the things up in order. It does not have to be a logical story.
2. Repeat this story and ask your child to place the pictures in this order.
3. Now turn the cards around so that the back (which is blank) is facing you and ask your child to pick out the hotel or the crab and see if they can remember where it should be.

Visit the Safari

1. Give your child a of the SAFARI.
2. All the animals inside the safari have a FRONT view and a BACK view. The pictures can be turned around as they swivel around on a toothpick.
   
3. Show your child the animals and ask for the FRONT or the BACK view.

Expressions:
Show your child the various expressions and ask them to imitate the expressions for you.

Counting Numbers:

1. Give your child a picture of an apple tree with the numbers 1-30 and ask your child to count them.
   

Writing

1. Prepare a practice sheet for your child.
2. Laminate the practice sheet
3. Give your child a whiteboard marker (non toxic) and hold their hands to help them write out the numbers on the practice sheet.
4. One number at a time please. Eg, just practice to write the number 7. They can write other stuff on it when they are done.
5. Wipe clean and reuse it again.

Kick the Ball
Give your child a ball and ask him to kick towards you. This will help him to practice kicking. You can also put a picture of the goal post on the wall and ask him to kick into the goal post.

Finger Play
Clap your hands,
Touch your toes,
Turn around and put a finger on your nose
Flap your arms and hop on your feet
Wiggle your fingers and touch the sky


Artwork Homework: Cut and paste
Give your baby a of a sun, a cloud, a car and a flower. Ask your child to colour them and cut them out and then paste them on a piece of paper as artwork

Shichida Lesson 7 (2 y/o)

Note: Lesson 6 was attended by Max daddy as I was in Taiwan.. dun think he can recall much.. hahaa..

Start all lessons by hugging your child and singing the good afternoon song.

After that, start gathering the energy ball and throw it high into the air and splash on their heads and then brush away the bad things and gather another energy ball, compress it and eat it.

Breathing Training:

1. Draw a picture of a Dog.
   
2. Add the ear as a flap and tell your child to blow on the flap so that the dog can cool his ears

Sight Training

1. Draw a colourful picture of something. Today’s lesson is dog.
2. Show your baby the picture and shake it so that his eyes are focused on the picture.
3. Move the picture left, right, up, down horizontally or vertically. You can also move around in a zig zag manner just to let his eyes move around. This will work his eye muscles.
4. When baby is done following, get him to catch the sun or do a high five with it.

Pretend Play

1. Ask your baby to pretend to pack for a picnic.
   
2. Give your baby some 'cakes' glasses and sheets of sponge in various colours to act as bread (white), lettuce (green), tomato (red), cheese (yellow) and ask your baby to make sandwiches.
3. Once the sandwiches are done, get baby to pack them all into the container and pretend to go on a picnic!

Language Training:

1. Tell a story in English.
2. Tell the same story in Chinese/Japanese. (Eg, Sawako)
   

Sing a song:

1. Sing at normal speed
2. Sing at half the speed (to help them remember)

Flash Cards:

1. Prepare a series of flashcards with a theme. Eg, vehicles, fruits, foods, numbers, alphabets, how to prepare certain foods, comparisons, money, numbers.
2. You may include flashcards of pictures with their word representatives after the picture. It is important to expose your child to an image first because it helps them remember faster.
   
3. Flash them quickly at your child. Show each picture only for two seconds and read out what it is as you flash it. You do not have to worry about getting tongue tied.
4. Repeat and flash the pictures and read out again.

NOTE: You can do so also for alphabets (Letters A-M, N-Z, Numbers 1-10, 11-20, Dots (1 small, 1 big, 2 small, 2 big.. etc. You may also include shapes of different countries, how to make foods, opposites, money, time, actions)

Who is it?

1. Show picture of a cave. There is an animal hiding behind the cave. Who is it?
   
2. Guess whether the animal is a LION or a TIGER. After the child has made a guess, open the door of the cave to reveal the answer.
   

Memory- Where should they sit?

1. Show a picture of two hot air balloons with three animals seated together in a particular order.
2. Show the picture for 30 seconds and the child has then to place the animals inside in that particular order.

Memory- Where is the flower?

1. Show a picture of 3 different types of flowers in the particular order.
2. Show the picture for 30 seconds and the child has then to place the flowers inside in that particular order.

Memory- Which is the right picture?

1. Show the picture for 30 seconds.
2. Show them two similar pictures after that and ask them to guess which was the picture that they had been looking at.
   

Intuition- Find the words IV:

1. Use two cards of the same size. One is a blank card. The other one has a the words IV
2. Turn the cards over and ask your child to feel it and find the words.
3. Repeat 2-3 times

Jigzaw Puzzle

1. Show your child a 4 piece puzzle picture.
   
2. Give your child the puzzle and ask them to match the right picture with the right side. (Eg, ask them if this is the upper left piece and match. If it is the same, tell them it is the same and get them to press the puzzle in.
3. Repeat a few times.
   
   

Farm Words

1. Show your child a picture of things at the farm with the words stuck to them.
   
2. Point to the words and read aloud to the child.
3. Now say the word and ask the child to take it out.
4. Shuffle them and mix them and give the word to the child and ask him to find the right item and paste the word next to the right item.
   
   

Linking memory game

1. The purpose of this game is to help your child improve their memory by linking things up. You can tell a story and link the things up in order. It does not have to be a logical story.
2. Repeat this story and ask your child to place the pictures in this order.
3. Now turn the cards around so that the back (which is blank) is facing you and ask your child to pick out the hotel or the crab and see if they can remember where it should be.

Read the Story

1. Give your child a story book and read the story once to them.
2. Some pictures in the story can be taken out. Take them out and read the story again and ask your child to place the right picture to the right page

Counting Numbers:

1. Give your child a picture of a witch and a moon with 30 stars on it. There are numbers in all the stars.
2. Give your child a small toy (eg, a red plastic teddy bear) and ask the child to stamp on the numbers as they count to help the which get to the moon.
3. Count from 1-30 and then from 30 to 1

Emotions

1. Give your child a sheet of paper with different words that describe emotions like Happy, Sad, Mad, Angry, Hungry, Confused, etc
2. Read a conversation to them and ask them to point to the different words that describe the various emotions when you say them.
3. Repeat again.
4. When you are done, you can ask your child to act out the different emotions to show you.

Writing

1. Prepare a practice sheet for your child.
2. Laminate the practice sheet
3. Give your child a whiteboard marker (non toxic) and hold their hands to help them write out the numbers on the practice sheet.
4. One number at a time please. Eg, just practice to write the number 1. They can write other stuff on it when they are done.
5. Wipe clean and reuse it again.

Finger Play
Clap your hands,
Touch your toes,
Turn around and touch your nose
Flap your arms and stretch them high
Wiggle your fingers and touch the sky


Inside and Outside

1. Give your child a yellow duck and a few pictures where the words INSIDE and OUTSIDE can be interchangably seen.
2. Push to inside and ask them to put the duck inside.. the bathtub, the present box, the door, pocket. Push to outside and put the duck outside.

Singing: Oh Me Oh My
Oh me oh my what colour is the tree?
Green green green...
Oh me oh my what colour is the sky?
Blue blue blue...
Oh me oh my what colour is the bee?
Black and yellow

Artwork Homework: Cut and paste
Give your baby a picture of a mushroom. Give your child strips of paper and ask the child to cut the trips into small cubes. Then ask your child to paste these cubes onto the mushrooms.

Shichida Lesson 5 (2 y/o)

Start all lessons by hugging your child and singing the good afternoon song.

After that, start gathering the energy ball and throw it high into the air and splash on their heads and then brush away the bad things and gather another energy ball, compress it and eat it.

Breathing Training:

1. Draw a picture of a snail. Roll some paper into a tube and paste on top to act as the shell.
2. Ask your baby to blow on the shell so that the snail will move.
   

Sight Training

1. Draw a colourful picture of something. Today’s lesson is pig.
2. Show your baby the picture and shake it so that his eyes are focused on the picture.
3. Move the picture left, right, up, down horizontally or vertically. You can also move around in a zig zag manner just to let his eyes move around. This will work his eye muscles.
4. When baby is done following, get him to catch the sun or do a high five with it.

Pretend Play

1. Ask your baby to pretend to be a butterfly.
2. Show flashcards of the butterfly flying to the grass, the flowers, the sky.
3. Give your baby a homemade butterfly suit to put on (you can make using a big plastic bag and ask him to fly around.
4. Paste pictures of the grass, the flowers and the sky on the wall and get baby to fly towards them.
5. If baby refuses, let them hold a picture of the butterfly and fly the picture instead.

Language Training:

1. Tell a story in English.
2. Tell the same story in Chinese/Japanese. (Eg, Sawako)
   

Sing a song:

1. Sing at normal speed
2. Sing at half the speed (to help them remember)

Flash Cards:

1. Prepare a series of flashcards with a theme. Eg, vehicles, fruits, foods, numbers, alphabets, how to prepare certain foods, comparisons, money, numbers.
2. You may include flashcards of pictures with their word representatives after the picture. It is important to expose your child to an image first because it helps them remember faster.
   
3. Flash them quickly at your child. Show each picture only for two seconds and read out what it is as you flash it. You do not have to worry about getting tongue tied.
4. Repeat and flash the pictures and read out again.

NOTE: You can do so also for alphabets (Letters A-M, N-Z, Numbers 1-10, 11-20, Dots (1 small, 1 big, 2 small, 2 big.. etc. You may also include shapes of different countries, how to make foods, opposites, money, time, actions)

Who is it?

1. Show picture of an animal wearing a tall hat showing only the face.
   
2. Guess what is hiding under the tall hat... is the animal a rabbit? a cat or a dog?

What is in the tube

1. Something is in the tube. Is it a lemon or a lollipop?
2. Ask your child to guess if it is a lemon or a lollipop.
   

Intuition- Find the shape:

1. Use two cards of the same size. One is a blank card. The other one has a particular shape (eg, a pink trapezium).
2. Turn the cards over and ask your child to feel it and find the shape.
3. Repeat 2-3 times

Jigzaw Puzzle

1. Show your child a 4 piece puzzle picture.
   
2. Give your child the puzzle and ask them to match the right picture with the right side. (Eg, ask them if this is the upper left piece and match. If it is the same, tell them it is the same and get them to press the puzzle in.
3. Repeat a few times.
   
   

3 Letter words

1. Show your child a picture of things filled with three letter words
2. Point to the words and read aloud to the child.
3. Now say the word and ask the child to take it out.
4. Shuffle them and mix them and give the word to the child and ask him to find the right item and paste the word next to the right item.
   

Fun Play With Beads Counters

1. Count from 1-20 using the beads counters.
2. Ask your child to move and count the beads one by one by helping him move the beads with his hand.
3. Turn the counter over and let him flip the beads upwards to count again from 1-10.
   
4. Teach him how to make two triangles by counting the beads in increasing numbers.
5. Sing the alphabets and count along and find out how many alphabets there are.
6. Count again in different languages
7. Count the number of letters in their names and compare LONG and SHORT, Many and Few.
   
   

Linking memory game

1. The purpose of this game is to help your child improve their memory by linking things up. You can tell a story and link the things up in order. It does not have to be a logical story.
2. Repeat this story and ask your child to place the pictures in this order.
3. Now turn the cards around so that the back (which is blank) is facing you and ask your child to pick out the hotel or the crab and see if they can remember where it should be.

Memory game: Hot stuff

1. Show a picture of three hot cups of stuff. Milk, Water, Soup which is put in a table with three columns in this particular order
2. Now, give them an empty Card with the table and pass them a picture of a glass of milk, a glass of water and a bowl of soup.
3. Ask your child to place them in the right order inside the columns.
4. If your child is unable to choose. You can give him two choices and ask him to point.

Intuition/ Memory Game: Guess which picture I show you

1. Prepare two similar looking pictures.
2. Show your child one of them.
3. Take out the two pics and ask them to guess which one was it that you showed them.(dun be surprised, they get it right VERY OFTEN!)

Recognizing numbers
Give your child an instrument. Tell your child that now we are going to shake the intrument to create noise whenever we see the numbers 3. Show them some flashcards with numbers varying from 1-5 and ask them to shake when they see 6.

Counting Numbers:
Give your child a book with the numbers 11-20.
Get them to trace the numbers with their fingers and once they are done, ask them to tap on the number that you say.
Open the page and choose between two numbers
If they get it right, high five with them.
if they get it wrong, get them to trace the number again
(PS: after this session, Ace knows 2 comes after one, claps and calls himself a clever boy in the lift just now)

Writing

1. Prepare a practice sheet for your child.
2. Laminate the practice sheet
3. Give your child a whiteboard marker (non toxic) and hold their hands to help them write out the numbers on the practice sheet.
4. One number at a time please. Eg, just practice to write the number 1. They can write other stuff on it when they are done.
5. Wipe clean and reuse it again.

Finger Play
(Sorry, this one is new and I dun remember it yet.. haha)


Artwork Homework: Cut the Fox
Give your baby a picture of the head of the fox and the body. Ask your child to cut on the dotted line using a scissors (with your help) and then paste the body and the head together.

Free Flashcards

Was trying to make some flashcards for Ace.

Apparently, according to Dr Shichida, when we flash our flashcards at our babies, we should flash it to them at 0.5 seconds per card (yes, tat takes LOTS OF PRACTICE). This is because when we do that, the information would send very strong vibrations to the brain and it will help your baby's brain to develop better and faster.

Mostly though, the cards are not flashed for them to remember or to learn... but just to stimulate their mind. The end result though is that they WILL remember these things and when they learn them academically in future, they will find it easy to remember, use and spell these words and name these things.

You are encouraged to flash 100-250 flashcards to your child per month. Try not to repeat flashing the same cards twice in each sitting and once the child is bored, switch to some other activity ;)

Usually, try to start with pictures first as children remember better with imaging rather than words. After the pictures, you can slowly insert the words inside as well.

You can start flashcard flashing from three months onwards. I really regret only starting NOW.. cos Ace is already 22 months old. But nevertheless, I do my best to catch up ;)

Most importantly, to Ace, it is like watching TV and he finds it fun as well. He likes the flashcards so much that he will actually point to his flashcards and ask me to let him repeat again.

He enjoys it so much that now before our flashcard sessions, he will readily start doing the prep exercises like the energy ball and the hugging.. ;)

Here are some tips for flashcard flashing based on my personal exeprience:

• Switch off all disruptions like radio, TV, etc.
• Always prepare your lesson and pack your cards in advance so that you dun need to stop in between
• Start by giving your child a hug to connect and praise your child first. If you are a shichida mummy, then do the energy ball to prepare the right brain
  
• If you want, you can play auto suggestion tape in the background (I play the Fun With Numbers disc in the background)
• Flash at a speed of 0.5-1 second per card
• Flash mostly picture cards and only 10%-20% word cards
• Put the cards at slightly above your child's eye level 30cm away
• Place the stack of cards upright on your left palm and pick the card you want to flash from the back of the pack and shift it to the front using your right hand. When the card touches your left palm, then say the name of the card.
• Make sure you say the name correctly!
• Write down the name on the back of the card for easy reference
• Practice, practice, practive! Practice flashing while you watch TV!
• Make it fun!
• Change cards when your baby gets bored with them
• Note, the cards should not be the only activities you do, do also do other right brain activities to make your home sessions interesting ;)
  

Here are some free ones I found from the web to get you started ;)

http://www.esljunction.com/esl-efl-flashcards/esl-tefl-efl-flashcards.html

http://www.firstschoolyears.com/

http://www.mes-english.com/

http://instantresource.net/12/learning-4.php?k=free+flashcards

http://www.flashcardexchange.com/register