From the moment a baby enters this world, their journey of growth and development begins to unfold in remarkable ways. Though they may appear fragile and dependent, their tiny frames already possess all the brain cells necessary for their future adult lives. In fact, within the first three years of life, a baby's brain expands rapidly, reaching about 80% of the size of an adult brain. During this crucial phase, the right hemisphere of the brain takes centre stage, paving the way for essential right brain lessons for kids. As parents, we yearn to provide the very best for our children, so understanding and nurturing their early cognitive development is crucial to give our little ones a lifelong advantage. Join us as we explore the captivating realm of early childhood development and unlock the secrets to fostering a flourishing right brain hemisphere in our precious little ones.
What is Right Brain Education?
Human brain activity can be categorised as right brain function and left brain function. The right hemisphere is responsible for developing photographic memory, creative thinking, visualisation skills and more. Right brain education focuses on stimulating connections in the right hemisphere responsible for such skills. Babies make about 1 million new neural connections every second. These connections depend on the different stimuli your baby is exposed to. Your baby learns through watching you, listening to you, playing with toys, etc.
The number of neural connections peaks at around the age of 3 years. As a child continues to grow, the brain undergoes a pruning process, eliminating synapses that are no longer needed. To ensure the preservation of crucial neural connections, it becomes important to actively reinforce the associated stimuli. This proactive approach is known as right brain education.
Why is Bight Brain Education Important for Babies?
The right brain education method is not beneficial only to the right brain hemisphere but aids in the holistic development of a child’s cognitive, social, emotional and physical skills.
It exposes children to a vast amount of information and helps them learn how to perceive and respond to different stimuli. This will play an influential role in learning scholastic and life lessons in the years to come. It also encourages creative thinking for problem-solving and gives children opportunities to learn how to express themselves. The development of photographic memory skills lays the foundation for an audio-eidetic memory, while working on language skills improves your child’s social skills. Right brain lessons even help your little one learn how to manage emotions.
What is the Ideal Time to Start Right Brain Education?
It is never too early to start right brain education lessons for babies. Babies thrive on being in a dynamic environment and positive interactions with their parents and caregivers. The brain develops from right to left, and hence starting early ensures that you maximise the impact you can have on your child’s brain development. You can start when your baby is as young as 4 months old. Remember, the right brain develops for the first three years, and the focus shifts to the left hemisphere.
Right Brain Activities for Babies
Right brain activities are all about exposing your child to a variety of sights, sounds and experiences to support the development of neural connections and enhance memory. Here are a few things you could try doing.
- Baby Talk
Baby talk sounds silly to adults, but it is very important for babies. After all, you would not otherwise call a train a choo-choo train. Baby talk plays an important role in right brain education. Firstly, the exaggerated sounds and sing-song rhythm capture your child’s attention. It makes your child listen more intently and register the different sounds they hear. When you practice baby talk while making eye contact with your baby, you are showing your baby how to make the sounds they are hearing. They see the shapes you make with your mouth and are encouraged to vocalise sounds with the same shapes.
- Storytelling
Storytelling has multiple educational and psychological benefits. You can read stories to your baby from picture books when they are young. You could also dramatise the stories to help your baby visualise the scenes. The bright colours and vibrant pictures will hold your baby’s attention and go on to help build an extensive vocabulary. Storytelling also helps children develop curiosity and understand the cause-and-effect relationship.
- Sing Action Songs
Action songs are characterised by simple rhymes coordinated with hand and body movements. It is a great way for children to work on their hand-eye coordination and learn new words. It also strengthens their memory skills and recall abilities. These right brain memory exercises also teach children to follow instructions and take turns playing in groups. It also boosts their imaginative skills and helps them think creatively. When children are very young, you can sing action songs and help your child complete the actions by holding their hands and moving them as required. Some popular action songs you can sing to your baby are “I’m a little teapot”, “Wheels on the Bus, and “Hokey Pokey”.
- Expose them to Different Sounds
While you are working on your child’s right brain development, make sure you spend lots of time talking to them. You should also expose your baby to different types of sounds. Take your baby outdoors and let them hear the birds twittering, the crackling of twigs as you step on them, etc. When you are indoors, play soft music for your baby and give them a xylophone to play with. This stimulates the auditory cortex of the right brain and improves creative thinking. As your baby develops the ability to recognise rhythm, he/she reinforces neural connections for working memory, information recall, executive functioning, and more.
- Play with Interactive Toys
Play is an important part of right brain training. There is a lot to be learned through play. For example, simple games like peek-a-boo help your baby understand the concept of continuity. The toys you give your baby will also influence their learning curve. When you hang a mobile above your baby’s crib, you are giving them something to look at and reach out to. Interactive toys like nesting cups and stacking blocks help a baby develop the ability to think sequentially and understand the relationship between things of different sizes and these toys to foster early childhood development. Playing with soft toys helps too; it gives your baby a way to pretend play and think imaginatively.
In Conclusion
Every parent aspires to provide their child with every possible advantage for a successful future. Right brain education lessons offer a powerful solution to achieve this goal. By actively stimulating the right hemisphere and fostering the creation of new neural connections, you are empowering your child to develop skills that will benefit them throughout their learning journey. These skills encompass not only cognitive abilities but also social and emotional intelligence. It is essential to select age-appropriate activities at each stage to ensure optimal development. The Raising Superstars programmes offer invaluable experience and expertise in this area. By enrolling your child in the Prodigy Programmes, you can receive guidance on how to maximise your child's potential at home. Don't wait until later—start this transformative journey today!
