Any suggestions on Right brain activities for toddlers?

Early Learning Early Learning General Discussions
1

I know that flashing images is right brain, but does anyone have any suggestions of some activities which are right brain?

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I got this from an article on right brain / left brain.

Activities that stimulate the right brain are emotional issues, the creative process, recalling memorized lists, any unfamiliar event or activity, and holding the attention span. Seeing or feeling different sizes, seeing different colors, attention exercises involving timing, seeing unfamiliar faces, and meeting someone new also stimulate the right brain..

The right brain is described as thinking in the following ways -Random, Intuitive, Holistic, Synthesizing, Subjective, Looks at wholes.

To make a left brain activity more whole-brained you can add the use of - patterning, metaphors, analogies, role playing, visuals, and movement into your left brain activity such as reading.
:smiley:

3

Sarah - I have been trying to compile a list of right brain activities myself so I can do them at home with my kids. Here’s what I’ve got so far (based on what I’ve seen, heard and read):

  1. Imaging - basically anything like the magic carpet rides that they do in TweedleWink. Get your child to close her eyes and talk her through a scenario. Get her to visualize everything as if she is really there. Can you see the pretty colours? Smell the flowers. Taste the ice cream. Feel the wind blowing on your face? Listen to the birds singing in the trees. This train’s the right brain’s imaging ability which is the foundation for many right brain abilities - speed reading, photographic memory, rapid complex caculations, ESP, etc.

  2. As you said - flashing images is important. What I read from Shichida is that it is quantity, not quality that is important. In his book, there was a parent who wrote about flashing 1000 flashcards to her child. This is another activity that trains the right brain’s imaging capability.

  3. Memory Linking - I know in TW they said not to do this activity with children that were below the age of 4, and then again it also depends on the child’s level of left brain development. Shichida, however, believes that you should start as early as possible. Memory linking does two things - it trains image memory because you’re looking at pictures, and it also uses the right brain’s creativity because you have to think up fanciful stories to link the pictures together. For instance, “the sea turtle was wearing a pair of sandals when one of the sandals was stolen by a beaver who ate it thinking it was a cranberry pie that the dolphin kept in his backpack”. Being right brain oriented, children are able to think up some of the zaniest stories. In Shichida’s book, they said that after the children could remember 30 images in order using the memory linking method, something amazing happened - they were suddenly able to remember 40 - 50 images in a glance without using words. It’s like memory linking triggers the photographic memory ability.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVhpRZd6cmU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BBY8jnQ3zE

  1. Mandala - give your child the Mandala outline and a set of colour pencils. Show the coloured Mandala pattern for a period of time - say 30 seconds, then cover it. Ask your child to mark in the colours in the right spots then show the original Mandala pattern to check if your child has added the colours in the correct spots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8JBRlUpizg

The second activity: give your child a blank piece of paper. Show the Mandala pattern for 10 seconds, then cover it. Show it for 10 seconds again, then cover it. Show it for 10 seconds for a third time, then cover it. Get your child to draw out the pattern and add the colours. Reveal the original pattern and see if the picture your child created is the same.

The Mandala activity also trains the imaging ability of the right brain because the idea is to take a snapshot of the pattern and draw it out again based on the “photo” of the image you have in your head.

  1. Tangrams (or other similar blocks) - get your child to create shapes with the blocks. For instance, ask her to make a flower, or a car, etc. Or you can make one yourself and draw the outline on a piece of paper and have your child put in the pieces - sort of like doing a jigsaw puzzle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RL49n6DZXc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozxRAtR9r8w

  1. Memory grid - start with a 2x2 grid and four pictures to fit into each square, e.g. a tree, a rabbit, a cake, and a shoe. Give your child a blank grid and the four pictures. Show your child a grid with the four pictures attached and ask her to remember where each picture is. Hide your grid and ask her to put her pictures in the order that she remembers seeing them in. When she’s done, show her your grid and check if she put them in the right order. As she gets better, increase the size of the grid - 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, etc.

  2. Quantity recognition - show your child a handful of beads for a brief moment, then cover them. Ask her to tell you how many beads she thinks she saw. This is a little like the red dot cards and how children can tell you how many dots there are on a card even if it is 79 dots.

  3. ESP games - show your child two cards, e.g. a blue shoe and a yellow shoe. Shuffle the cards behind your back, then show her the two cards again facing down. Ask her to tell you which is the card with the yellow shoe. There are variations of this game you can play - for instance, draw a shape on a piece of paper, fold it up and ask your child to hold the paper. Then show your child three shapes, including the one on the piece of paper in her hand and ask her which shape she thinks is on the paper she is holding.

4

Thank you ShenLi. I have been trying to find information like this.

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Wow TM S and ShenLi, thank you SO much! Karma to you both! I am going to explore all those acitivites. Some of them I can’t do with my little one yet, but I will keep them in my library!

ShenLi, I am definitely also interested in exploring the ESP side more. RBK does not focus on this at all, and so I’ve not learned anything about it.

6

Shenli,
What good information.
Especially i like photographic memory with mandala patterns and tangrams. I have been playing with tangrams with my kid but then i forgot about it. The video you post is very very good.
Karma to you.

I do not know about ESL games, can you expand on that?
Thanks

7

At what age do you start each of these activities?

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I’m curious about the ESP do you have any links to information on it?

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Wow! What a great piece of information. I dont even know about these activities . There is so much for me to learn before i teach this to my kids.

Thanks ShenLi for sharing the information and videos…

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Glad to hear that there are other parents interested in ESP and are open minded about it. I have been writing about it recently on my blog and have had a reader ask me if I was seriously talking about ESP because they can’t believe anyone could believe in stuff like that. I can’t say I blame them because I did think the same thing when I first read about it from Shichida’s book. However, his explanation about how ESP works through quantum mechanics has helped to open my mind up to the possibilities and I am now always very intrigued by it.

Sarah - although RBK doesn’t focus on ESP, it is still an ability that children will exhibit from doing the activities that RBK’s promote. I am on a RBK newsletter and I read sometime back about “colour perception” and how young children can “feel” colours without seeing it. Here’s an excerpt:

HOW TO SENSE COLOR WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED 
“Can you feel the color green?” I asked my children the other day during a right brain frequency class.

They immediately said, “Yes!”

“How?” I asked.

One said, “They have different thicknesses, different vibrations.”  The other agreed and added, “I can tell, by touching my clothes, which ones are green because green is my favorite color!”

What a perfect right-brain explanation!

Here’s the left-brain explanation:

Light enters our body through the eyes and through the skin. Each color has a specific wavelength. It is possible to feel these wavelengths.

The blind can sense the quality of colors on objects as they run their hands over them. Some colors feel hot, some may feel cool.  Some people without sight even note that each color has a specific texture. When we heighten our senses, we can become aware of color, too.</blockquote>

The reason why is because one of the most important activities for developing the right brain (including ESP) is the imaging activity which is an activity that is central to RBK. Showing lots of flashcards which also help to develop the right brain’s imaging ability is also helpful for bringing out a child’s ESP abilities because the ability to perceive clear images in the mind is how many of these amazing right brain abilities are performed. You need to do lots of activities that exercise the right brain’s imaging potential. Individuals with ESP abilities always talk about being able to see things happen very clearly in their heads - what they are doing is basically imaging.

I guess it isn’t exactly referred to as ESP by RBK because I’m sure the mention of ESP will immediately throw the whole program under criticism. Similarly, I think this is part of the reason why a lot of information about Shichida is so “hush hush” and difficult to find. If it isn’t explained properly, many people think it’s just rubbish. Instead of just overlooking the part about ESP, they end up labeling the whole program as rubbish because of this one element.

2010BEBES - The ESP games involve a lot of activities that seem almost like a guessing game. Aside from the ones I mentioned, you can also do games as you go about through your day. For instance, the elevator game is easy - ask your child which elevator he thinks will arrive first. Look around you for other things that you could try to predict. Another activity that some parents do which I read about in Shichida’s book is to ask your child is he can see the picture you are thinking about in your head. This one is a bit tougher because it means you have to have a very clear image in your head. One parent wrote about her child’s ESP ability and mentioned that her child complained that her images were not very clear - they were funny looking. For instance, one image that she thought of was of a green square and her child said, “I see something green.” The easier games to play are the ones that involve “which card”.

There is a book called ESP for Kids by Tag Powell which talks about more activities you can do with a child to help develop his ESP abilities. I have bought the book but haven’t had a chance to read through it yet but I’ll keep you posted. But if you don’t want to wait for me, you can get the book from Amazon. I have had a glance through the first few pages and the main difference is that Tag Powell talks about ESP as something only some children show the potential for. Shichida, however, believes that all children can do it if properly trained.

Laughing water - Shichida begins all these activities as early as possible. In Heguru, even the baby class does imaging, linking memory, mandala, tangrams. It is usually the mothers that end up doing the activities and the babies participate by watching. I think the purpose at this early age is just to show your child what the idea behind the activity is. As your child grows up, he will slowly pick it up himself and start to do more on his own as he becomes able.

TmS - Most of what I know I have found out through other parents and reading books. Shichida talks about it in his books which are available from Shichida Japan:

http://shichida.co.jp/english/c1-3_books.php

You can also try checking out the shichidaparents forum:

http://shichidaparents.com/forum/index.php

You need to register to read their posts.

Sunmoonstar23 - neither did I until this year! The more I teach my children, the more I find I need to learn!

11

Thanks ShenLi,

Great info - loved the quote about the colours.

I try to be open minded about these things - there is so much about the universe and life we don’t know or understand it would silly to pass it off because of ignorance.

Tying it into quantum mechanics also makes perfect sense.

Thanks for this great stuff :wink:

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Shen-Li, you’ve been SO helpful to me, thank you ever so much!

I would love to purchase the book, but I am going to wait for you. I don’t get much time to read ever so I would like to ensure that it’s passed your quality control :slight_smile:

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Hi Shen-Li,

Thanks for such an informative sharing. My kid had been joining shichida classes since she was 12 months old. I really feel great that I admit her to the class as I was really impress for her achievement =) She manage to remember 50 pictures card of linking memory story last 2 months after 1 months of practice. Most importantly I knew that she learn everything in a fun and joyful way which is what all the parents wanted to. By practicing together with my kids, I am also learning and I can see the improvement on me. :yes: Enjoy right brain training!

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Thanks for sharing Agnesdecham. My son’s only been attending since Feb this year so I have yet to see what the results are but I’ve been pretty inspired by the children I’ve seen.

Sarah - sorry, have been swamped with stuff to do so I haven’t had a lot of time to read. Here’s what I’ve got so far (in brief) - some are the same as what I wrote earlier:

  1. Dream diary - they say you should encourage your child to keep a dream diary. They believe that dreams are the brain’s way of solving problems during daily life and being aware of your dreams helps you to make better use of them.

  2. Clairvoyance games - here are some more ESP games they suggest:

  • guess the caller
  • guess what’s in the present (without shaking the box or holding it to get physical clues)
  • guess the end of the movie
  • what’s the next card
  • what’s in the brown bag
  • guess the colour of the marble

They recommended helping your child along by encouraging hits. For example, with the guess the present - get your child to offer as much description as possible - colour, texture, etc. Then when the present is opened, look for the similarities to what your child described and praise that. This will increase future success rate. If you point out the mistakes too often, you will crush your child’s budding ESP senses.

  1. Meditation - this activity is pretty much what I described in imaging. They recommend that you teach your child to do this activity on a daily basis so that instead of you leading your child through an imaginary mind trip, your child takes himself there on his own. This was said to be an important activity because many geniuses in history have been known to “meditate”.

There are four brain wave pattern cycles - beta, alpha, theta and delta. Beta is the state of being awake. Delta is deep sleep. Alpha and Theta is the state that our brains are most effective for coming up with solutions and great ideas. Most adults are primarily in the beta state during waking hours. Children spend most of their time in the alpha level. This is why the Wink program says that you don’t really need to get your child into the alpha state because he’s already there. The Wink meditation CD is intended more for the adults who need help getting to the alpha state.

I thought it was interesting to read that whenever Edison had a problem he couldn’t find the answer to, he would sit in his chair and relax with a ball bearing in his hand and a metal plate on the floor. He would let his mind drift off towards sleep because he said it was in the twilight state before sleep that his ideas came to him. If he fell asleep, his hand would go limp and the ball bearing would crash onto the metal plate and wake him up. If he had a solution to his problem, he would get back to work on his invention. If not, he would let his mind drift again towards sleep and repeat the whole process until he had an answer.

I found that pretty interesting because I can remember having lots of ideas for projects I was working on just before falling asleep and I always think I’ll write them down in the morning. By the time morning came, I’d forgotten the ideas I’d thought of before falling asleep. That’s why Edison’s trick worked so well - he kept himself from falling asleep and forgetting what he thought of.

  1. Keeping plants - at least I think that’s what they are suggesting. They talked about how plants thrive or fail to thrive depending on the love and care, or lack of from their gardeners. Powell and Mills said that there were experiments showing that plants that were “loved” thrived and grew much faster than those that were not. Uri Geller, who has demonstrated the ability to perform several ESP traits, could make plant seeds grow in his hands before your eyes. Although you probably won’t be able to grow plants that quickly, they said your child could speed up the growth of their plants like this.

There’s more in the book - I’ll come back to you when I’ve read more…

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ShenLi, I am so glad everytime I read your posts, you really are a great contibutor and we learn a lot from you!
Thank you! :slight_smile:

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How would you advise introducing this to an active 2yo? (who can’t sit stil for a book except at night in bed, once exhausted? -)
Should I pick a time of the day, do it myself, and hope she’ll join me and try to imitate?

17

Unfortunately, the book doesn’t make reference to age groups… :frowning:

When I was sending my younger son to Heguru, they would do meditation for the babies as well (I’m talking about less than a year old). They are supposed to close their eyes but, babies being babies… Some mothers would cover their baby’s eyes. I found that my son didn’t like it so I didn’t bother trying.

For an active 2yo, I can only suggest trying it before bedtime (turn out the lights and say we’re going to get ready for bed). Or in the car when she has no choice but to sit still? Those are the times when I play this activity with my son. I find my son is usually more willing to do things when other options are eliminated. For instance, he’s crazy about Thomas trains and won’t play with anything else when he’s at home, but when we’re at a friend’s house, he happily plays with other toys because there are no Thomas toys to play with.

18

ShenLi can you tell me the name of the book by Shichida that you are referring. There are several books by Shichida but I would like to purchase only one of them which provides comprehensive information. If you could share your thoughts it would be nice.

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Hi arvi. I bought two books by Shichida:

  1. Right Brain Education in Infancy - theory and practice
  2. Children can change the world through right brain education

I have only read the first one. It was a very interesting book because Shichida shares a lot of insights which I found intensely fascinating. My main criticism is that the book is not very specific about the “how to” part. It is not like Doman’s book where he tells you do “xxx”, 3 times a day, 5 times a week, etc. With Shichida’s book, you need to have some background in right brain education and piece together the activities yourself. I listed the activities I have come across through reading, personal experience with right brain classes and talking to others earlier in this post and have also covered them in my blog:

http://figur8.net/baby/2010/07/27/right-brain-activities-for-home-practice-part-1/

You can order the books from Shichida japan:

http://shichida.co.jp/english/c1-3_books.php

What I understand from some parents is that Shichida provides are more detailed “how to” section in their parents’ manual which they only hand out to parents who send their children to their courses.