All About Flashcards

There is a large variety of teaching methods and flashing cards is one of them. My elder boy, Reagan, has always been a flashcard baby. It works for my boy and I've witnessed how much and how fast he has learned through cards-flashing.

Benefits of Right-Brain Flashcards

• Activates the right-brain
• Develops instant/photographic memory
• Teaches languages
• Connect left and right brain when pictures are shown and words are read out. 
• Easiest and fastest way to input as much information to the child at the shortest time. 

How To Flash the Cards?

•  Cards are to be flashed at a very high speed, at least less than a sec per card.
• Each topic can consist up to 10 cards or more, and comes with a title as the "cover page"
• You can start by flashing 10 topics per session (one session a day is good enough) and gradually increase the cards to your child's comfort level. (Reagan is doing 25-30 topics per session).
• Always begin the flashcards session only when you and your child are both in a good and relax mood. 
• Video example of a flashcard session
• Video example of Reagan learning to read via flashcards 

What Makes A Good Right-brain Flashcard?

• Cards to be at least 260gsm and above (thick enough to flash fast)
• Cards to be at least an A5 or A4 size 
• Pictures have to be large, bright and clear, preferably with a white background
• Words are to be large and clear, either in bold black or bold red in colour
• Pictures and words have to be on a separate card. (Pictures and words cannot be on the same page)

BrillJuniors is one great website where you can get ready-made cards that meets all requirement of a good and authentic right-brain flashcards. It belongs to one of my friends, who is also a mummy experienced in cards-flashing/cards-making, so you can be assured that her cards are catered to right-brain flashing and are of good-quality. 

So if you like to embark on this flashcards learning journey as well but lack the time to self-made your own cards, do give BrillJuniors a visit!

Supplements for kids

Reagan is enjoying his school very much, especially with the outdoor plays and different themes and activities every week. My only issue is the frequency of him getting sick after he began school. Kids at his age pick up viruses very easily, especially in places like daycare or schools where they pass infections around each other in a group setting very quickly. Upper respiratory infections like cough, cold and flu are the most commons ones they always catch. Within a month I put him in preschool, he was down with all of these.. thrice!

Since then I'm always looking out for children supplements that can help to improve immune system until I was recommended the brand "ChildLife" by one of my mama-friends. I made an order online and received them in less than a couple of weeks.

Echinacea - a natural herb to boost immune system and effective in reducing the frequency and duration of the common cold and flu. A supplement to prevent or speed up the recovery after the first sign of cold (eg.dripping mucus or cough)

Vitamin C- helps the body in healing and  fight off invading viruses.

First Defense multi-vitamin - herbs and minerals that build immune system and to use at first sign of infection. Contains anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties.

Calcium with Magnesium - for healthy bone structure, growth and development.

Although supplements are not exactly compulsory for kids, I feel it is necessary especially for Reagan since he has always been a fussy eater with poor appetite, and isn't getting much nutrients or vitamins from the small meals he is taking. I've started him on the Echinacea and Vitamin C this week and so far I've seen improvement in his cold, at least he is not wheezing or coughing at night anymore. Shall monitor the effectiveness of the supplements gradually. 

Renting Toys

It's a joy to watch how baby Reagan uses his hands to explore and play with his toys. And I cant help but to complain that all his toys are gradually flooding the entire house. Most of them were either gifts from his love ones or the impulse buys from his daddy. So for his 1 year old birthday party, I wanted to create a play area for the little toddlers and instead of getting new toys, I decided to rent them instead. ToyRentalWorld is my first choice, basically because they accept cash on delivery and provides free delivery if the rented items came up to $50. After checking out my cart, I received an email which informed me of the delivery time to be from 11am- 1pm. On the actual day, my toys were delivered right to my doorstep sharp at 11am! They were packed and covered in plastics and the delivery uncle helped to shift the toys in, removed and cleaned up the plastics and set them up for me. 

I rented a mini slide, and to match his birthday "Jungle Animals" theme, I got him a ride-on horse and a jungle play activity toy.

  The rental fee for these 3 toys is $75 for 2 weeks, which is long enough to last till his birthday next week. The whole transaction was hassle-free and when my two weeks rental time is up, they will give me a call before coming down to my place to collect. ToyRentalWorld offers an extensive variety of toys from 0-6 years old, however quite a number of them are out for rent and you need to queue in the waiting list for your turn. I've been waiting for their play-yard like since half a month!

So is baby Reagan excited over his new play things? It took like 15 minutes before he crawls away to look for his old toys. He has not learn to appreciate slides and ride-ons yet and need some time to warm up with the new toys. Probably the other babies at his birthday party will enjoy them more than him.

Flash card factory review

After my first flashcards order from MyLittleOnes (read review), I was tempted to order more cards, but this time from another website called the Flash Card Factory. We had a little problem with the bank transaction earlier but luckily it got through successfully. Still, if I get to choose, I would prefer cash on delivery. Unlike MyLittleOnes, there are no free delivery for any minimum order though. However if I were to compare, the paper quality from MyLittle Ones is better than Flashcardfactory, thicker with both sides glossy. Better quality cards are durable and make speed-flashing a breeze. However in terms of the colour pictures quality, my vote goes to Flashcardfactory, with bigger and clearer pictures on plain white background.

I should quickly fix my colour printer so I can continue making my own cards for baby Reagan.