I heard a discussion on the radio about how memory skills are changing with the use of technology. We do not need to remember as much as before, just how to find it on the Internet. The researchers must not have been parents. With everybody in the family on different schedules doing a variety of activities and everything needing to be juggled we need vast memories. Even if day plans are carefully entered in our phones, there are a zillion details all crunching for space in our memory banks. Would I be the only one to confess my head sometimes feels overloaded?
To develop memory kids need to exercise their “memory muscles” and practice, just like other kindergarten readiness skills. Here is a game that is lots of fun and super easy. First thing to do is pretend you and your child are robots and these robots can only talk in numbers. Using a robot voice say any number and your child remembers it and says it back. Then say 2 numbers and see if your child can remember both of them. If this seems quite easy, you-robot can say 3 numbers (for example 7 2 6) and your child-robot repeats them.
A rule of thumb is children should be able to accurately repeat a sequence of the same number of digits as their age; that is, a 2 year old can do 2 digits, a 3 year old can do 3, a 4 year old can remember 4 and a 5 year old does 5. Some developmental psychologists advise that being able to repeat 6 digits/numbers is the minimum level of memory needed for handling phonics and reading. Remembering 5 or 6 then is a good target for readiness for kindergarten.
To make the game more fun, vary your robot voices. Let your child say some numbers for you to repeat. How many can you do? Would you be ready for kindergarten?