Analytical Skills

[Nepal4me]

A while ago, I started a thread on babies/children here in Thailand learning multiple languages. Specifically people in my situation, native speaking English daddy and Thai mommy. Some very interesting responses were provided.

So now I'm thinking about logic skills, what if the best way to teach these skills to small children to best exercise their brains?

My baby is 11 months old and I notice that he loves things that turn. I have no idea if this is normal for every baby as this is my first but clearly my little guy loves to play with things like wheels on axles or anything rotating. It's not easy to find a specific toy that has many objects that can be manually turned but after scouring a few dept stores, I found something at Central Chitlom that I thought my son would like. Sure enough, he loved it, he can turn wheels to his hearts content.

I have read that babies/children have a natural age to learn things and if they don't learn during that window of time, then learning later is a bit slower. So the trick would be to understand what they should learn at each age and give them toys/opportunities to learn.

I wonder if people have any good experiences on what toys babies should play with or other ways to help their babies little brains grow.

If so, please share them.

BTW, I'm not some over-the-top daddy that wants his kid to be a genius. I want my baby to be normal, to play, have fun but if I can help him learn when he plays, then that's not a bad thing so please don't flame me as somebody that is trying to force his baby to become a little adult etc.

Thanks,

[Barney_the_Dinosaur]

Mine has a vast array of cars, trucks, ride-ons. He loves wheels.

Try the wire 3-dimensional 'mazes', where you push shapes around wiggly metal loops. Spatial skills.

[Scott]

I had a houseful of kids and not enough money to really buy toys. Some things I found that could entertain them for hours were ordinary household things--especially pots and pans, large spoons, spatulas etc (Keep knives, forks and sharp things away).

Let them see what fits in what, how a lid is too big, too small, fits here etc. The noise is the only drawback, but the different sounds made by wood, plastic and metal are good for kids.

The only thing that ever made them happier was dirt (sand box is a better alternative). Digging, burying all that stuff.

It's very educational.

One of the things they are finding is that watching television is very bad for kids and kids who watch it have much lower IQ. So keep the telly off when the kid is around--it's a little like giving kids drugs.

Best of luck. Bangkok is a hard city to have kids in, I think.

[DFCarlson]

Some suggestions:

Follow up on your kid's natural inclinations and interests. Let him lead you to what he's interested in. If he loses interest in one thing there'll always be another thing to take its place.

Do bring in stuff that he has not seen before, he may show an interest in something new. But don't push it!

Let your kid play with other kids in an environment with but not limited to kids of his own age and sex. This way you can build on what other parents are doing as well.

Always read to your kid, and make it fun. But don't force it on him. In fact, don't force any plaything or play activity on him, let him choose. (Note the old saw that kids will play more with the box the toy came in that with the toy itself.)

Try to introduce your kid to things that may be slightly ahead of his abilities as well as to things that are designed for kids his age. If he doesn't show any interest, bring it back later.

Above all, play with your kid yourself if that's what he likes, and make it fun. Sometimes kids want to play by themselves, sometimes with Mom or Dad and sometimes with other kids. And don't spend a lot of money at first as kids' interests change rapidly early on, their attention span increases as they get older.

My two daughters were young kids back in the 70's in the US and this kind of approach worked very well.

[Nepal4me]

I had a houseful of kids and not enough money to really buy toys. Some things I found that could entertain them for hours were ordinary household things--especially pots and pans, large spoons, spatulas etc (Keep knives, forks and sharp things away).

One of the things they are finding is that watching television is very bad for kids and kids who watch it have much lower IQ. So keep the telly off when the kid is around--it's a little like giving kids drugs.

Thanks for your input, I have given him all the household stuff, big spoons, spatulas, large plastic salad spinners etc. He likes these more than any store bought toys except for the new thing I bought with spinable wheels. That was really a wnner.

Your comment on the TV is interesting, I have heard that kids shouldn't always have the TV on as they will "just stare" and turn their brains off, however, we have the music station on a lot and our son seems to really like listening to music, like mommy and daddy. Maybe we should turn the video off as he does tent to get absorbed in it a lot.

To Barney the Dino, I wonder where I can buy this maze thingy? What age is it gears towards?

Thanks,

[HenryB]

A while ago, I started a thread on babies/children here in Thailand learning multiple languages. Specifically people in my situation, native speaking English daddy and Thai mommy. Some very interesting responses were provided.

So now I'm thinking about logic skills, what if the best way to teach these skills to small children to best exercise their brains?

My baby is 11 months old and I notice that he loves things that turn. I have no idea if this is normal for every baby as this is my first but clearly my little guy loves to play with things like wheels on axles or anything rotating. It's not easy to find a specific toy that has many objects that can be manually turned but after scouring a few dept stores, I found something at Central Chitlom that I thought my son would like. Sure enough, he loved it, he can turn wheels to his hearts content.

I have read that babies/children have a natural age to learn things and if they don't learn during that window of time, then learning later is a bit slower. So the trick would be to understand what they should learn at each age and give them toys/opportunities to learn.

I wonder if people have any good experiences on what toys babies should play with or other ways to help their babies little brains grow.

If so, please share them.

BTW, I'm not some over-the-top daddy that wants his kid to be a genius. I want my baby to be normal, to play, have fun but if I can help him learn when he plays, then that's not a bad thing so please don't flame me as somebody that is trying to force his baby to become a little adult etc.

Thanks,

I guess you baby in 50 per cent Thai. Remember that he needs no toys but he should start picking rice at three.

You came to Thailand now you want him or her to be English or American or German never in Thailand

[DFCarlson]

I just recently had an interesting experience with an older child. The Thai woman I recently married has a ten year old daughter, a really nice kid and bright to boot. She has been "learning English" at our local Thai school, but has not had a lot of practice with native English speakers as there is a dearth of same in our local area. My appearance has led to her asking me for help with assignments from school, understanding the structure of the language, learning new vocabulary, etc., and I've been looking for fun ways to help her out without seeming to correct everything she does.

We made a trip to Chiang Rai a couple of days ago and had something to eat at the Black Canyon Coffee Shop in the Big C shopping complex. They serve alphabet cookies with Americano coffee (English letters) and my daughter and I started to make words out of the letters. It got to be a lot of fun and she really got into the game. She was pretty good at it too!

It occurred to me that she might like to play Scrabble, or one of the many simpler games that can be played with the game's letter tiles. In the upper level of the Big C I found a Scrabble knock-off and bought 2 boxes (I always liked to have more letters) for 99 baht apiece. Tomorrow is her 11th birthday and I'm going to give her the 2 boxes then and tell her that if she wants to we can play word games like we played at the coffee shop.

I think that this will be fun for her (and for me too). We'll see. I have high hopes.

[PeaceBlondie]

Children are born as instant learning machines. They must learn to survive, and it's a natural instinct that can be encouraged forever. I doubt that the window completely closes at a certain age, to learn a specific task, but it becomes more difficult to learn later.

Analytical thinking - heck, any kind of thinking - is often discouraged by some Thais (and even by some farang). I say, stimulate their brain. They enjoy learning when it's fun and exciting. I used to pick my babies up and walk around the house, just letting them look at pictures on the wall, feeling different textures, knowing colors and names of things.

Good luck; enjoy.