For the past two weeks we have been doing a unit study based on Japan. Today we’re back to working on improving your child’s memory by means of a Japanese game.
READ THIS FIRST
Before starting the exercises, it’s important to understand the two phases of physical memorization games. Please click on the link at the end of the previous sentence to read about it. Then click on your back button to come back to this post.
SPELLING
Fact Explanation/Review Phase
Two weeks ago in International Unit Study: Japan Part 1 you had your child read a book or part of a book to you. After that you read a book to him that was a little more difficult than the one he read. Grab those books again (or go back to the ones that you read online) and pick some words that you are not sure if he knows how to spell. But make sure to also include some words that you are sure he can spell very well. Including words that are easy for him to spell will help build up his confidence when you play the game.
Write the words on a large whiteboard or chalkboard. If you don’t have one, you could just use a large sheet of paper, but using a whiteboard is the most visually stimulating and interesting to kids. Leave space below each of the words you write. Include no more than 10 words. About half of them should be words he can already spell quite well.
Starting with the first word, mention to him what part of the book used that word. If he starts talking about something that happened in that part of the book since you got him thinking about it, that’s okay. But if his ADD makes him hyperfocus on a topic and he goes on and on about the book, politely tell him that it was interesting, but ‘let’s get back to the spelling of these words’.
Next, have him write the word himself under each of the words you wrote. Don’t focus to much on his handwriting, especially if he’s using a fat dry-erase marker on a whiteboard, but make sure you can at least read what he wrote. If it’s so messy you can’t even read it, kindly say something like ‘I can’t make out those last two letters, can you write them over again?’
Now have him read the first word he wrote out loud, then spell it while looking at it.
Exercise/Game Phase
As mentioned, to coincide with the unit lesson from the past two weeks, this game is from Japan. The name of the game in Japanese is Kami-zumo. Kami-zumo is a sumo wrestling game played with little paper origami characters. It’s not that physical, but a lot of fun and can be used as a means of memorizing facts.
First you have to make the game, which can be fun in itself. Although the process of making the game is not part of the memorization exercise itself, you might want to have your child share in making the paper characters and game board. Use construction paper or some other type of stiff paper and follow the instructions in this video:
Then take a sheet of paper and draw a circle in the middle of it. Tape it to the top of a box. You will use this as the wrestling ring. Watch this video to see how to play the game:
If your character falls down or goes out of the ring, you lose. However, whichever character goes out, your child must practice a spelling word before starting to play again. Say one of the words that you reviewed with you child in the Fact/Explanation Review Phase. Have your child spell it out. If he gets it right, continue playing the game. If he spells the word incorrectly, explain how to spell it right and have him repeat the correct spelling. Continue the game and use the same word when the game stops until he can spell the word correctly.
Repeat this game for memorizing math equations or history and science facts.
Have a game or exercise that can be used to help memorize facts, math or spelling? Please scroll up and click on the title of this post, then fill in the Comment box at the end. I’ll choose one game to feature on this blog three weeks from now. Let’s all pitch in and help each other by sharing ideas!
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