Memory is a faculty that can be called upon in many ways. The elements that enter our memory are perceived through our five senses. Memorized elements must be well organized and classified in our memory to ensure effective recall. That's why it's so important to teach children, from an early age, how to use their memory effectively.
The game I'm going on a trip and I'm packing my suitcase...: to teach children to use their memory effectively!
You can teach them to use the following strategies to store information in their memory:
Use one or more of the five senses;
Organize the information to be memorized into categories of similar things;
Invent a story based on the information to be memorized;
Make up a song in which you substitute the information to be memorized for the original lyrics.
Let's take an example where the child has the following 4 cards to memorize: My poutine chips, My popcorn machine, My dentist and My toothpaste. Let's take a look at how each of these strategies can help.
1. Use one or more of the five senses:
Sight (eyes)
Ask the child to imagine the dentist brushing his teeth after eating chips and popcorn.
Hearing (ears)
Ask the child to think about the sound of chips being crunched, or the sound of popcorn popping.
Note: There are other ways to stimulate memory through hearing. For example, the child can repeat the words aloud in order several times, or make up a funny word with the first syllables of each picture, such as "crous / pop / dent" (chips / popcorn / dentist / toothpaste).
Taste (mouth)
Whenever possible, ask the child to think about the taste of the items to be memorized. In our example, you can think about the taste of chips, popcorn and toothpaste.
Smell (nose)
Whenever possible, the child can be asked to think about the smell of the items to be memorized. In this example, you can think about what chips, popcorn and toothpaste smell like.
Touch
Whenever possible, get the child to think about the fragile texture of potato chips, the special texture of popcorn or that of toothpaste.
2. Organize the information to be memorized into categories of similar things:
Potato chips + popcorn = food
Dentist + toothpaste = teeth
3. Make up a story with the information to be memorized :
"I brush my teeth before I go to the dentist because I ate chips and popcorn."
4. Making up a song :
Replace the lyrics of a well-known song with the elements the child needs to memorize. The more the child enjoys the song, the more effective the recall will be.
TIP*
The most important thing is the quality of the associations made between the different pieces of information. Children are not always adept at finding things that go well together. You need to teach them by giving them examples while you're playing with them. Let children develop their own memorization strategies. Perhaps he'll be inclined to always use the same meaning to memorize? This may be a strength for him, an easier way to learn. That's great! Let him use it and reinforce it. But don't let that stop you from teaching him to use another sense in addition to his preferred one. The more senses involved in the memorization process, the more effective recall will be.
Let's get creative!