5 Ways to Help Your Child with Memorization

I recently wrote about getting the kids involved in school and church, the boys got parts in the Church play which means now I get to help them remember it. Nicoli is also trying to memorize bible scriptures for his Sunday School class.

There are so many different ways to teach your children and help them remember things. Keep in mind every child learns differently, the way one may learn is not the same as another. How many of you learned acronyms to remember the compass growing up or the planets? That is just one way to remember things.

Teaching Your Child Memorization Techniques

The moment your child started to talk they started to memorize whether anyone realized it or not. It is called mimicking. We constantly said words in front of our infant child as they were learning how to speak, walk, eat and read. Yes, I know many of you will say it wasn’t doing it by memory it was learning. But isn’t that the same thing? Teaching your child different memory techniques from early on is extremely important because it’ll help them later on in life.

Flashcards Can Help with Memorization

They have flashcards in just about every store I enter these days, whether it is for learning colors, numbers, letters, etc. I remember when Little A was younger his teacher sent home flashcards with colors he was struggling with spelling and later she sent everyone home with sight words. I had already been doing this with my older kids but I liked seeing the teacher encouraging other parents to do this.

Flashcards definitely help and if you don’t have the money for flashcards you can make your own using paper, index cards, etc. I love to find out what their spelling words are and grab a handful of index cards and write a word for each card. When they are home we can quickly go over them and I carry them in my purse so they can always have something to do during the drive, waiting for an appointment, etc.

Stick it Where they will See it

Write down whatever your child is trying to remember and place it in a spot they are going to constantly see. When I was helping my son learn bible verses I put them on the refrigerator, entry to our house, and on their bedroom door.  He was constantly seeing it and reading it that it got stuck in his mind.

Singing helps with Memorizing things

Not every child is going to learn the same way, which is why they need to learn a variety of memorization skills. When Nicoli was learning how to spell words I taught him some of them using songs. When I was a Sunday School I taught the kids the books of the bible by singing a song I found on Youtube. They loved it and memorized all 66 books. One of my daughters loves to sing and has helped herself with many tests by learning a song she can sing in her head at test time. 

Write it Out

Now I know not everyone likes this learning technique but it does help. BabyGirl struggled with her spelling tests until I realized she just had to write it so many times to get it in her head. Some look at this as a punishment but she admits today that this was the best thing for her to learn. Yes, she still writes everything down and she’s in high school now in advanced classes.

Teachers use to give a pre-test the day before a spelling test. Those that got it all right didn’t have to take it the next day, those that missed words had to write them 5-10 times each. Why do you think teachers have students write the words out, write them in a sentence, find them in a word search, etc?

Turn it into a Memorization Game!

Learning techniques don’t have to be a chore or boring, you can make memorization fun. Turn it into a game! If your child (or you) has to learn a word for a spelling test have them write it out in different colors on a piece of paper. Different colored pencils, sidewalk chalk, pencils, markers, glue, and glitter would make it a bit more fun. Write the spelling words twice and cut them out and flip them over. Now play the memory game.

With each new thing, you can get them to memorize they are strengthening their brain. Keep it up!