Domain

Explanation

Childhood

• Checklist for new mothers:

1. Nearly all active brain cells a child will ever have are present by birth
2. Well-nourished fetus during pregnancy will develop an average of 250K new brain cells every minute
3. Smoking, alcohol & drugs can severely affect brain growth
4. Poor diet during vital periods can cause lifelong learning disabilities
5. Eat plenty of fish, green-leaf vegetables, fruits, nuts & vegetable oil
6. Have a banana a day when pregnant for potassium & folic acid
7. Iron & zinc-rich foods are essential for baby's brain-growth
8. Breast-feed if possible
9. After birth, make sure to get the baby's hearing & eyesight checked regularly

Vital 8 years

• Make the most of the vital years from birth to eight:

1. 50% of person's ability to learn is developed in the 1^st 4 years of life
2. Another 30% is developed by the 8^th birthday
3. Vital 8 years that lay pathway for all future learning
4. Youngsters are their best educators & parents the best teachers
5. Homes, beaches, forests, playgrounds, zoos, museums & adventure areas are the world's best schools
6. Simple physical routines to help infants explode into learning: simple rocking, rubbing, rolling & stroking a baby everyday greatly helps the ability to coordinate movements & therefore learn
7. Infants grow in a patterned way, so learn to build on the growth pattern: babies needs to see sharp contrasts (different shapes, sizes, shades)

• Learning anything can be fun - so long as it is treated as a game or an interesting process of exploring & discovering: children's work is their play; children learn from everything they do

自信

• Learn lessons from surroundings & others
• Six vital ingredients

1. Physical safety (freedom from harm) 安全
2. Emotional security (absence of intimidation & fears) 平安
3. Identity (who am I?) 意識
4. Affiliation (sense of belonging) 歸屬感
5. Competence (sense of feeling capable) 潛能
6. Mission (meaning & direction) 心向

活動

• Physical activities 生活運動 encouraged:

1. Instincts 直覺 (hand-eye coordination, motor skills & pre-writing ability): grasping, crawling, walking, reaching, turning, touching, arm-leg movements, pushing, pulling
2. Balancing cerebellum 平衡 (balance, sports, bicycle riding, writing skills, fine motor coordination, reading skills): spinning, balancing, listening, swinging, rolling, tumbling, dancing
3. Emotions 情感 (love, security, social skills, cooperation, confidence): stroking, cuddling, playing together
4. Thinking 思維 (maths logic, problem solving, fluent reading, writing, painting, good vocabulary, memory, music): stacking toys, assembling puzzles, recognising patterns, making patterns, playing word games, repetitive play, appreciating music

Reading

• Principles of reading:

1. Let the infant see, touch, taste & hear the word
2. Label what the baby can see
3. Label what the baby can do
4. Play phonic games: tones, pitches & pronunciation of similar words (like bat, cat, sat, mat)
5. Play with key words

幼兒成長理論

• Child developmental theories: that children develop in sequence & timing is important
• Jean Piaget: children have specific periods of "cognitive" or intellectual development, with children not reaching their "concrete operational" stage until stage seven
• Maria Montessori: while children have specific "sensitive periods" for development, they should be encouraged to develop all of their senses from a very young age & that self-learning would be based on the way the senses develop

Case study

• My childhood 童年往事