I n a day and age when most information is sought after online, for, and by kids, or easily available on apps, here is an attempt at encouraging good old flashcards, and in the process, more parent-child interaction.
Brainsmith was started by mum-entrepreneur Tejal Bajla and Akshay Jalan, an engineer.
Tejal Bajla, a new mum, was looking to find novel ways and different materials to stimulate her little son’s mind. With a graduation from Kingston University, London and an MBA in Management studies, she quit her banking career to study “How To Multiply Your Baby's Intelligence” at Glen Doman’s Institute, Philadelphia.
“We want to make make learning fun for children, but at the same time we want to promote parent-child bonding, more so in this digital age where everyone is grappling with the challenges of excessive use of technology,” says Tejal. In the early years, the role of parents in a child’s life is extremely crucial, she points out. “Parents are the best teachers.” It is said that the first six years are the “genesis of a genius”, says Tejal. “All that a baby is or may become will be determined in the first six years of life and research shows that a child’s brain grows to about 90 percent of its adult size by the age of five. The ability to take in raw facts is an inverse function of age and so the older we get, the harder it becomes for us to absorb raw facts,” she contends.
Parents need to sit in front of the child, show them the cards, and say out loud to the child what they see on the cards. “They have been designed specifically to stimulate the immature visual pathway in babies. The visual and the auditory pathway — what they see and hear are crucial in stimulating the brain.” Their quantum or flash cards are large-format encyclopedic ones that can be used for babies aged one, up to the age of 10. Each card is 11 by 11 inch and has one clear picture on the front and is backed by detailed encyclopedic information of the subject. All images are hand illustrated.
Right now the cards span 60 topics, ranging from fruits and vegetables to dinosaurs and flags, musical instruments, famous inventors, to Presidents of India and world religions. Over 5,000 sets of cards are right now in use, says Tejal and in the recent months they have developed preschool and primary school outreach programme as well.
For details see www.brainsmith.in
