Early Childhood Brain Development - Importance Of Early Learning & Brainsmith Quantum Cards Review

Do you want to raise a genius child?
Do you want your child to be smart?
Do you want your child to be equipped with knowledge?
Do you want your child to have a great sense of self-esteem?
Do you want your child to be a problem solver?

If your answer to even one of these questions is yes, then read on!

First things first, few things you should know about early childhood brain development - 

• A child's brain produces around 700 new neural connections every second from birth to three years
• By the age three, there would be more than 1000 trillion connections between different neurons.
• The period up to three years is considered to be the peak time for brain development.
• A child's brain development is influenced by heredity, environment, experiences, parental responses & relationships
• More than sixty percent of the energy consumed by the baby is spent towards brain development.
• The brain builds itself based on repetitive sensory experiences.

It is easier and less costly to form strong brain circuits during the early years than it is to intervene or “fix” them later.

Source HERE

So how do we best help children to achieve their maximum potential of brain development?

There are many ways - good diet, enriching environment, appropriate stimulation of senses, exposure of various kinds, travel, outdoors, reading aloud, bonding with parents, going social etc etc. Being a Montessori follower, I feel as much as it is important to teach life skills to my child, as much as it is important to enhance motor skills in my child, it is also important to give him a lot of exposure to facts & knowledge so that he builds a good base of encyclopedic knowledge. This is also one of the ways to boost his confidence & self-esteem. 

How Can We Give Encyclopedic Knowledge To Our Children?

I cannot miss mentioning Glenn Doman when it comes to giving encyclopedic knowledge to children. 

Doman was one of the first to specialize in child brain development. He travelled to many places around the world where he observed children of different nationalities. His goal was to discover how the brain develops and what role their immediate environment played in brain development. His years of research eventually led to the discovery of breakthrough learning methods. He believes that newborn children have a genius potential that, if developed, can exceed that of Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein. To access this genius, children should start being stimulated from the birth.

Glenn Doman has a complete book on "How To Give Your Baby Encyclopedic Knowledge".

Showing Encyclopedic Knowledge cards are a fun & interesting way to look at interesting bits of information. I got a chance to use these awesome cards called Quantum Cards from Brainsmith for this purpose. Brainsmith was founded by a new mom in her relentless pursuit to find novel ways and different materials to stimulate her little son’s mind. Her exploration in finding age-appropriate products that would provide the stimuli to teach her child about a diverse range of topics lead her to research about Early child literacy and development.

That journey led to the establishment of Brainsmith where they enable parents, teachers, and educationists to empower children using the best learning tools and methods.

Our little ones have the ability to learn like no other, without much effort. With Quantum Cards, we can help them visualize new vocabulary and they can be an excellent source of activities and game.

Flashing cards on different topics & concepts is a great way to stimulate the sense of vision & hearing, it is a great bonding time & it serves a way to introduce encyclopedic knowledge to kids.

More About Brainsmith Quantum Cards

• Quantum Cards are learning tools aimed at a child’s early brain development. 
• Quantum Cards are scientifically designed to meet the sensitive needs of early learners. 
• Each Quantum Card shows engaging photographs or hand-drawn illustrations isolated on a white background that aid visual perception among children, allowing them to process and respond to visual impulses faster.
• As they state, Quantum Cards are designed for children between the ages of 8 months and 6 years. For maximum effect, they should be used as early as possible, even in infancy stage, just as a means of stimulation.
• They help in visual sensory development
• They enhance the encyclopedic knowledge
• Each packet includes a total of ten 11 inch x 11 inch encyclopedic cards.
• On the front side, each Quantum Card has an accurate hand-drawn painting or high-quality photograph isolated on a white background. On the back, the card has the name of the object at the top and ten points of encyclopedic information about the object. In addition, there are definitions of key vocabulary words at the bottom of the page.

Being a musician myself, I became biased & got Indian Musical Instruments cards for my 2 years old son. The Indian Musical Instruments set has the following ten encyclopedic cards:

• Sitar
• Tabla
• Santoor
• Sarangi
• Shehnai
• Veena
• Murali
• Mrudangam
• Kanjira (Khanjari)
• Harmonium

Each card has hand-drawn illustration on the front and encyclopedic facts about it on the back.

Love the big size of the cards!

Sarangi - One of the 10 cards - Front

Back of the card with encyclopedic knowledge

A video review of Brainsmith Quantum Cards & the cards in action is in the pipeline, if you prefer watching instead of reading through the text. So please go ahead & subscribe my YouTube channel HERE for this & much more!

How I Used Brainsmith Indian Musical Instrument Quantum Cards

• Flashing them one by one to help my son memorize the instruments
• Recall - I showed him the cards & asked the names of the instruments
• Memory game - I placed the cards on the floor & we remembered where is which instrument. Then I turned them upside down & asked where is Tabla & he had to remember the position & take a guess if he is right.
• Sorting wind, string & percussion instruments
• Creating a story around the instruments to enhance creativity

HERE is what guys at Brainsmith suggest how one can use their quantum cards.

What I LOVED About Quantum Cards

• Big size cards make it perfect for the little beings
• Cards are very sturdy 
• Cards have a glossy finish & a slightly slippery feel that makes them perfect for flashing before the child really quickly. There is almost no friction when you flash the cards fast.
• The illustrations are very realistic & the fact that they are hand painted makes them even more enriching
• Each card consists of crystal clear picture of just one instrument - no distraction & noises - a great way to isolate the concept & teach to your child
• The back side of the card is full of great details about that particular instrument. 

What Could Be Improved In Quantum Cards

• Adding a blank card in the collection would be great. So when I am about to start flashing the cards to my son, there is already one instrument facing the child, when I am telling him, "hey now we are going to see some music instruments". Ideally, I would have wanted a blank card which can be used as a starting card or rather a cover for all other cards when I start flashing the picture cards.
• It would be great if the guys at Brainsmith can introduce something like a library facility where parents can get a set of cards of a particular category for say 15 days or a month & then return it & get another set of cards of a different category. I personally would love to use almost all the categories cards in their quantum cards series but if I end up buying all, I might go broke ;) I am not sure how feasible this model is but this might help many parents & children.

At the end, I would say, I am very happy to have used these quantum cards. This set of Indian music instruments has opened up some new avenues following my child's interest & I am going to pursue them closely! As I always say, you never know when & how something can strike your mind & takes you in a new direction deep inside the topic.

Hope you found this review useful. Do check out more review of toys & books HERE, early learning & Montessori inspired activities here on the blog & my YouTube channel. Do not forget to subscribe to my blog & YouTube channel to be the first one to know what I posted new!

Happy Parenting :)